The mystery of Temperance Warmington

One mystery that needs some understanding is the death of Alfred Simms' first wife Temperance Warmington (1852-1900). It is very important to add here that Temperance was in fact Alfred's COUSIN (and 12 years older than him). This was something that, when i first came across it, really confused me. I kept see the same names in both trees and thought i was getting all muddled up. I wasn't.

Anway her death appears to have been the catalyst for Alfred Simms to suddenly leave Brailes and go to Surrey where he met and married my great-grandmother Isabella Jane Southon (m. 1905). Is there more to this story than a "simple" death? There were connections to London, somewhere along the way, with Temperance being noted as a visitor there in the 1881 census. The wheelwright who she visited was clearly a relation though i do not yet have him in my tree. Her occupation was given as "cook domestic".

Visitor in 1881 in London

In 1890, aged 31, she married Alfred Simms and in the 1891 census was shown to be his wife too. Obviously she does not appear in the 1901 census and those ten years in between are a real mystery. No children are mentioned in the 1891 census.

1891 census

Questions... (answered as i go)

Where was she in 1871?

One thing is for sure. She is not on the census with her parents and siblings. Like her also, in 1901, i struggle to find Alfred Simms too.

Why did she and Alfred apparently have no children?
What did she die of in her mid 40's?

From what i can tell, i am going to need to procure a death certificate to shed light on this one.

Why did Alfred leave and travel so far south?
Who was the Henry Warmington mentioned in 1881?

Figured this out after a quick search on his names and then connecting him as a branch i hadn't yet fleshed in. I now have - he was her cousin, the son of her uncle John.

Relationship between Temperance and Henry James

Comments

Tracking down Frank Bloxham - Part 1

Frank Bloxham has no direct connection to me as such - however, his likely son, Frank Henry Simms does indeed carries the genes of my 2nd great-aunt Charlotte Simms. I contacted a descendant of the family of Frank Henry Simms and passed the information i had over. I decided to take a closer look at this individual. To uncover the story behind the article and to track his movements after - and also, his origins. He was commonly called "Frank" (as such many were) but was born Francis A Bloxham . Francis Bloxham - 6 years old in the 1881 census. Like many families in Brailes there were common groups of families. The Bloxhams were quite a unique name and not as common compared to others. Brailes being as small as it was - and still is - it remains comparatively easy to track them around. Whilst working for a grocer in the following census he met Charlotte Simms. 1891 census. Francis was working as a grocers apprentice and Charlotte as a general servant (domestic).

Charlotte Simms, her son born out of wedlock, and who the probable father was.

As i go through my family tree i often mark down individuals for further consideration, especially if they are not priority research targets, and especially if initial research yields little. One such person was Charlotte Simms . I came across her when i was filling out the family of my 2nd great-grandfather William Simms. I found her, and marked her down with her year of birth, which was 1876 and in Brailes. I tend not to go into huge detail on indirect descendants of my connections straight away - and, even less so, those that are daughters. These can be, and are, explored at a later date. However i came across a curious article about a young girl called Charlotte Simms who simply had to be the same person. The story, published on the 14th of April 1892, and warranted deeper investigation. Article published 14th of April 1892 She was making a case against a young boy called Frank Bloxham that he was the father of her son born just a couple of months before on the 2nd of Jun

Standard Offering - Sample Output

I wanted to give an example of what can be expected for a standard offering. I was able to turn around the following, with appropriate citations (from BMD / census records) fairly quickly. The standard offering is a "no frills" 5 generation family tree ( your great great grandparents ). All i required was whatever information could be provided to me. To produce this tree the client gave me his name and birthday, his parents names and birthdates and his grandparents names. This may not be possible in every case - or more could be provided - but it is usually enough to do the job. There is also no guarantee that a tree can be filled out entirely. In this case it was. In the interest of confidentiality - the client, and his, parents are not included in the below screenshots. I loaded this .GED file into ancestry.co.uk to demonstrate, if you like, that you are able to continue the research yourself. The standard offering can be a good primer and start point for that. On the

Dixon and Simms Family History Blog

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