A Puzzle Still Unresolved!

Two weeks ago I wrote about a family 'secret' that I hope to unlock upon receipt of some documents from the National Archives.  Whilst waiting for these, I've busied myself looking into the family of my great-aunt's ex-husband.  I found one of his siblings in the 1911 Census, living in the village of Finningham, where I didn't think I'd found any relatives up to now.  As I scrolled through my spreadsheet to enter the details, however, I found I was wrong.  Already there was the Game family, the entry for which bore a number of anomalies.  Since I couldn't remember them, I retraced my steps to find out more.

Walter Game was born in Rickinghall Superior on New Year's Eve at the end of 1866.  In the spring of 1891, he married Ellen Kerridge, some three years his junior ... and many months pregnant!  Ellen was one of the 'distant twigs' related to my cousin's husband - his first cousin twice removed, in fact - and she was added to my records as part of the 'great clear-up' following my mammoth Golden Wedding exercise at the start of last year ... which is why her married name meant nothing to me!  I later discovered that she is also distantly related to me.  Through my father's family, she is my third cousin, once removed.

Walter and Ellen settled in Rickinghall, and began to raise a family with daughters Lily, born in their first summer there, Maud Ellen, born early in 1893 and Daisy Jane, born late in 1898.  Their fourth child was born in the summer of 1900 but sadly, either as a direct result of the birth or very soon afterwards, Ellen died.  Walter was distraught; it appears that he didn't even think to register the child's birth ... although Ellen's death is registered.  There was no way he could look after a new-born child and work to provide for his other three daughters.  He engaged a housekeeper, one Sarah Haddock, to cater for their needs and in the 1901 Census, he is shown as a horseman on a farm, with the two eldest girls attending the local school.  The baby, who was given the names Ellen Sparkes: the spark of life her mother left, is recorded with Ellen's parents and siblings, some 17 miles away in Old Buckenham.

The little girl didn't stand much chance without her mother, however, and lived just to the age of three, staying with her grandparents for the rest of her short life.  By the end of 1905, Walter had established a new relationship and married Elizabeth Seeley.  Soon his elder children left home and found work.  In 1911 Maud was a servant at a hotel in Felixstowe and her father's entry - the one that prompted this reverie - shows the household moved from Rickinghall to Church Farm, Finningham.  On the face of it, a normal household had emerged from the tragedy of the past.  Walter was listed as a waggoner and, in addition to his new wife, were shown his younger daughter Daisy, now 12, and an 8-year-old boarder May Garner; the two girls were at school.

One of the advantages of seeing the 1911 Census on line is the fact that we can see a facsimile of the actual form completed by our ancestors.  I mentioned at the start that there were some anomalies here; this particular form is the invitation to a mystery, only part of which have I solved.  It appears that Walter entered his own name, that of his wife and their ages ... and signed the form at the bottom.  All the other details were added by another hand and using a different ink, so possibly at a different time and/or place.  The information presented for Walter and Daisy appears, if not correct (and who can judge that after 118 years?), then at least plausible, and correct as to their ages and birthplace.  However, unlike the majority of women, Elizabeth declined to provide the detail of how long she had been married to Walter and the statistics regarding any children they had had, leaving all those boxes completely blank.  And whoever filled in the rest of the form claimed not to know where either Elizabeth or the 8-year-old boarder May had been born.

Were these details genuinely unknown to a third party who completed the form?  Or did Elizabeth fill in the form, having some reason for not admitting them?  After many attempts to find out more, I discovered that Elizabeth was born Elizabeth Coe, daughter of Edward & Hannah, in Ixworth during the latter part of 1856.  At the age of 14, she was kitchen maid to the vicar of Earls Colne in Essex and in 1879 she married a bricklayer, Samuel Seeley, who was a few years older.  They lived in Euston, over towards Thetford, but never had any family.  When Samuel died in 1899, Elizabeth stayed in the village and ran a grocery shop from her home.  What brought Walter Game and her together we don't know, and nor do we know why he didn't complete the census form he'd started in 1911.

The other mystery is the boarder.  I've been unable to trace the birth of a May Garner of that age - a challenge made more difficult by the absence of her birthplace.  It's possible, of course, that her name was changed, or that she was known by a different name than that in which she was registered.  There is no way of knowing.

When Elizabeth died in 1934, her age was recorded as 75, consistent with what had been given in that census.  Walter obviously came to terms with his earlier traumas;  in 1939 he was retired and living alone in Finingham and he survived just long enough to see the end of the war.