View month one of Stacey's search
Last month I got the ball rolling by recollecting as far back into my family history as I could go off the top of my head. And being only 25, this didn’t go back very far! I ended at my great-grandmother, Eleanor Hornsby.
To travel back further I enlisted the help of my great aunt Hazel, Eleanor’s daughter. This would hopefully reveal new descendents to me – people who weren’t alive during my lifetime.
Sitting down with my great aunt at her home in Messingham with a cup of tea and a box of photographs reaped fantastic results. Hazel explained that her father, David Hornsby was one of 11 children. There were six brothers and five sisters in his large family, which lived in Crosby village.
"My father was born in 1905," said Hazel. "And he married my mother in 1930."
Hazel wrote down the names of David’s brothers and sisters but couldn’t remember all the birth and death dates, except David’s.
She then explained the next generation, above her father. David’s father, Hazel’s grandfather, was called Reuben Hornsby, but we don’t know when he was born. Reuben’s father was a man called James Hornsby and we know that he was born in 1833.
"James was one of five brothers", said my great aunt. "There was George, James, John, Fred and William. Their father was called John Hornsby. Historically I think these five brothers are quite significant because through them the Hornsby family is so big. The Hornsby bus company, the Hornsby Estate Agents and locally, the streets sharing their name can nearly all be traced somewhere along the line back to these five bothers."
My great aunt then told me that one of the brothers, she thinks James, was a local poet. She seemed to recall hearing before that James liked writing poetry, although she’d never come across any of his work herself. It was something I’d need to look into during my search.
After a while, my great aunt and I managed to pencil in three more branches onto the Hornsby family tree.
Armed with this new information I went to the North Lincolnshire Central Library to see if I could discover any dates to these new people. I visited the family search website, something that Carol Longbone – the council’s local studies librarian recommended. After keying in a few details I was able to see the 1881 British Census. And after a quick search through it using only the information that I had to hand, I came across an entry for James Hornsby – one of the five brothers that my great aunt mentioned. The family search website showed me a scanned image of the actual hand written page from that census return.
The census return said that James Hornsby was aged 47 at the time and was living in Crosby. He was the head of the household and was a rat catcher – so no mention of him being a poet. He was married to Elizabeth Hornsby who was aged 46. The census then listed their children; Walter (20, an agricultural labourer), Reuben, my great aunts grandfather (14), Alice (12) and Annie (9).
The Central Library also holds census returns for the towns and villages in North Lincolnshire for the years 1841 to 1901. You can view the census returns on the microfilm reading machines. And you can make paper copies of census pages from most of these machines too. I had a look at the library for the 1901 Census and was surprised at how easy it was to find information.
I looked on the 1901 census return for Crosby and managed to find James Hornsby again. This time he was aged 67 and was still a rat catcher but was sadly widowed – Elizabeth had died. Reuben was still at home and was now 34 and he was living there with his wife, Lucy Anne, who was 24 and originally from Barnetby. Reuben and Lucy Anne had two children, Maud (4) and Rowland (3). James was also living with his daughter, Cassandra, who was 37. Cassandra wasn’t on the 1881 census so Carol Longbone at the library did some investigating and found her name on a different 1881 census. This revealed she was an 18-year-old housemaid in Nottingham, which explains why she didn’t appear on the other census.
So now, the family tree is getting quite large. I’ve discovered my nan and great aunt’s grandfather and great grandfather and the family tree so far dates back to 1833. I’ve learnt that James was a rat catcher but have so far not found anything to suggest he was also a poet.
Next month
Knowing when someone was born, married or passed away can provide vital clues for tracing family trees. Next Stacey learns how to find these dates for her new found family members. And what did the newspapers of the day say about James Hornsby? Surely rat catching and poetry couldn’t go hand in hand? Go to month three of our family history case study to find out.