DETAILS OF FAMILY RESEARCH
Alexander James Wootton
My father who died at Lymington, Hampshire on 1 Nov 1993. He gave me his birth certificate - born 14 June 1911 at 5 Mafeking Avenue, Brentford. It gives his father as Samuel Alexander.
Samuel Alexander Wootton
He died in World War I and, as a result, his wife started to lose contact with his side of the family and thus all other Woottons.
I have his marriage certificate and his birth certificate. I have also inherited a number of his army papers and 3 medals sent to his wife (at 13 Crisp Road, Hammersmith). From these papers it appears he lied to the army about his date of birth otherwise he would have been too young to enlist. It states he was enlisted on 30 Oct 1900 aged 18 years 7 months (i.e. born March 1882). These papers also state he was previously a "Carman" residing in Inverness Road, Hounslow and give his contacts as "Father - Inverness Road, Hounslow; Mother - dead; Brother - Joseph, 48 Carphilly St., East Meon, Cardiff; Sister - Mrs Taylor, address unknown". I've never been able totrace the brother or sister.
Assuming the birth certificate is the more accurate source of information, he was born on 29 March 1884. It gives his parents as Joseph and Amelia of Inverness Road, Isleworth.
Samuel’s marriage certificate is dated 25 Dec 1908 and gives his age as 25 (i.e. born around 1883) and this certificate is endorsed by the Woolwich Army Accounts Office on 8 March 1909 and by the RH&RFA Record Office, Woolwich on 9 March 1909.
He died of wounds and is buried in Plot 2, Row C, Grave 22, Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, France.
Joseph Wootten
The only thing that my father could recall about Joseph was a vague notion that he was once a seller of green-groceries from a donkey and cart and he used to live at Street, near Reading. In 1908, Samuel’s marriage certificate gives his father Joseph’s occupation as "General Dealer".
His death certificate (thought to be the correct one because it gives the informer as "C Wootton, daughter-in-law, 251 Staines Road") states he died on 7 March 1923 aged 81. His marriage certificate states, and his signature confirms, that his name was spelt Wootten. The death certificate makes the year of his birth (around) 1842. Having searched the birth records at the Records Office, there were only 8 "Joseph Wootton/Wotton/Wooton/Wootten"s etc born in England between March 1839 and December 1843. These were born in Beckelsfield; Wolverhampton(4); Crickhowell; Charlton; Aston; Walsall and Windsor plus a "Joseph Edwin Wootton" born in Bridgenorth. Thus the best possibility appeared to be a Joseph Wootton born in Windsor on 13 January 1842. His father was given as Isaac and much (if rather unsuccessful) research was based on this being the true line.
This line of research was later thrown into doubt by a finding in the 1891 census (Hounslow, 126, Vol 1 p235 - film GG12/1024, Enum District 8). This detailed the family of "Joseph and Amelia Wooten" living at Inverness Road, No.1 Gladman’s Cottage. One of the 8 children was "Samuel aged 7" - making his year of birth 1884 (correct for my Samuel even if the additional name Alexander was not included). This record gave Joseph as aged 48 (i.e.. born around 1843 - consistent with the death certificate) and stated he was a bricklayer’s labourer. One of the other children was a Joseph aged 20 and another was Thomas aged 14. Thus a new line of research was started.
I obtained the younger Joseph’s birth certificate which stated that he was born at Wellington Lane, Heston, Isleworth, Brentford in (4) Nov 1870 (mother given as Amelia Carter, father as labourer at Powder Mills). The 1871 census had a Wellington Lane (Hanworth Road) but with no Woottons. However, I found some references to a "Wellington Lane, Bath Road" and the 1871 census for Bath Road (film 10/1314 folio 21(?) page 34 schedule 193) had an entry for No. 7 {unreadable - Dichens?} Cottages, Wellington Road, St Paul’s district, Hounslow: "Joseph and Amelia Wootten". They had one son - Joseph aged 5 months. This stated that the elder Joseph worked at a Powder Mill, was aged 26 (i.e. born in 1845) at Alresford, Hants. Note a Thomas Carter aged 22 from Suffolk was lodging next door at No 6.
The 1861 census was therefore checked for Wellington Lane, Bath Road (difficult to read entries), Wellington Road, Isleworth, Wellington Road Heston and Staines Road but nothing was found.
Another line of research was based on the birth certificate of Samuel Alexander He and his parents, Joseph and Amelia, lived in Inverness Road, Isleworth on 29 March 1884. The 1881 census for Inverness Road, Wellington Lane and Wellington Road had no records of a Wootton family (the refs were 126, RG11, 1337-9;. RG11/1339 Dist 15; and RG11/1338 Dist 6 respectively). However, I did find a family listed as Joseph and Emily Wooton at 8 Castle Place, Wellington Road East, Heston (ref RG11/1339 district 15 page 28 schedule 143 (ref to district 12 crossed out). There were 2 key differences between the 1881 census and the 1871 & 1891 census information. Amelia’s name appeared as Emily but the IGI entry for her birth and marriage are written as "[Emily] Amelia Carter". The most interesting difference is Joseph’s age - 31 which gives a birth of 1850 - in Winchester (which is near to Alresford which was recorded in 1871 census). Given that all in other aspects the details in the 1881 and 1891 census are consistent (i.e. names and sequence of children and their ages) this is certainly the same family.
Other evidence is that in Sept 1889 their son, Joseph William gave his address as 2 Denmark Cottages, Inverness Road (as did his wife Hannah Willetts) on his marriage certificate. [ Check this address in 1881 and 1891 census ]
The birth certificate of their youngest son, Walter Jesse, gives the address as Inverness Road, Hounslow in May 1891.
Thus the chronological order of address appears to be:
- 1861 - nothing found in census for Wellington Lane, Wellington Road, Isleworth, or Wellington Road, Heston
- Nov 1870 Wellington Lane, Heston, Isleworth, Brentford (younger Joseph’s birth certificate)
- April 1871 - not Wellington Lane (Hanworth Road) (census)
- April 1871 - Bath Road - No. 7 {unreadable - Dichens?} Cottages, Wellington Road, St Paul’s district, Hounslow (census)
- April 1881 - not Inverness Road, Wellington Lane or Wellington Road (census)
- April 1881 - 8 Castle Place, Wellington Road East, Heston (census)
- March 1884 - Inverness Road, Isleworth (Samuel Alexander’s birth certificate)
- Sept 1889 - 2 Denmark Cottages, Inverness Road (their son, Joseph William’s marriage certificate)
- May 1891 - Inverness Road, Hounslow (their son, Walter Jesse’s birth certificate)
- April 1891 - Inverness Road, No.1Gladman’s Cottage (census)
- October 1900 - Inverness Road, Hounslow (Samuel Alexander’s army papers).
It would appear (from an old book in Hounslow library) that Inverness Road was not built in 1865 and it is not in the 1871 census. From a more recent map (1993) it is clear that Wellington Road is very close to Inverness Road - Wellington Road North runs between Bath Road and Staines Road, Wellington Road South between Staines Road and Hanworth Road. However there is now no Wellington Lane although it is possible that the name was changed to Road after the birth of Joseph in Nov 1870 and prior to the census in April 1871. There is also no reference to a Wellington Road East as detailed in the 1881 census.
The 1870 marriage certificate for Joseph Wootten and Amelia Carter should help clarify all this but it only gives their ages as "full" (i.e. more than 21 or more than 18?) and although her father’s name is given, the space for his father’s name is left blank. The certificate was badly completed because under "his profession" it states "spinster" and under "her profession" it states "Labourer". (Indeed, I have Amelia’s birth certificate and she was aged just over 17). They were married at the Parish Church, Hounslow, Middlesex. and copies of the original church records are held at the Metropolitan London Archives. The original (from Holy Trinity, DRO/16, 1708, film X001/088, record 104) contains the same information as the marriage certificate but is completed correctly. The first document has been copied (badly) by someone from the original church document and the original makes it clearer that Joseph spelt his name Wootton.
Thus, the suggested dates of birth for Joseph, along with my (source) are:
- 1842 (his Death certificate)
- 1843 (1891 census for Hounslow)
- 1845 Alresford, Hants. (1871 census for Hounslow)
- before 1849 (marriage certificate if "full" = 21)
- 1850 Winchester (1881 census for Hounslow)
- before 1852 (marriage certificate if "full" = 18)
I have searched the birth records and the IGI looking for all Josephs and any birth in Alresford but without success.
Summary
What done already?
I have searched the birth records looking for all Joseph Woottens born between March 1839 and June 1847 anywhere in the UK and any Wootten birth in Alresford but without success. I have also searched the IGI from 1837 to 1851 without success. A friend (but so far unrelated), Peter Wootton, searched the 1881 census CD-ROM and established that there are 177 Wootton’s who were born in Hampshire but only one named Joseph - my great grandfather. There is only one Wootton currently in the telephone book for Alresford / Winchester and they were from Suffolk. What now? - If Joseph did not complete the marriage certificate because he really did not know his father’s name, that may indicate that he was "adopted" when young by a Wootton (ie was not born a Wootton). One area to search would be the Poor Law record for the Winchester area.
Peter Wootton suggested that if Joseph was born 1843 to 1850, any brothers or sisters should still be alive at the time of the 1881 census. In Sept 1999 he found a Samuel Wooten then living in Lancashire who was born at Tichouse, Hampshire. Interestingly, his wife Louisa was born in Southall and their two "boarders" Alice L Jordan aged 18 and Mary A Jordan aged 17, were born in Heston. The possibility to be explored is that Tichouse should have been Tichborne which is the next town to Alresford and that Joseph and Samuel were brothers who both moved from Alresford / Tichborne to Heston where Samuel married a widow, Louisa Jordan, and they along with her two daughters moved to Lancashire. A search of the web-based IGI revealed a Joseph Wootton Christened on 27 March 1829 at Tichborne - following that up on the same system revealed that his parents were David Wootton and Jane. Clearly this is not my Joseph because he was born some 13 to 23 years later. So we have a possible brother of my Joseph, David born in 1847 and a possible father and grandfather to them both, Joseph born 1829 and David. Requirement is to search for a marriage certificate for Samuel Wooten and Louisa Jordan around 1872 in West London. A web-IGI search for Louisa Jordan was unsuccessful (not surprising as Jordan was probably her married name from her previous marriage). A similar web-IGI search for Samuel was also unsuccessful.
