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clayton family history, smethwick

  • Thread starter Thread starter stbrncuss
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stbrncuss

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Hello, I am recently designated my family historian. My greatgrandfather sailed through Ellis Island to the States in 1923 from Smethwick. The only pre states info we have on the family in the UK is that my great great uncle Meshack may have been a Victoria cross recipient in WW1 and that my great great grandmother was possibly ubiquitsly known as 'queen of the gypsies' I am looking for any information that may exist on this line of my family. Thank you in advance.
gary clayton
 
Welcome to the forum Stbrncuss. Am sure you will find what you seek here.

Not sure whether Meshack is a christian or surname., but neither it nor Clayton appear to be on the Victoria Cross Register.
Mike
 
Hi there,good luck in your family history research, and welcome to the forum.Will this help at all?

1901 England Census
about Meshach ClaytonName:Meshach ClaytonAge:4Estimated Birth Year:abt 1897Relation:SonFather's Name:WilliamMother's Name:MaryGender:MaleWhere born:Smethwick, Staffordshire, EnglandCivil Parish:SmethwickEcclesiastical parish:St Michael and All AngelsCounty/Island:StaffordshireCountry:England


Registration district:Kings NortonSub registration district:HarborneED, institution, or vessel:31Neighbors:View others on page Household schedule number:59Household Members:NameAgeEmily Clayton14Frederick Clayton16Joseph Clayton11Lilly Clayton2Mary Clayton40Meshach Clayton4William Clayton48William Clayton9
 
stbrncuss said:
Hello, I am recently designated my family historian. My greatgrandfather sailed through Ellis Island to the States in 1923 from Smethwick. The only pre states info we have on the family in the UK is that my great great uncle Meshack may have been a Victoria cross recipient in WW1 and that my great great grandmother was possibly ubiquitsly known as 'queen of the gypsies' I am looking for any information that may exist on this line of my family. Thank you in advance.
gary clayton
Click to expand...


Hi, www.ancestry.com are offering a free two week trial on their site, it may be of some use to you.. Genes Reunited is another good site to use... Don't look for info on there tho as is too expensive to view... but if you subscribe to it you can post on the message boards there, people on their will freely help you, a lot of them have acess to Ship Passenger Lists and American/Canadian census info, and other records,whay may help you, they found my Uncle who was adopted out to Austrailia in the 1950's! on a ship.. I now have an actual copy of the passenger list! I was amazed
 
Thank you all very much. The information that you have provided is great! It is a definate jumping off point head and shoulders above any info that I previously have had.
 
one other question. I have found no census info post 1901. Am in the process of registering for Ancestry.uk. but, is there an easier way to access UK census info?
 
1911 census not available until 2011.

1891 the family are at the same address as in 1901

32 Vittoria Street,Smethwick.
William Clayton age 40 Bricklayers lab b. Horsley
Mary age 29 born Southam
Francis age 11
John age 9
Frederick age 7
Emily age 4
Joseph age 2

1881
Is this where she got her name as Queen of the Gypsies
Dwelling: 3 Victoria Bds.
Census Place: Aston, Warwick, England
From the original entry which is very scrappy it appears that this is in Grosvenor Road.

Wm. CLAYTON M 29 M
Rel: Head
Occ: Bricklayers Laborer
CLAYTON M 20 F
Rel: Wife
Occ: Vendor Of Clothes Pegs
Frank CLAYTON 1 M Birmn, Warwick, England
Rel: Son

Meshach Clayton birth registered Sept 1896 Kings Norton ref. 6c 473

www.gro.gov.org

this site will enable you to get his birth certificate with his mothers maiden name to go further to find marriage.
 
stbrncuss said:
one other question. I have found no census info post 1901. Am in the process of registering for Ancestry.uk. but, is there an easier way to access UK census info?
Click to expand...

Here's some useful sites for you..... they are free to access imformtion

www.freebmd.org.uk - bdm from 1837 - 1940+ in some areas

www.freecen.org.uk has some census free. i think mainly 1881 and 1841 but they do have parts of others depending on what areas have been transcribed so far as it's ongoing all the time.. they also have a link to access some parish registers on there too if you look

www.familysearch.org.uk - the IGI is also free, they have a lot of parish registers online but some days you find them others you don't..have found a whole heap of christenings for my lot last week, this week they are gone, so wether they are offline as they are adding to them i don't know... maybe someone on here might know the answr to that haha

Hope some of that helps
 
Just like to add a note of caution with Familysearch,many of the records are submitted not extracted so cannot be relied on to be accurate.

The extracted records are never removed but if someone complains about the accuracy of a submitted record it may be taken off the site.
 
thanks for the warning. I have a few facts that I haven't released just as a source of winnowing but I do appreciate the heads up
 
If you look at the thread "Black Patch Gypsies" you might particularly be interested in contacting the author of #10.
 
1881
Is this where she got her name as Queen of the Gypsies
Dwelling: 3 Victoria Bds.
Census Place: Aston, Warwick, England
From the original entry which is very scrappy it appears that this is in Grosvenor Road.

Wm. CLAYTON M 29 M
Rel: Head
Occ: Bricklayers Laborer
CLAYTON M 20 F
Rel: Wife
Occ: Vendor Of Clothes Pegs
Frank CLAYTON 1 M Birmn, Warwick, England
Rel: Son

Meshach Clayton birth registered Sept 1896 Kings Norton ref. 6c 473


sorry, I do not understand the reference to 3 Victoria BDS.......in relation to 'queen of the gypsies'....please explain.
 
This is where they were living in 1881,the census record is very scrappy so they have not been able to index her christian name but it is obviously the family.

My remark was directed at her occupation,peg selling was the usual occupation of the gypsy womenfolk.
 
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Alberta, thank you for that. I was a tad confused. After reading a few of the other things that folks have refered me to I now understand much more. You folks really do have a great site here. Thanks again
 
1,2,3 and 4 Victoria Buildings were between 42 and 44 Grosvenor Road, Aston. Interestingly, the census lists the type of shops the premises were on Grosvenor Road:
No 38 was a Fish Shop, no 40 a Milk Shop, no 42 was unoccupied and no 44 was a Wool Shop.
 
The Queen of the gypsies could be a reference to the gypsy encampment on Black Patch Park. Try the Winson Green to Brookfields site run by Ted Rudge. His e mail address is https://www.ted.rudge.btinternet.co.uk/_winson_green.htm Black Patch is in Smethwick just outside Winson Green but because of its history Ted had included it and there are pictures of the gypsies one being of "Queen Henty"
 
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Hi, gary your person Meshach is a great great uncle of mine i have not done any research but if it helps he had two brothers Abednego and Shadrach all named
from the bible Shadrach, Meshach, (sometimes referred to collectively as The Three Young Men) were three friends of Daniel in the Bible whose Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, respectivel...

so if you do further research you should find these unusual names good luck

Just found out that their is a strong indication that Meshachs relatves are connected to the gypsies at black patch park
 
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Meshach was a first cousin to my Great-Grandmother Susannah Clayton. I have my family tree of Black Patch Clayton's and our ancestors for 8 generations dating back to the 1700s. If I can help anyone contact me.
 
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