An Unexpected Hint Unveils...What?

How many of you have come across a set of record hints from Ancestry for someone in your tree and they just don't make any sense? This was the case for me with a second cousin twice removed by the name of William John Gunnee.

But first I need to set the stage and lay out what I thought I knew about him.

I originally came across him in the 1891 census of England living with his father Samuel I Gunnee, his mother Rosa, and sister Florence R in London.

1891 census of England, London, Civil Parish of St John Zachary, Cripplegate Ward, folio 77, page 5, William J Gunnee; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012); citing PRO RG 12/239.

From various other records I had learned that his father was Samuel Ingmire Gunnee (1850-1897), a carpenter, and his mother was Rosa Cleaver. It appears he was taken on by Robert James Snell according to the transcription from Findmypast in the "Thames Watermen & Lightermen 1688-2010" record set from their "Binding Records 1692-1949"¹. It was from those records that I learned that he was most likely born on 28 Jan 1882 in Hammersmith².

I also learned that on 8 May 1904 he married Maud Louisa Mansfield, the daughter of Harry Mansfield, a lighterman.

"London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921," database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), William John Gunnee and Maud Louisa Mansfield, married 8 May 1904; citing London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Michael And All Angels, Bromley, Register of marriages, P88/MIC, Item 024.

He had a son, Harold Shiel Gunnee, on 6 Jan 1906⁴. At that time William John Gunnee was no longer a lighterman but was a member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

However, in the 1911 census he is no longer with the family and his wife, "Maude Louise Gunnee" is recorded as a widow and living in the household of Henry George Pocock. Unfortunate there are a number of corrections made in pencil to this page that are very hard to decipher, especially when it comes to the relationships to the head of the household.

1911 census of England, London, 8 Woollett Street, Poplar, Household of Henry George Pocock; digital images, Ancestry,com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012); citing  RG 78 PN 60, RG 14 PN 1718, registration district (RD) 22, sub district (SD) 3, enumeration district (ED) 2, schedule number (SN) 66.

I had assumed that William John Gunnee had died between 1901 and 1911 but I couldn't find any records of him in the civil registration death index. So I left him in 2012 and continued on working on other family members and branches of my tree. That was until I recently started reviewing the 1939 Register of England and Wales. I was looking for his son Harold in that registration and figured I'd also see if anything had popped up on Ancestry for his father William John.

A hint for a "William J Gunnee" marrying Ethel M Millen in 1907 in New South Wales showed up in the list of possible hints on Ancestry. I really do try to avoid only using indexes since often, as in this case, there just isn't enough information to make an informed decision. Fortunately, with very little effort, I found the marriage registration in the "Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011" collection on Ancestry.

What do I find but a William John Gunnee, a bachelor, born in London, England about 1882 working as fireman with the Castlereagh Fire Brigade, and his parents are Samuel Gunnee (deceased), a carpenter, and Rosa Cleaver. This really does look like this is the William John Gunnee that married Maud Louisa Mansfield. So it appears that he left his wife and son in England, moved to Australia, and remarried. I'd hazard a guess that the odds of two distinct William John Gunnees with the exact same parents and other identifying details are pretty darn slim!
 
As I carried on in my research into William John Gunnee I see that he appears to have settled down in New South Wales and had a family of at least five children, three of which survived to adulthood. He outlived his first Australian wife, Ethel May Millen (~1887-1938), and married the widow Caroline Edith (nee Jackson) Ireland in 1939⁵. He and his second (or is that third) wife, Caroline, sailed from Sydney in early 1953 and arrived in Tilbury, Essex, England on 13 Apr 1953 on board the Strathmore⁶. However, he never made it back to Australia. On 20 May 1953 he died while in England⁷.

From a family history point of view, this make for one "interesting" story to follow⁸. As we all should know, there is always more than one perspective on a story. With these events taking place over a century ago, most likely only the immediate family members might actually know what occurred.

The story isn't quite over yet. I'm still researching what happened to his first wife, Maud Louisa Mansfield. Maybe I'll have a follow up post about her.

This just goes to show that you need to follow up on each and every hint that Ancestry provides by viewing the record and not just the transcription or index. Sometimes those unexpected and unusual hints can make the story of your family even more interesting.

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1. "Thames watermen and lightermen 1688-2010," database, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), William John Gunnee, bound 8 Mar 1898; citing Binding Records 1692-1949, Thames watermen and lightermen.

2. Yes, I have a to-do item to order his birth registration³ but there is only so much money in the budget for genealogy research.

3. FreeBMD, "England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Jul 2012), entry for William John Gunnee, volume 1a, page 245, Mar quarter 1882, Fulham district; citing the General Register Office's England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes.

4. England and Wales, birth certificate for Harold Shiel Gunnee, born 6 Jan 1906; citing 1c/375/201, Mar quarter 1906, Stepney registration district, Shadwell and Ratchiff sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

5. St. John (Rockdale, New South Wales, Australia), Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011, "Rockdale St John 1938-1942,"  marriage of William John Gunnee and Caroline Edith Ireland (nee Jackson), 12 Oct 1939; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Jul 2019).

6. Ancestry.com, "UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960," database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Jul 2019), entry for William Gunnee, arriving Tilbury, 13 Apr 1953; citing The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: BT26; Piece: 1297; Original data: Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Inwards Passenger Lists. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Series BT26, 1,472 pieces.

7. "Death notice for William John Gunnee," The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 1953, p. 14, col. 2; digital images, Trove (trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 7 Jul 2019).

8. Come on, who among you don't like to have a black sheep or two in the family to keep things interesting?