At the FRC, clear headed and ready for action, I decided to check for any other William Plummers or Ellen McDonalds but only discovered the same information I had already collected. I ordered one more possibility for William Plummer, just to put my mind at rest, and another for Ellen McDonald. I then did a blanket search for Marelli/Morelli deaths covering some old and some new years.

Interestingly I found a death certificate for Ellen Marelli, aged 30, in the final quarter of 1888. I was pleased with this find but annoyed with myself as I had already found a death in the first quarter of this year but stopped without checking further. It took me some time to grasp that several members of one family can die in the same year, and, even if unlikely, it was not impossible to find two children born in the same year to the same parents. For that matter I suppose a person could marry twice in the same year. The only thing I am certain of is that a person can only die once in the same year!

The next new death I found was for a Frances Marelli of London. I had only uncovered two Marelli families so far residing in England during the nineteenth Century and it intrigued me.

I hit a few dry decades and did not discover another death until 1966 for Harry Marelli in the registration district of Aldershot, the town where I actually work. This had to be Henry, son of Martino and Amy. The age given is 63 years which matched the year of his birth of 1903.

I came across another death, this time for a Stella Rose Diamond Morrelli and one for Anthony Morrelli. Could they be more of Martino’s children?

The final death I discovered that day was for a William Marelli in 1977. This had to be Martino and Amy’s son as the age again matched with the information I had for his birth. The place of death this time was Chichester. (A couple of years previously while away on a company jolly, I had visited the hospital concerned after falling from a horse and injuring my leg.)

From deaths I went back to births and did a quick blanket search over the years in which Martino and his wives may have had more children. Up until the death of his second wife Amy, there were none except for Rosalier in 1884 and Amelia in 1886. Although I had their death certificates I decided to purchase their birth certificates to complete their history. I was not really disappointed that there were no other children of Martino’s (15 is enough for any man!), as I now felt confident that I had found all the possible children and wives of Martino – it felt good, one mission accomplished.

An aside: I could not find Nan’s birth details in 1907, 1908 or 1909. Mum must be mistaken. I phoned my Auntie Shirley and Uncle Harry – Uncle Harry is Mum’s youngest brother – to ask if they had any copies of my grandparents’ certificates and they sent me a copy of Grandad’s birth and death certificates. Uncle Harry was also delighted when I told him I had been trying to find Nan’s birth certificate because he had been trying for years but had been unsuccessful and now with health problems was finding it difficult to continue.

I also looked for the birth certificate for Susan Jordan, Amy Plummer’s mother, from 1837 to 1847 but could not find it. Yet the 1881 Census states that Susan was 40 in 1881 making her date of birth c. 1841.

The certificates arrived

The birth certificate I had purchased for Ellen Macdonald from the year 1858 was incorrect, as was the one for William Plummer in 1847. As disappointed as I was about Ellen I was now happy that I had the correct William Plummer in the certificate I had originally purchased.

The next two birth certificates for Amelia and Rosalier were correct, both giving Martino and Ellen as parents and both girls were born in Lambeth at the same address.

The three death certificates in the names of Frances Marelli, Stella and Anthony Morrelli were unrelated to Martino although Stella and Anthony were mother and son, and of interest, but of no value, is that Stella was the wife of a film actor.

The next death certificate for a Harry proved to be our Henry Marelli, and was dated 25 December 1966. The cause of death was given as coronary ischaemia (deficient blood to organ) and pulmonalis, cordis stenosis (narrowing of blood vessels) and atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries). Harry/Henry’s occupation was given as fishmonger (retired) in Twickenham. (I met Henry’s granddaughter while working for a company in Cranleigh. Both she and her mother would later come to our wedding.) Brian remembers visiting a fish and chip shop in the Richmond area when he was a child.

The next death certificate was for William Marelli, dated 17 January 1977 stating he was dead on arrival at St Richards Hospital, Chichester. It also stated his occupation as a retired camera technician and that he lived in Bognor Regis. His wife Winifred Marelli (formerly House as per the marriage certificate), is named as the informant. The cause of death is given as myocardial infarction, coronary artery thrombosis, coronary artery atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and cystic left kidney. There was a post-mortem without an inquest.

Finally was the death certificate for Ellen Marelli, aged 30, dated 4 November 1888, the same year Martino had lost his daughter Rosalier. The occupation for Martino is ice merchant. Martino was present at her death at home in Lambeth and the cause of death is given as phthisis – 12 months.

With all my recent finds at the FRC I was beginning to wonder how I would ever be able to print all of Brian’s ancestors onto one page. I could not, so I have printed a tree of Brian’s direct ancestors (see figure 4.1)

An aside: Copies of certificates for Granddad came in the post. Harry Reynolds was born in 1901 in Epsom, son of Robert Reynolds and Eliza Reynolds, formerly Cuffley. Harry Reynolds died on 9 May 1970 in Chester. I was pleased with this information, although it did feel morbid to have requested Grandad’s death certificate, because one day I might delve deeper into my own family.

What I learned:

• Martino’s sons both died of heart conditions.
• I was learning more about medical terms and the medical history of Brian’s family.
• Even though I had purchased certificates for unrelated persons I still found them interesting and gave them due respect. I will hold onto these as you can never be sure that at some point in the future I may find a connection or even do a one-name study, a new term I had come across while surfing the net. Basically it means collecting the details of everyone with the same surname in a particular area, county, country etc.

During October and November I continued to make visits to the FRC and with each visit I started to spend a little more time looking for the birth certificate of my grandmother, Maggie Walker, without success.

I did order one more incorrect certificate for Ellen McDonald. The one I had looked correct except it meant she would have been only 14 or nearly 15 years of age when she married Martino (unlikely to be right then).

The certificate for Ellen McDonald read: Ellen McDonald, born 1 November 1860 in St George’s in the East, father James McDonald, occupation shoemaker, and mother Ellen McDonald, formerly Cockran. Looking back on the previous information I had for Ellen’s father, James, on the 1881 Census I now believe that Ellen’s mother’s age is a misprint as Ellen’s mother’s name on the birth certificate is also Ellen. It also states on the 1881 Census that Ellen’s brother was a boot-maker, like his father. This is more evidence pointing to this being Ellen McDonald, but I’m still not one hundred per cent on this. This also means that Ellen was only just nearly 15 years of age when she married Martino and not 17 (See figure 4.2).

I hate to admit I also ordered one more possible certificate for a William Plummer I found who was born in 1849. This proved to be incorrect, the final verification that I did indeed have his correct birth certificate (expensive but worth it). The need to verify records is of great importance to me – to most people I expect, as who would want an inaccurate family history!

This was when I took an interest in Brian’s grandmother and Bert’s mother Lilian Chappell and four further visits to the FRC during December brought me the following information.

The first time was a marriage certificate for Frederick Stone Chappell aged 25, father of Lilian, to Susan Lugg aged 24, dated 31 January 1877. Frederick’s occupation is given as painter. I was thrilled with this occupation because it cleared up my earlier query regarding the occupation of John Charitie Plummer whose occupations were given as both painter and builder. Both Susan and Frederick were residing in Lyme Regis at the time of their wedding. Samuel Chappell, a shoemaker, is Frederick’s father and Andrew Lugg, a farmer, is Susan’s father. Witnesses at the wedding were Elizabeth and John Pitfield (see figure 4.3)

Further searching at home on the 1881 Census found Andrew Lugg, a Farmer, and his wife Caroline, living in Whitchurch, Dorset (see figure 4.4). Also residing at the house are Edward Lugg aged 20, Edwin Lugg aged 16, George Holman aged 15, Caroline Holman aged 12, Mary Ann Holman aged 11 and Ruth Lugg, mother, aged 87, a widow. So I had now gone back another generation and, after the experience with Martino, I suspected that Andrew had been married twice because of the other children listed as sons and daughters but with the surname Holman.

Back on the Internet, the ‘FamilySearch’ site brought me the marriage of Samuel Chapple (sic) to Mary Anne (sic) Sampson in 1836, in Axmouth, Devon – I love this site. This had to be Frederick’s parents because I had a Mary Ann living with Frederick on the 1881 Census (where he is listed as Frederick (T) Chappell, convincing me the T was an error) and stating she was born in Axmouth (See figure 4.5).

I acquired the death certificate for Mary Ann Chappell dated 10th March 1893. This is Mary Ann Chappell from the 1881 Census living with her son Frederick Chappell. The certificate states that Mary Ann is the widow of Samuel Chappell, a shoemaker, Frederick Chappell, her son, being present at the death. The cause of death is given as chronic bronchitis and cardiac failure (see figures 4.6, to 4.9).

I also acquired a marriage certificate for Andrew Lugg, dated 12 February 1852, to a Hannah Holman. The certificate gives Andrew’s occupation as a farmer, and his father’s name as John Lugg, also a farmer. Hannah’s father is James Holman, a farmer, and witnesses were James and Susannah Holman. The address of Andrew is given as Whitchurch, Devon.

I had no luck in my search for the birth certificate of Frederick Chappell but I did find something very strange. Frederick’s name on other documents is Frederick Stone Chappell with an approximate birth date of circa 1852, and while searching for Chappells I also looked at the surname of Stone. I found a Frederic Charles Stone, son of James and Selina Stone, formerly White, of Broad Street, Lyme Regis (see figure 4.10). I have subsequently searched and searched for Frederick Stone Chappell’s birth certificate and keep coming back to this one. Did the Chappells adopt him? If so then Brian’s ancestors are not who we think they are, but until I get to the bottom of this I shall leave things as they are. At some point in the future I must investigate James and Selina Stone. Goodness, so much to do and so little time!

I also found Susan Lugg’s birth certificate dated 27 December 1852. It stated she was the daughter of Andrew Lugg, a dairyman, and Hannah Lugg, formerly Holman.

Last but not least I found a second marriage certificate for Andrew Lugg, solving my earlier query on the 1881 Census. On 14 November 1872 Andrew Lugg, a widower aged 42, married Caroline Holman, a widow aged 47. The certificate states that John Lugg, a farmer, was Andrew’s father and Robert Spiller, a yeoman, was Caroline’s father. This is very confusing and took a little working out but I deduced that obviously Hannah was a true Holman, but Caroline must have been married to Hannah’s brother because her father was a Spiller not a Holman, if you get my drift. So after Hannah’s death Andrew married his sister-in-law, Caroline, whose husband had also died but whose father is called Robert Spiller!

With the added information I searched FamilySearch again and found the following:

• the marriage details for John Lugg to Ruth Willey on 24 April 1823 in Axmouth, Devon;
• the christening details for Ruth Willey (spelt Williy) dated 24 May 1795, in Upottery, Devon, parents Richard Williy and Jane;
• the christening details for Hannah Holman dated 25 April 1830 in Musbury, Devon, parents James and Sarah Holman;
• the christening details for Mary Anne Sampson dated 8 May 1814 in Axmouth, Devon parents John and Elizabeth Sampson;
• the christening details for John Sampson dated about 1782 of Axmouth, Devon.

If you are confused by all of the above I will try and put my findings in context for you listing only direct ancestors.

Starting with Brian’s sons we now have eight generations:

• 1.Brian’s sons, Ian and Jason Marelli.
• 2.Their father, Brian Marelli.
• 3.Their grandparents, Albert William Marelli and Dorothy Lord.
• 4.Their great grandparents, Albert Marelli and Lilian Chappell.
• 5.Their G.G. grandparents, Martino Marelli and Amy Plummer and Frederick Stone Chappell and Susan Lugg.
• 6.Their G.G.G. Grandparents, William Plummer and Susan Jordan on Amy Plummer’s side of the family. Also Samuel Chappell and Mary Ann Sampson and Andrew Lugg and Hannah Holman on Frederick Chappell and Susan Lugg’s side of the family.
• 7.Their G.G.G.G. Grandparents, John and Elizabeth Sampson parents of Mary Ann Sampson; John Lugg and Ruth Williy parents of Andrew Lugg and James and Sarah Holman parents of Hannah Holman.
• 8.Their G.G.G.G.G. Grandparents, Richard and Jane Williy born around 1775.

As yet I have not found details of Caroline’s first marriage to a Holman.

Brian’s family tree is becoming quite comprehensive although there is still a lot of research to be carried out and christening and church marriage records to be sourced. As you will see, the further back you go the more direct ancestors you have with each generation – 2 grandparents become 4, then 8, then 16, then 32 and so on (see figure 4.11)

What I learned:

• It is possible our ancestors were not sure of their age or date of birth or lied about their age for some reason.
• Ordering an incorrect certificate does help confirm you have a correct certificate such as with William Plummer.
• An occupation can have different titles such as painter and builder but mean the same thing.
• I would constantly revisit the Census as more evidence came to light.
• The further back in my research I went the harder it would become and I would have to find other sources of information such as Parish Records.

• Sometimes when you cannot find a certificate it is worth considering secondary names such as Stone, as with Frederick T Stone Chappell, which gave me a possible birth for him under the surname of Stone.
• It is possible for an ancestor to marry two people of the same surname as did Andrew Lugg, who married not a sister, but a sister-in-law.

A shift to my family

My youngest brother Jim had inherited, I found out, a good part of his family history on his father’s, my stepfather Gareth Hughes’, side of the family but wanted to know his maternal side of the family as much as my brothers Michael and Kevin wanted to know Dad’s history. It was becoming evident to me that naturally the females in my family were mostly interested in our maternal ancestors while the guys were more interested in our paternal history – logical really. Feeling guilty that I had not found anything of interest on my side of the family I thought I would look for a death certificate of either my Grandmother or Grandfather on my father’s side of the family. I found one for an Elizabeth Maloney of Liverpool who died in 1940; it was the wrong one.

On one of my visits during the month of November my mum and dad, my stepfather, came with me. As Mum did not have a full birth certificate we decided to look her up for a bit of fun and we looked in the first quarter of 1929 but she was not there. Initially Mum was upset because not only had we failed to find her mother, Maggie, now we could not find Mum, although I assured her that her birth certificate must exist as Mum had a short version, so we looked in the next quarter and found it. Dated 28 February 1929, registered in April 1929, it stated Mum, Lilian, is the daughter of Harry William Reynolds and Maggie Reynolds, formerly Walker, and was born in Redhill Maternity Home. What is of interest is that Maggie had to sign a declaration stating, we assume, that she was who she said she was.

We also acquired Maggie’s marriage certificate dated 1928. Granddad’s occupation is given as general labourer aged 27 years and Nan is a factory hand in a silk factory, aged 21 years. This meant she had to have been born in 1907 or lied about her age to get married. Harry lists his father as Robert Reynolds, deceased, a railway shedman (sic). Nan does not list her father.

Granddad’s address is Surbiton and Nan’s is Epsom. Witnesses at the wedding are Amelia May Loughby and Ada Louisa Reynolds. Could Amelia be a married relative and perhaps Ada a sister or sister-in-law of Grandad’s?

We also found Harry’s parents’ marriage certificate, Mum’s grandparents on her father’s side (see figure 4.12). Dated 7th April 1890 for Robert Reynolds, aged 29, a bachelor occupation labourer, father unknown and Eliza Cuffley, aged 28, a spinster with no occupation, father Frederick Cuffley a labourer. Witnesses at the wedding were E Cuffley and Ada Sanders. I wonder when a father is noted as unknown on a marriage certificate, as in Robert’s case, does it mean that he doesn’t know who his father is or does it mean he doesn’t want to know? And how weird if Robert really doesn’t know who his father is and then I, all these years later, might discover his father’s identity.

There was one other marriage certificate for a Frederick Reynolds of Epsom in 1880 that we ordered and also one for the possible marriage of my father’s parents but both were incorrect. A further search though did eventually find my grandparents’ marriage certificate on Dad’s side, dated 13 February 1882 for Charles Maloney, aged 19, a bachelor, occupation wheelwright, father Charles Maloney a labourer (see figure 4.13). He married Elizabeth Pilkington, aged 20, a spinster with no occupation, father Robert Pilkington a labourer. The witnesses were Robert Hughes and Esther Jolinston.

We located death certificates fairly easily for Harry’s parents, Mum’s grandparents: Robert Reynolds, dated 7 December 1927, aged 66 years who died of heart disease, occupation railway shedman. Eliza Reynolds dated 20 July 1939, widow of Robert Reynolds, died of myocardial degeneration, arterio sclerosis and gangrene of the left leg due to arterio aclerosis. Mum then remembered a story about her grandfather who had become very depressed and ended his life in care and that some years later her grandmother had died while having her leg amputated.

We found a death certificate for my grandmother on my father’s side of the family. Dated 25 March 1938, Elizabeth Maloney aged 76 years, wife of Charles Maloney, a general labourer. I now knew that Granddad Maloney was still possibly alive in 1938. Cause of death was given as myocardial degeneration and perinephritic abscess (related to kidney); present at the death was her daughter S. Harrison. This meant that Dad had a sister and as he was born in 1888 we searched births surrounding this time. This turned out to be not a bad day for finding ancestors and I was pleased because Mum was with me as she was enjoying her contribution to my research.

We found Sarah Frances Maloney born 7 April 1894, daughter of Charles Maloney, a marine fireman, and Elizabeth Maloney, formerly Pilkington. I have a sister called Frances. There was also one for a William Maloney born on 14 October 1889 that proved to be Dad’s brother. Grandad’s occupation this time is given as steamship stoker. Another certificate we found in 1899 for a Margaret Maloney proved incorrect.

Finally on this day Mum dragged me to births surrounding 1908 even though I assured her I had searched from 1907 to 1909. We looked again in every quarter of all three years but there was nothing. Searching further found a Margery Walker. As unlikely as it may seem from the date of the certificate we tried to convince ourselves that this was Maggie.

Margery Walker was born in Ewell, a registration area of Epsom. Mum had lived in Ewell herself as a child. The parents listed were Albert George Walker (Nan had a brother called George), and Florence Jane Walker, formerly Oliver. Father’s occupation is listed as asylum attendant. Although I desperately wanted this to be Nan, and almost convinced myself it was, a nagging doubt stored itself in the pending tray of my brain. I also spoke with Auntie Shirley and Uncle Harry who said they knew of this certificate via some cousins of mine who had also been looking for Maggie. Although they too had doubts, they believed that it could possibly be Nan.

I talked to other members of my family including my sister Maria who had a few years previously decided to look into Dad’s family, something I was completely unaware of. Maria had looked at baptismal records at St Sylvester’s in Liverpool and found several of Dad’s siblings. She also found information about some of their marriages:

• Edward born in 1885;
• Charles (Dad) born in 1888;
• William born in 1889;
• Sarah born in 1894 who married and became a Harrison;
• John born in 1897;
• Elizabeth born in 1899 who married and became a Culleton; and
• Margaret born in 1902 who married and became a Ryan.

Edward, William and John are believed to have died young within a short space of time due to diphtheria. Indeed, we had heard on the family grapevine that there were up to five deaths at that time.

My brother Kevin and his wife Heidi decided to see if they could find the double grave of our paternal grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth Maloney, reputed to be in the same cemetery in which our sister Kathleen is buried. They acquired the grave number by phoning the cemetery concerned but could not find the grave where it was supposed to be. They visited several more cemeteries looking at similarly numbered graves before calling me in a dejected and angry state. After going over everything they had been through, which was not easy as they were both so fed up, I asked who was buried in the first grave they looked at and Heidi said, ‘a couple by the surname of Harrison’. I replied, ‘As in Sarah Harrison?’ Kevin came back on the phone stunned that I could possibly know this. It was then that I was able to inform him, to his joint amusement and irritation, that Sarah Harrison is the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Moloney. The date on the grave for Sarah’s husband is 1936 and as Sarah’s mother had died in 1938 it must have been decided to bury Elizabeth with Sarah’s husband followed by Sarah’s father at some point. Sarah herself would join her husband and parents some forty years later when presumably her family had the headstone replaced.

I also did another search on the FamilySearch website on Mum’s maternal side of the family following the Cuffley name from Mum’s grandmother Eliza Cuffley and found links back to 1690. However, although these have to be checked the links look good.

My father Charles Maloney had been married previously and I had four half brothers and sisters who are all now dead, none of whom I ever met although I knew that my half brother Charles had died during the Second World War. I had heard from one of my family history magazines of a site on the Internet called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org) and decided to have a look. I found it fairly easy to use although I had no great hopes of finding my half

brother. I tried under the spelling Maloney, Navy and Second World War first with no results at all so I keyed in the same information using the spelling of Moloney. Charles appeared before my eyes. Ordinary Seaman Charles Patrick Moloney, HMS Rawalpindi, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who died aged 23 on Thursday, 23 November 1939, son of Charles and Ellen (Helen) Moloney of Liverpool (see figure 4.14). It was another heart-rending moment because I can only remember hearing about Charles as a small child, and I had never really thought about him since then. But although I had never met him and there are no photographs or a grave to visit, he was my brother, and for the first time in my life I felt a personal connection between us.

My brother Michael told me that Charles fell out with Dad and volunteered into the Navy in rebellion. Sadly it was a short-lived rebellion.

I wondered about other members of Dad’s family and searched several variations looking under the names Maloney and Moloney, and then under the married names of two of Dad’s sisters, Harrison and Culleton. To my utter amazement up came the name William Charles Culleton, HMS Hussar, Royal Navy, who died aged 19 on Sunday 27 August 1944, son of Elizabeth Culleton of Liverpool (See figure 4.14). Apparently HMS Hussar was part of the British 1st Minesweeping Flotilla that were sweeping the Channel when 16 RAF rocket-firing Typhoons accompanied by a Polish squadron of Spitfires mistakenly bombed them; survivors initially were told to keep their mouths shut although ultimately there was a hearing. I cannot believe the information available – to find my half brother and cousin, Charles and William, is extraordinarily moving.

What I learned:

• A birth could be registered late, as with my mum.
• Maggie’s marriage certificate with her declaration confirms that she probably did not have possession of her own birth certificate.
• The death certificate for my grandmother Elizabeth Maloney, née Pilkington, in 1938 told me that my grandfather Charles was still living at this time.
• Talking to family members about your research can bring further information as with the details of Dad’s siblings I sourced from my sister.
• The grave of an ancestor can be shared and gravestones can be replaced when later family members use the same plot.
• Reading ‘Family History’ magazines or other material is worthwhile because you learn of other sources of information as I did with the Commonwealth War Graves website.

I now have the beginning of a family tree of my very own (see figure 4.15)!

Anger in December 2000

During this time I continued my quest for the birth certificate of my grandmother, Maggie, looking at every Walker in the final quarter of both 1907 and 1908 but she was hiding somewhere and it was beginning to irritate me badly.