The past couple of weeks have been hectic and the next couple promise to be just as busy, but today's plans to go to Library and Archives Canada to research the City Directories of Ottawa were shelved because of the snowstorm. It's not of epic proportions but bad enough to make the roads hazardous and I only have all-season tires, not snow tires. So - what does a frustrated genealogist do?
I had received a notice from the public library that there is a book on hold for me. I won't pick that up today either. I wanted to go online to the library site and make sure that any remaining holds were deferred until April after my return. There won't be a lot of time to read in the next 3 weeks. The main site was down but there were active links to some of the resources.
Holy smokes - there is access to Ancestry Library from home. I have my own subscription but thought I would check it out anyway. I'm not sure why I chose to look for a birth record of my uncle Francis Gilbert Sunderland, because I had it already, but as soon as I clicked the Search button, not only did his birth registration come up, that of my great aunt Serena Sunderland (Aunt Irene) pop up under the name Serena Raickstack. The reason for such a result, given the search parameters, is that her mother's name was Frances Sunderland.
I had long ago found a marriage for Frances Sunderland to Harry Raistrick in September of 1889, a week after her arrival in Canada with her brood of 5 young children. She was also pregnant at the time. So? Well Harry Raistrick lived in Bradford England and never came to Canada. The marriage was a sham, to give a father to Serena I suppose. Frances had been widowed in October of 1888 when James Sunderland died of pneumonia. Now there really was no reason for this fake marriage as she had recently arrived and nobody need ever have known her "situation". She could have claimed James' death to have been more recent.
Frances never used the surname Raistrick except, even though misspelled, on this registration which took place in October of 1890. The marriage was very real as a ceremony did take place and the marriage was registered. What wasn't real was the groom. Witnesses to the marriage were Abraham Taylor and Mona Pownall, Frances' sister. I can only speculate that perhaps Mona's husband George acted the part of the groom, Harry Raistrick. I can't find any evidence that this man ever set foot on Canadian soil. Abraham Taylor was Frances Sunderland's next door neighbour in the 1891 census, taken the year following Serena's birth. Frances was using her first married name, not Raistrick, nor was Serena ever known to use any surname but Sunderland prior to her marriage.
He was a very real person who lived in Bradford, England whence Frances had come. They must have been acquainted because she knew the rather unusual names of his parents which were recorded on the marriage cert. Perhaps they were very very well acquainted but we shall never know for sure.
I have often wondered how Frances got the money to travel to Canada. I wonder if the butcher, Harry Raistrick, might have helped out. This is pure conjecture on my part but it would make sense. If indeed he was the father of Serena, sending Frances and her children to Canada could preserve their secret. Harry already had a wife and children. To the best of my knowledge the Raistricks continued to live happily in Bradford, England. At least there are a number of records to say they were there for decades after 1890.
In later years Serena (Irene) acquired an attested birth certificate, signed by her sister Annie, possibly to get a passport. This certificate said that her father was James Sunderland and Annie said that she was present at the birth. When Serena was born Annie was 11 and most likely always did what she was told. She might never have questioned her sister's parentage or else kept her mother's secret.
The serendipity continues. I wonder what my next surprise will be!
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