Every Family Historian has one. Or several. Individuals that just refuse to
be found.
Sometimes it's a family legend that you can't find evidence for
(I've got one of those). Sometimes it's a person that seems to have sprung into existence
fully formed and immediately disappeared again.
Frederick Nursey was one of the latter. I came across him when I was
trawling the censuses for people born in Desborough who were 'prisoners' or
'inmates'. There he was, in 1881, at Forton Military Prison near
Alverstoke in Hampshire.
1881 census, Alverstoke
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
| Frederick Nursey |
Prisoner |
Unm |
23 |
|
Private, 58 Regiment |
Desborough |
I could not find a matching birth record or other census records. I tried
variants of his Christian name, including just the initial, and variants of
his surname, like 'Nussey'. No luck.
It continued to bug me that I could not trace this man. After a while I
came across his army
service records. Often these include the soldier's next of kin. Our
Fred's just said 'Prisoner'. Oh, very helpful!
There was a Frederick Nursey (transcribed 'Fredck Marsey' in
Ancestry) in the 1901 census for Kettering of the right age and birthplace,
but the household also included a John Nursey, 13 years older and born at
Kettering, described as his brother. I couldn't find a family with two such
brothers:
1901 census, Kettering
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
|
Frederick Nursey |
Head |
Mar |
43 |
|
Boot Maker |
Desboro |
|
Lucy Nursey |
Wife |
Mar |
|
44 |
|
Kettering |
|
Edith Nursey |
Daur |
|
|
9 |
|
Kettering |
|
William Nursey |
Son |
|
7 |
|
|
Kettering |
|
John Nursey |
Brother |
S |
56 |
|
Boot Finisher |
Kettering |
I tried the 1891 census again. Not finding a 'Frederick' or a 'Nursey'
born 1858 at Desborough, I looked for 'Lucy Nursey' (the wife in the 1901
census) born 1857 at Kettering. Still nothing, so I looked for just 'Lucy'
born 1857 Kettering, and there she was, transcribed as 'Lucy Kurry' with
husband Frederick, born at Kettering:
1891 census, Kettering
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
|
Fredrick Nursey |
Head |
Mar |
33 |
|
Shoe Rivetter |
Kettering |
|
Lucy Nursey |
Wife |
Mar |
|
35 |
|
Kettering |
|
Maud Ellen Nursey |
Daur |
|
|
7m |
|
Kettering |
|
John Nursey |
Boarder |
S |
44 |
|
Shoe Finisher |
Desboro |
|
Rebecca Nursey |
Boarder |
Wid |
|
70 |
|
Desboro |
The birthplaces are at variance with those in the later census, but that
does happen. Looking at the names and ages of Frederick, Lucy and John, this
does seem to be the same family as the one found in 1901.
I wondered if Rebecca Nursey was Frederick's mother - it's not unusual
for parents to appear as a boarder or lodger in the census - but what I
found in the 1881 census was that Rebecca was the mother of Lucy and John.
1881 census, Kettering
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
|
Samuel Nursey |
Head |
Mar |
66 |
|
Shoe Warehouseman |
Desboro |
|
Rebecca Nursey |
Wife |
Mar |
|
60 |
|
Desboro |
|
John Nursey |
Son |
Un |
34 |
|
Shoe Finisher |
Desboro |
|
Lucy Nursey |
Daur |
Un |
|
26 |
Shoe Machinist |
Desboro |
|
Mary J Nursey |
Daur |
Un |
|
23 |
Shoe Machinist |
Desboro |
|
Frederick Nursey |
Son |
|
15 |
|
Solicitors Gen Clerk |
Desboro |
Going back further, it emerged that John was the son of Rebecca's first
husband, and that his surname was originally Binley. He took his
stepfather's surname after his widowed mother remarried.
1851 census, Desborough
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
|
John Binley |
Head |
Marr |
36 |
|
Cordwainer |
Desborough |
|
Rebecca Binley |
Wife |
Marr |
|
30 |
|
Desborough |
|
Betty Binley |
daur |
|
|
7 |
Scholar |
Desborough |
|
John Binley |
son |
|
4 |
|
|
Desborough |
|
Eliza Binley |
daur |
|
|
11m |
|
Desborough |
Thinking about this informal change of surname of John's set me wondering
whether a similar thing had happened with my elusive Frederick.
I searched
for all the Fredericks born about 1858 at Desborough, looking for those who
had been present in the censuses for 1861 and 1871, but not after.
This gave me about half a dozen families. Looking at each in turn brought me
to Frederick Rowlett, the son of James Rowlett and Sarah Tomkins. I had
already found in my Desborough research that Sarah Rowlett had been working
as housekeeper for a widower, William Nursey, after she herself had been
widowed and that she had subsequently married him. It was evident from the
censuses that her younger children were born after she was widowed and
before she married William Nursey. Some were initially surnamed Rowlett and
subsequently took the surname Nursey:
1871 census, Desborough
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
|
William Nursey |
Head |
Widr |
54 |
|
Carpentry |
Desborough |
|
Sarah Rowlett |
|
|
|
46 |
Housekeeper |
Desborough |
|
William Rowlett |
Son |
Un |
15 |
|
Lab |
Desborough |
|
Frederick Rowlett |
Son |
|
12 |
|
Lab |
Desborough |
|
Mary Rowlett |
Daur |
|
|
9 |
Scholar |
Desborough |
|
Sarah A Rowlett |
Daur |
|
|
6 |
Scholar |
Desborough |
|
James Rowlett |
Son |
|
4 |
|
Scholar |
Desborough |
1881 census, Desborough
| Name |
Relation |
Cond. |
M. |
F. |
Occupation |
Birthplace |
|
William Nursey |
Head |
Mar |
62 |
|
Barber |
Desborough |
|
Sarah Nursey |
Wife |
Mar |
|
56 |
Shoe Fitter |
Desborough |
|
William Nursey |
Son |
Un |
25 |
|
Shoe Rivetter |
Kettering Northamptonshire |
|
Sarah Ann Nursey |
Daur |
|
|
16 |
Staymaker |
Desborough |
|
James Nursey |
Son |
|
14 |
|
Farm Labourer |
Desborough |
Frederick, of course, was in prison in 1881, not with
the rest of his family. I hunted for a death record for
Sarah's first husband and found it to be five years prior to Frederick's
birth. Bingo!
The final icing on the cake of satisfaction was the realisation that
Frederick's mother: Sarah Nursey, formerly Rowlett, nee Tomkins was the
sister of Lucy's mother: Rebecca Nursey, formerly Binley, nee Tomkins.
Frederick had married his cousin.