Thread: William Matthews and James Hutchinson

To AA BIG Help,

Thank you for your offer of help, hope I get this!

My brickwall are a couple of elusive men who does not seem to have "died"!! Both men are commercial travellers and it is because of this occupation, I cannot find their deaths anywhere in the UK. It is a possibility that they died out of the country....

First up is William Matthews, the father of my grandfather. The story is that he left the family while my grandfather and his 7 siblings were very young so we don't know what happened to him. He was born to Walter Matthews and his wife Jane (nee Roberts) on 8th March 1853 in Maindee/Christchurch area of Newport, Wales. He married Eleanor Georgina Hutchinson on 18th November 1879 in Coity, Bridgend. The first four of their children were born in Bridgend/Newport and the family then moved to London where the remaining four were born in several areas around London, with my grandfather, being the baby of the family, born in Wembley in 1896. I was able to trace him up to 1901 as living in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and worked as an Insurance Agent (commercial traveller), while the family were living in Essex (where Eleanor eventually died in 1928 at Upminster). This supports the fact that he "has left the family" although as a commercial traveller, he is probably forced to do so to earn his keep. He is elusive in the 1911 census so whether he had died by then or gone abroad to USA (his son Walter had moved to Chicago), we don't know! So a big help here please......!

The other man is William's father-in-law, James Hutchinson. He was christened on 12th Aug 1832, son of James Hutchinson and his wife Ann (nee Jones), in Maesteg, Wales. He married Georgina Currey Hawkins on 26th May 1855 at Coity, Bridgend. They had five children, one of whom is Eleanor, the wife of William above, all born between 1857 and 1868. His wife Georgina died in 1881 in Bridgend, and so I find him moving around as a commercial traveller specialising in stationery. By 1886 he settled in Barnstaple where he had met Sarah Warren, the landlady of Quay House on Castle Street, and they married there that year. I was able to follow them in the censuses up to & including 1891 (all in Barnstaple) and by 1901 Sarah is listed as a widow which gives me a very good window to narrow down James' death to between 1891 and 1901 but I cannot find him at all - primarily because there are too many James Hutchinsons! Sarah died in 1918 and is clearly noted as a widow. I have ordered a few certificates with the closest age to his birthdate of 1855 but no luck.

I would be very grateful for any help.

Thank you,

Jemima Buoy

Hi Banditfivealive

Thank you so much for your help with the cenuses - yes I was aware of the two that you supplied - thank you so much anyway. Sarah is indeed born in Crediton and I found her parents down there. Just no luck on the deaths for both men though!

Jemima