The evening before heading for the FRC I decided to go through all of Bert’s paperwork again and to my amazement I found a handwritten scrap of paper listing some Marelli children including a Nellie, but not a Helen or Ellen, giving the birth date as 7 May 1876 (see figure 2.1). How did I miss this? Also listed are:

Ada born 23 June 1880 Matilda born 9 October 1882 Albert born 26 December 1892 Amelia born 28 August 1894 William born 10 April 1896 Amy born 8 February 1898 Kathleen born 11 December 1900 Winifred born 19 March 1902 Henry born 9 June 1903 Philomena born 11 May 1906

At the bottom of the note is written ‘All Living’ but Nellie, Ada, Matilda, Amelia, Winifred and Henry are all crossed through. So whoever wrote this note had obviously crossed out the names as they died. Sadly there is no date for when the note was written. Checking the signature of Martino on his naturalisation certificate and the writing of Albert, Brian’s grandfather, on his National Insurance details of 20 May 1912, we ascertained that it was probably Brian’s grandfather, Albert, who had written the information down. Albert died in 1974 and I knew that Amelia had died in 1922. As I had searched the previous years I assumed the others must have died between these dates. I will now not only have to search birth details of the above but also deaths from 1922 to 1974 at some point.

Needless to say this is assuming that Albert did the crossing out on the list! Also I would have to search for Matilda under her married name of Davies and of course check that the others had not married, but first I would take the easy option and look under the Marelli name.

An aside: I phoned my mum, who was aware of my research, and told her I was going back up to the FRC and she mentioned that her mother, my nan, had never had a birth certificate. Naturally I found this quite unbelievable and thought that Mum must be mistaken but took the month and year of birth and said I would look it up if I had time.

For no apparent reason I began to feel unhappy with the search of deaths between 1901 and 1922 that I had carried out on my last trip to the FRC. I had been tired and might have missed something and it was preying on my mind. Call it instinct but I knew I would have to check these dates again. My gut feeling proved right for on my next visit to the FRC I found another Marelli death – this time, shockingly, for Amy Marelli, Martino’s second wife, in 1912. What else would I find?

I continued with my search until 1922 but found no more Marelli deaths so would need to check under married names for those marriages I already knew about. Also, if I could not find any more Marelli deaths for the others after 1922 then I would have to search for further marriages.

It was then I thought about the earlier searches of Marelli deaths where I had started at the year 1880 looking for Rosa. Perhaps there were other children who had died. I decided to do a quick search from 1875, the year of Martino’s marriage to Ellen McDonald. I found amazingly a Rosa in the last quarter of 1877, the same year as her birth. So the Rosalier I had already found is not the Rosa I thought she was. Time for another cigarette.

I felt depressed with searching deaths and although I had birth dates for several other of Martino’s children these certificates were sure bets to find; I wanted more marriage certificates because they gave so much information. I chose to search from 1900 to 1920, using my marriage form, to look for the marriage certificates for Ada and possible marriage for Ellen/Nellie/Helen. I found only one during this period for Ada Marelli dated in the third quarter of 1902. The marriages section was turning into a battle ground and although I wanted to search further I was beginning to lose my focus. I decided to look for Ellen Marelli’s birth once more but I did not find her.

An aside: I searched the final quarter of 1908 for my nan, Maggie Walker, but she wasn’t there. Mum must have given me the wrong date.

Weary and perturbed I had to think of a way to find the elusive Ellen. Perhaps I should look in the Census for Martino? I headed upstairs and was given instructions for searching the Census. (Information on searching the Census is given later in this chapter.)

The only address I could remember was Homer Street. One of Martino’s children from his first marriage was born at this address, so as he married in 1875 I chose to search the year 1881. It took me ages to grasp how to work the film viewer with it spinning this way and that, and I searched through endless incorrect places before it dawned on me I was not reading the reference on each section.

Finally I found Homer Street and started at the beginning, as I could not remember the house number. Unexpectedly on the second page I found a family of Plummers living at 6 Homer Street: William, aged 35 and head of family, was a railway signalman born in Tooting, his wife Susan aged 40 was born in Melksham and their children Henry aged four, Albert aged eight and Amy aged 13 were born in Lambeth. What? Amy Plummer, Martino’s second wife? This is not what I expected at all. My goodness, they must have been neighbours of Martino or is it possible they had lived at the same address?

I searched frantically through the surrounding pages looking for Martino but could find nothing of him. I printed off the page and as it was getting late and as I was desperate to find the Marelli certificate with the Homer Street address on it, I headed home.

At home I searched through all the certificates I had and located the birth certificate for Matilda born in 1882 at 6 Homer Street, one year after the 1881 Census. What did this mean? Could Martino have known his second wife as a child and watched her grow up while married and bringing up his first family? Possibly Martino and William were friends? In 1881 Amy’s father William is 35 years old, Martino was by then about 29 years old so it is feasible they could have been friends.

I was beginning to understand that families moved constantly either to better or larger accommodation as required or to find work. Maybe William had moved for some reason and recommended Homer Street to Martino, his friend. I started to imagine that Martino could have been having an affair with Amy while his first wife, Ellen, was alive but I still did not know when Ellen had died or if she had died, and quickly dismissed this idea as Amy was only 13 years old in 1881. I even considered the possibility that Martino could have been secretly in love with Amy while she was growing up, but hopefully this would have been when she was a little older.

Of course it could have been just a coincidence that both families had lived at the same address but I personally would like to believe they were friends and that, although Martino may have known Amy, nothing happened between them until after his first marriage was over one way or the other. Not that I wished Ellen dead or anything, I hasten to add – the last thing I want to do is upset Brian’s ancestors especially as I am only just getting to know them. It is also interesting to note that the Plummers were not the only family living at 6 Homer Street. There were four other people living at the house, all listed as head of family, so it was most likely a lodging house.

The next certificates arrived:

The first was the marriage certificate for Ada who married Robert Johnson Todd – I am sure that name is familiar to me – dated 28 August 1902. Ada was 22 years of age with no occupation while Robert was 23 years of age with the occupation of electrician; both gave Martino’s home address in Battersea. Robert’s father was also called Robert and his occupation was given as bricklayer while Martino’s occupation was given as fishmonger. The witnesses were Martino and an Ernest Williams. They were married at St Barnabas Church, Battersea.

The next was the death certificate for Amy Marelli, dated 11 November 1912. Amy died at home in Battersea aged 45 years, wife of Martino Marelli, a restaurant proprietor. The cause of death was given as phthisis pulmonalis haemorrhage. How sad that he has now lost his second wife Amy aged only 45 – if Ellen died that is.

With each trip to the FRC I am gathering more and more information and the family tree is expanding rapidly (see figure 2.2).

What I learned:

• Robert Todd, who was a witness at Matilda’s wedding, married her sister Ada. A real sense of community and friendship is beginning to build in my mind for the children of Martino.
• There was a real possibility that Martino and William Plummer knew each other when Amy, Martino’s second wife, was only a child. Maybe they were friends.
• In the nineteenth century premature death must have been expected and accepted. Did they view survival as a gift?
• That it was a good idea to go back over the documentation we inherited.
• The Census can provide links in your research that you could never hope to find on certificates alone, such as the Homer Street information.
• The Census also gives ages and places of birth of other family members.

I called Brian’s Uncle Vic and Aunt Betty who said that they thought Amy must have died relatively young as there is a family rumour that Ellen, Martino’s eldest child from his first marriage, never married and chose to stay at home keeping house for Martino.

During August I went back to the FRC specifically to search the 1881 Census for Martino but could not find him. I also searched the 1871 Census for the addresses of Eyre Street Hill and Nelson Street, where Ellen and Martino where living at the time of their marriage in 1875 but could find nothing. Well actually that is not quite true because what I did discover is that the Eyre Street Hill area was known as the Italian Quarter of London and maybe this is why Martino moved there. I could not resist making copies of some of the pages from Eyre Street Hill because it was full of Italians with occupations such as musician, cream seller, ice cream seller and ice seller. There were pages and pages of them and it gave me a good feeling to know that although Martino was a foundling and probably came to England without a family, his countrymen at least surrounded him.

Next I looked at the 1891 Census for Martino who at this time was living at Lower Marsh, Lambeth. I found him! This gave me the impression of peeping through the window to a world that had long gone. Martino Marelli aged 37, head of family, is listed as a widower. This meant that Ellen did die and it must have been between 1881 and 1891. How did I miss that on my search of deaths? Martino’s occupation was given as fish dealer and place of birth as Italy. Living in the house with Martino was Ellen his daughter aged 14, Martin his son aged 13, Ada his daughter aged 10 and Matilda his daughter aged 8, all scholars born in Lambeth. What was of great interest to me was that also living in the house were two Italian servants, Juilian Brofi aged 25 and Joseph Corfoni aged 24, both born in Italy and whose occupations were given as shopmen (sic). I can only assume that they worked for Martino otherwise why would they be classed as servants living in his house? Martino had certainly come a long way in the sixteen years since his marriage to Ellen.

The last person listed is George McDonald, the nephew of Martino, aged 16, occupation boot maker and born in St Lukes, London. So even though Martino’s first wife had died he still had her nephew staying with him. What is interesting here is the possibility that by 1891 Martino was living in a large property with shop premises. Martino’s immediate neighbours were two tailors and a boot maker, a boot shop manager, a coffee-house keeper and a chemist and druggist. Further research would tell me that Lower Marsh was a community of shops with accommodation above and part of which still exists today. Also on this page of the Census were people from Essex, Norfolk, Guernsey, Wiltshire, Cumberland, Somerset, London and Italy.

What I learned:

• You need a lot of patience searching through the Census if you do not have any leads to begin with, but you will get results if you persevere.
• The Census gives more insight into the lives of your ancestors, listing neighbours and their occupations, thus building a picture of the district they lived in and showing whether they lodged with others or were prosperous enough to rent their own property.
• London was as cosmopolitan in the nineteenth century as it is now.
• Despite the lack of modern-day transport our ancestors were able to and did travel extensively.
• The Census gives valuable information on who is living or deceased at the time the Census is taken. You can also source other family members or relatives lodging with your ancestral family.

NB: Census returns 1841 to 1891 are now viewable free of charge online via Ancestry.com at the FRC. Census returns are also available on colour coded microfilm: 1841 Green, 1851 Red, 1861 Blue, 1871 Brown, 1881 Yellow and 1891 Black.

September / December 1998

From September to December I did not return to the FRC as I was battle weary but I did purchase a programme called Family Tree Maker. This is a computer package I had read about in the Family Tree Magazine. There are several computer packages available on the market, and each to their own, but I liked the look of FTM (Family Tree Maker) on which I could record a logical database of everything I had found, enabling me to link family members, record sources and build family trees. (A source can be a birth, marriage or death certificate, Census, baptism or christening record, etc., giving us proof of an ancestor’s existence.) I had no idea how fulfilling the experience of logging all of my information would be and became obsessed with my new toy, but also frustrated when I realised how little information I had about my own family. It was then, while browsing one of the various family history magazines I had recently discovered are available at major newsagents, I read there is a site on the Internet called www.familysearch.org consisting of church records put together by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (This is not a complete register of all church records and will only be useful if your ancestors were church-going people.) I spent weeks on this site, printing off various finds of some family names but not all. I added them to my FTM program at random until it dawned on me that I had no evidence that the Plummers, McDonalds and other names that my mother had given me like Cuffley, Reynolds and Walker, were genuine. It was a mess. I decided to scrap everything on my program. I started again adding only what I myself had researched or knew to be fact or had verified by viewing or obtaining copies of original documents.

What I learned:

• Information available via the Internet is amazing but should not be relied on completely and could be misleading if you do not verify finds with further evidence. I now treat this information only as a clue until I check the record source personally.
• There are monthly magazines providing you with not only interesting information about family history generally but also of other sources of research or guides and much more.
• To store your family information logically you will need a family history program such as Family Tree Maker.

Oh joy! I found, via one of the monthly family history magazines, that you could purchase the 1881 Census on CD-Rom, a must-have item in family research as far as I am concerned. The set of discs includes England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Royal Navy and a National Index listing everyone on the census by surname. (You can now view the 1881 Census free on the FamilySearch website.)

What fun and angst I had with this new addiction. Convinced I would find Martino I searched every known address I could find on the information I had but he was not there. I then tried variations on the spelling of Marelli, Marrelli, Marrello, Morelli, Morrelli, Morrello, Mirrilli, etc. It drove me to distraction and try as I might all of my efforts proved fruitless.

I did find possible members of my own family but at this point in time I was not particularly interested, as my family is not that exciting! Naturally I found William Plummer but I already had the original version from the FRC. I did find James McDonald aged 56 years, a tailer ( sic), and his family living in St Lukes, London. This has to be Ellen’s father but to be sure I searched other possibilities and was able to confirm that my first find was most likely to be the correct one. It listed James McDonald’s children as Kate aged 11, George aged 7 (George is listed on the 1891 Census as Martino’s nephew but is actually his brother-in-law – it was further proof that I had the right family) and Norah aged 2 months. Also lodging at the same address amusingly was a 48-year-old scavenger along with a 30 year old boot finisher and a 40-year-old bricklayer. The most frustrating thing was that James’ wife was listed simply as Mrs McDonald, though it did give her age as 32 years so was this the second wife of James as she is too young to have been Ellen’s mother? This would have made this wife of James McDonald approximately nine years of age at the time Ellen, Martino’s first wife, was born.

Another find on the 1881 Census was the Chappell family from Lyme Regis. On the birth certificate of Brian’s maternal grandmother, Lilian Chappell, it stated that Frederick Stone Chappell and Susan Chappell formerly Lugg, of Lyme in Dorset were Lilian’s parents. The 1881 Census then provided me with the family of Fred T. Chappell (the T must be a misprint). Frederick aged 30, occupation house painter his wife Susan Chappell, aged 28 born in Hawkchurch, Reginald his son, and an infant daughter aged one month with no name. This last child was not Lilian as she was born about ten years later. Also living at the house was Frederick’s mother, Mary Ann Chappell, a widow aged 68 from Axmouth, Devon. How exciting, another generation!

What I learned:

• The Census gave me a birth date for Ellen’s father aged 56 in 1881, which meant that as he was born prior to 1837 when records of births, marriages and deaths began in England, if indeed he was English. So I would not be able to find his birth certificate but would be able to find his marriage certificate.
• James McDonald must have married twice as his wife is only aged 32 years on the Census for 1881 making her too young to have been Ellen’s mother (Martino’s first wife) unless her age is a misprint.
• I now had some of the siblings of Lilian Chappell, Brian’s grandmother.
• I now had approximate birth dates for Frederick Chappell and Susan Lugg.
• Having such a wonderful tool as the 1881 Census on CD-Rom at home meant I could search at will with no time constraints.

Back I went onto the Internet searching for the names of Chappell and Lugg trying to find other family connections, but I did not have enough information. It did not help either making a stupid mistake like searching for the Christening of Mary Ann Chappell, as she obviously had married a Chappell and so therefore was not born a Chappell! This was a silly mistake I repeated several times with various female ancestors but I am still learning.

With my blood pumping I searched and searched my latest CD purchases but could find nothing of value. I remember cursing myself for wasting money on these items because they were useless but I was to learn that they would prove beneficial in time.

For the last couple of months of 1998 I stopped researching the Marelli family completely. I was at a dead end anyway unless I went back to the FRC. Also, as November and December are always fun, sociable months for us it was easy to allow family history to bury itself in the basement of my mind.

January came in with a bit of a yawn and I found myself looking to my computer to fill the socially drab winter nights and before I knew it I was back. Gathering together my forms for birth, marriage and death searches, I also devised another form to record the index information given in the registers at the FRC (see figure 2.3), this would also help me keep a record of what I had ordered. I had on one or two occasions, maybe a few more, not actually ticked the years I had checked either because I was randomly picking volumes on the off chance of finding something or because I was being a bit lazy. This was stupid of me because now I would probably be going over some of the same years again – but not any more hopefully. I made a resolution: I would become more organised.

Time and the ‘people mania’ at the FRC allowing, I was going to methodically check all the years for Marelli births, deaths and marriages and I was going start the following Saturday. And yes, I was going to get all those birth certificates for Martino’s children that I already had birth dates for – about time you probably think but the easy ones, although still great to have, are never the ones you want.