How do I research my seafaring forebear?
QI am so confused by my great great grandfather, Frederick Woollard. The first record I have for him is his 1849 marriage certificate, which gives his birthplace as Sheerness, Kent, and his father’s name as George. Both father and son are listed as “seaman”, but neither appears on the 1841 census.
Frederick and his wife Eliza are both absent from the 1851 census, but on the 1861 census (where Frederick is again missing), Eliza describes herself as a “sailor’s wife”. Frederick finally turns up on the 1871 census, described as “pensioner, army” with a date of birth c1830. By 1881 Eliza is a widow living next door to her married daughter, Eliza Jane Pryde.
To make things worse, there are a number of sources with conflicting information. On the birth, baptism and marriage records of his children, he is listed as “Frederic Jonah”, “Frederick Josiah” and “Frederick George”, with occupations ranging from “seaman mooring lighter” to “foreman”.
I need to find Frederick’s parents but I am not sure which name to search. I am also unable to find his death record. Susan Ahlburg
AIn order to search for Frederick’s parents, you should assess the evidence that you have so far. His marriage certificate indicates that you should search for a baptism c1830, with a father George Woollard possibly working as a seaman. The evidence from the 1871 census suggests that Frederick was born in Sheerness, Kent, while his marriage certificate states that he was living there when he married.
I would therefore suggest undertaking a precautionary search of baptisms in the vicinity of Sheerness, which was a parish on the Isle of Sheppey/Minster in Sheppey. It would be worth searching these records for any ‘Woollard’ and any baptism involving a George Woollard as the father. Where fathers’ occupations are given, search for any Woollards who were seamen.
In order to discover more about Frederick’s life more generally, you could try searching merchant seamen and/or military records on subscription sites such as findmypast.co.uk and ancestry.co.uk. You should also look there for a George Woollard, active c1830.
Regarding Frederick’s death, you have a couple of clues. You know he was living in Chatham in 1871, and when Frederick’s daughter, Eliza Jane, married for the first time in 1877, she described her father as deceased. So he appears to have died between 1871 and 1877, possibly in the Chatham area in the Medway district of Kent.
A search of the death index on freebmd.org.uk for a Frederick Woollard (using the ‘Phonetic search surnames’ option) who died in 1871–1877 points to a couple of records to order from www.gro.
gov.uk: 35-year-old Frederick ‘Willard’, registered in Q3 1872 in Medway (volume 2a, page 263), and 49-year-old Frederick George Woollard, registered in Q1 1877 in Poplar (volume 1c, page 405). If neither proves correct, try searching the burial registers for Chatham. Emma Jolly