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John Matthews Aston 1866

thanks MWS..think i will start again tomorrow when the grey cells are more alert

lyn
Thanks for the info. I can tell you that John Matthews died in 1920. He and Bertha had 6 children the eldest was Annie and the youngest was my grandfather Sidney Victor Matthews. I have tried Charles from Portsmouth and cannot be certain that this ties in. The post regarding Charles from Oldham I will look into and see if that helps and also the mmn lees as the same Christian name as johnsdaughter
 
Thank you all for your responses. I do appreciate the time you put in to help my search, unfortunately I cannot confirm any of them and some can definitely be ruled out. So I am trying another approach. I know that John Matthews married in St Mary’s church, Aston to Bertha Harrison in 1890. He died in 1920. I am wondering if he was baptised in St Mary’s, which I am hoping would show his birth parents. I understand the church was demolished a long time ago. If anyone can or would like to help solve this mystery I would be very grateful. Kind regards Sue
 
Going back to your previous post, John and Bertha appear to have had 8 children - 7 daughters and a son - with 2 more possibles that died young.

In regards the baptism, there only appears to be one between 1864 and 1868 for a John Matthews in Bham (online) and that is for a John William in 1868 and his father was Joseph. There are not many registrations in the area for a John Matthews around 1866, there is one in 1865 mmn Rees (prev. I think I said there wasn't) but he appears to die young.

If the John Matthews in the workhouse in 1881 (mentioned above) is your one then it probable he wasn't born in the area.
 
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Thank you for the info. Johns surviving son and youngest child was my grandad (Sidney Victor Matthews). The other 6 children were all girls. The eldest child who was a boy died young and one of the twin girls died at or before birth.

It is possible that John was not in Middlesexand moved to Aston but that tie in with his father Charles. John did go to a blue coat school in Aston but I cannot put the pieces together before 1881 regarding where he lived or who his mother was or whether he had any siblings. My grandad when John died and knew nothing about his fathers family apart from he was an “orphan” who went to a blue coat school and was going to be adopted by a well to do family but he was naughty and so they sent him back to the home.
 
Is it possible then that his name was changed to his adoptive parents' name and not changed back?

The twin probably would not have been registered if she was still born.

The daughters I have are - Annie Elizabeth 1891, Rose May 1895, Daisy Lilian 1896, Bertha 1898, Nellie Violet 1902, Doris Ivy 1903, Eveline Beatrice 1905 - all 7 living to at least 6.

John Henry Dec 1893 - 1893 possibly the son that died young.
 
You are spot on. They did live to adulthood and John Henry would have been the eldest child. The twin girl was not registered and I think it was stillborn. There wasn’t a record of her.
 
Is it possible then that his name was changed to his adoptive parents' name and not changed back?

The twin probably would not have been registered if she was still born.

The daughters I have are - Annie Elizabeth 1891, Rose May 1895, Daisy Lilian 1896, Bertha 1898, Nellie Violet 1902, Doris Ivy 1903, Eveline Beatrice 1905 - all 7 living to at least 6.

John Henry Dec 1893 - 1893 possibly the son that died young.
 
I have asked this question about his surname and was told that the people who were to adopt him didn’t because he misbehaved and that his surname was never changed.

You are spot on. They did live to adulthood and John Henry would have been the eldest child. The twin girl was not registered and I think it was stillborn. There wasn’t a record of her.
 
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