Why was George not with his family, and where is he hiding in the census?
QMy great grandfather George Spencer was born in 1848, and died between 1897 and 1901. The records show that he married Elizabeth Bryant in 1875 at Coleford, Gloucestershire. They had several children, who are mentioned in the family Bible, including Phoebe Ada, Charles, George, Kate, Harriett and another George. I’ve found Elizabeth and the children in the censuses, but can find no record of George.
Pauline Hather
AIn the marriage record, George’s occupation is given as “blacksmith”. I did find a George Spencer with that occupation in each census from 1871 to 1901. He was baptised in the village of Mancetter in Warwickshire on 15 July 1849. The place name Mancetter is sometimes confused with the much larger city of Manchester by transcribers.
In 1871, George Spencer from Mancetter was a lodger in the small neighbouring town of Atherstone. In 1881 and 1891, he lived in the county town of Warwick, and in 1901, I found him living in the village of Lighthorne (near Lighthorne Heath, the home of the British Motor Museum). By 1911, George was a colliery labourer in Nuneaton and may be the George Spencer, aged 69, whose death was registered in Nuneaton in the December quarter of 1918.
Factors against this man being your great grandfather are, firstly, that his father was an agricultural labourer also named George, rather than a sailor named William, as specified in the 1875 marriage record. However, the father’s name and occupation cited in such documents can often be incorrect for a variety of reasons.
Secondly, the Warwickshire George married Louisa Davies in Ludlow in 1872, and the couple had had 12 children by 1911. On the other hand, this George Spencer lived not far from Elizabeth in the Birmingham area, and could have been the father of all her children, as well as Louisa’s.
Some of the many descendants of George and Louisa may have taken autosomal DNA tests. If you were to do the same, it could help you to confirm a link.