Agnes May Rolfe - further update

 After sailing to a new life in America in 1904 Agnes married Abner Reeves in New Jersey in 1906. 

In 1920 Agnes applied for a passport for herself and her daughter Mildred and after her passport was issued in 1921 it can only be assumed she visited her family in the UK. Her passport application states that she intends to visit family in England 'as early as possible' which suggests that there was some urgent reason for her visit.

 

Mildred, who presumably visited her English relatives along with her mother, was the only child of Agnes and Abner. She was born on the 22 of April 1907 in Chatham, New Jersey.

By 1926 she was working as a stenographer and in July of that year she married Richard Sterling Shapter Jr. in Manhatten, New York. This marriage ended in divorce and four years later Mildred married Robert William Ely in Morristown, New Jersey. Mildred does not appear to have had any children and she died in September 1976 in New Jersey.

Agnes May Rolfe - an update

 Thanks to Judy Scott, a relative on my Stokoe branch of the family tree, Agnes has finally been tracked down in New Jersey, USA.

More to follow...

Henry Rolfe's parents and siblings

Now that I am certain I have gone as far as I can for the moment with Henry and Sarah’s children it is time to go back one further generation and look in to the lives of Henry and his siblings.

Henry’s parents were Silvanus Rolfe and his first wife Caroline Strange. Silvanus and Caroline were married on Christmas Day 1852 in Shalbourne Parish Church. Although both of them made their mark on the marriage entry both their witnesses signed. This I find somewhat strange as the witnesses appear to be Silvanus’s sister, Mary and Caroline’s sister, Ann. I suppose I had always assumed that if one child in the family could write then the likelihood was they all could. This does not appear to be the case.

On December the 23^rd 1851 a child, Silvanus, was baptized in Shalbourne Parish Church. The parish register does not show a father’s name but the child’s mother was Caroline Strange. In 1861 Silvanus Strange and his brother Henry Rolfe are staying with their uncle Isaac Strange. By 1871 Silvanus has the surname Rolfe and this is the name he seems to use for the rest of his life.

Silvanus was registered with the surname Strange and his birth registration can be found on freebmd:

Caroline Strange and Henry’s marriage ends with Caroline’s death late in 1865. They had seven children including ‘young’ Silvanus who I can only assume was a Rolfe (perhaps DNA testing will prove or disprove this eventually?).

The baptismal register for Shalbourne has entries for the following children:

1851 Silvanus Strange

1855 Henry Rolfe

1857 Sabina Rolfe

1859 Alfred Rolfe

1862 Ann Rolfe

1865 Joshua Rolfe died 1866

(not baptized but showing on GRO register 1853  Male Rolfe born 1853 and died 1853)

Joshua was baptized privately on October 22^nd 1865 and died early the following year. The five surviving children all lived to adulthood and were joined by half brothers and sisters after Henry married again on October 4^th 1867. He had a further eight children with his second wife Hannah Filewood.

Henry and Sarah's children - final tally

The last accessible census, filled out by Sarah, shows that she and Henry had eleven children 'born alive'; of those eleven, eight were still living early in 1911.

By searching the GRO online for Rolfe births in the Newbury registration district with mother's maiden name Bailey we arrive at ten births between 1877 and 1898. The convention of going home to mother for the first confinement appears to have been followed by Sarah and consequetly the first child, Alfred Thomas born in 1876, had his birth registered in Hungerford. The full list of children: 

1. 1876 Alfred Thomas
2. 1877 Agnes May
3. 1878 Thomas
4. 1880 Edith Flossie
5. 1881 Henry Stephen
6. 1883 Annie Julia
7. 1885 William James
8. 1888 Julia
9. 1891 Philip Lewis
10. 1896 Winifred Annie
11. 1898 Alice Mabel (showing as Mabel Alice on her marriage certificate) 

Thomas and Winifred both died under a year old and although the death registration for Annie Julia has not yet been found I think it is very probable that she also died as a baby. Of the other eight children all survived to adulthood, all married, with only Agnes May's marriage details still to be discovered.

The 1939 Register

At the outbreak of war on the 3rd of September 1939, the British Government declared that September the 29^th would be National Registration Day. Over 41 million people were issued with identity cards on that day and a register was compiled of every household in the UK. This register is now available online and provides extra information for family historians amongst others.

Mabel Alice Rolfe had been married for 20 years by 1939 to Douglas Thomson. Douglas was employed as an Aircraft Panel Beater and the couple were living at 85 Jenkins Grove, Portsmouth.

Extract from 1939 Register for Mabel and Douglas Thomson

A record is officially closed if it is possible for the person to still be living; is it feasible that the two entries underneath Mabel and Douglas are children of the couple?  I have come across a boy and girl born to a Rolfe/Thomson couple within the right time frame. An Eileen D Thomson who married twice, the first time in 1943 to a person called Walter Davies and in 1950 Eileen Davies nee Thomson married Thomas Wheeler. A Raymond J Thomson married Hazel M Slater in 1942. Did Mabel and Douglas have children? If so are these the right offspring? Did they themselves have children? If so where are they, will they contact this blog at some stage to add even more information to the Rolfe family history?

Extract from 1939 Register for William and Elizabeth Rolfe 

10 Back Roker Terrace in Sunderland where William and Elizabeth Rolfe are shown living is, I assume, the cottage behind the Roker Hotel. 

Extract from 1939 Register for Alf and Rose Rolfe

This register entry finally gives the clue needed to track down  the name of Alf's wife. Although known as Rose it appears that her full name was Emily Rose Gubbin and that she married Alf in 1932. With this information it should have been easy enough to find where she was born but no such luck. Her birth date is shown as the 13th of May 1890 but I cannot find a birth registration for her. As she and Alf did not marry until 1932 it is possible that Emily Rose had been married before and that the marriage registration shows her married name. Something to research later.

Extract from 1939 Register for Julia and Alfred Colmer

Julia and Alf Colmer are living at 186A Alexandra Road, Hampstead in London and Alf is working as a carpenter and joiner.

Extract from 1939 Register for Philip Rolfe

Philip appears to be at work as a nurse on the day the register was taken, there is no sign of Harriet.

Henry Stephen Rolfe and Sarah (Sally) Violet Mary Brush

With thanks to John Taylor, a  relative from the Brush side, I now have a wedding photograph of Harry and Sally!

William's family and the budgie

In 1934 whilst living in The Roker Hotel the family budgerigar went missing. Judging by the advertisement in the 'Lost' column of The Sunderland Echo the budgie was a well loved pet.

I wonder if it was ever found!

Sarah Bailey - update

Press reports show that Sarah Bailey died on the 4th of January 1939 after a fall at Alf's home. Although the second report from the Portsmouth Evening News states Alf's surname as Shersby, I am certain that he never changed his name to that of his step-father.

Thomas Shersby, Sarah's second husband, died eight years before Sarah aged 81.

Portsmouth Evening News 6 January 1939

Portsmouth Evening News 7 January 1939

(FreeBMD Death Thomas Shersby Dec qtr 1931 Hartley W 2c 219)

Henry Stephen Rolfe - Bandmaster

I've no idea when this photo was taken but I understand that Harry created or at least helped to create a military unit band which later became the Mauritius Police Band. Locals were recruited as there was a shortage of musicians for the band. A Hall of Fame for the Police Band is to be created at the police barracks (or perhaps it already has by now) which may prove useful in shining some light on Harry’s involvement with the band.

7254 William James Rolfe - York and Lancaster Regiment

Born on the 12th June 1885, William James was the fifth of eight children born to Sarah and Henry Rolfe in the small village of Wickham in Berkshire.

William's baptism certificate

By the age of fifteen William was working as a cattleman on a local farm but a couple of years later had changed his employment to that of carpenter, possibly working for his father who was by that time a self-employed wood sawyer. 

He started his military career in the militia, serving as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps; five months later at the age of seventeen he enlisted in the regular army, following his older brother Alf into the York and Lancaster Regiment. 


William trained as a signaller and served in that capacity during his ten years in India with the 1st battalion of the Yorks and Lancs.

William Rolfe - military telegraphist certificate

After 10 years with the regiment's 1st battalion he returned to the UK not long after the outbreak of WW1. Other than a short spell in France during 1915 William spent the war in England joining the regiment's 3rd and reserve battalion in July 1917 as it's signalling sergeant.

William Rolfe - Signalling Sergeant and Instructor 3rd Battalion Yorks and Lancs

Another short spell in France from the 5th November 1918 until 18th January 1919 was followed by three years in England and 3 years in Solingen, Germany.

William Rolfe arrowed with regiment in Solingen, Germany

  The rest of his service was spent both in England and Germany. William retired from the army in 1927 after 24 years service.

William Rolfe back row middle

William joined JW Cameron and Co. and managed the Roker Hotel on the seafront at Roker in the 1930's and 40's.  He retired to Ashbrooke in Sunderland where he died at home on the 11th of September 1950.

Sunderland Echo Tuesday Sept 12, 1950

Mabel Alice Rolfe

Mabel Alice was born in Wickham on the 13th September 1899 and was the youngest of the Rolfe family. She started at Welford and Wickham Primary School in September 1901 and left in July 1904. Her short time at the local school tends to suggest that the family moved to Farnborough in the summer of 1904.


Nothing more is known about Mabel other than she married Douglas Thomson at St Marks Church, South Farnborough in 1919 and died in Victoria, Australia aged 75.

Marriage Entry for Douglas and Mabel

Alfred (Alf) Rolfe - York and Lancaster Regiment

Alfred Thomas (Alf) was born in Wickham in 1876 and served in the York and Lancaster Regiment, the same regiment as his brother William. 

Before joining the army, and certainly by age 14, Alf was working as a sawyer of timber like his father. After leaving the army he ran a tobacco and sweet shop in Southsea. He married someone called Emily Rose and they had no children. Alf's mother Sarah (nee Bailey) lived with them and died after falling down the stairs.

Alf Rolfe - Yorks and Lancs Regiment

From the National Probate Calendar we know that Alf and Rose lived at 70 Bradford Road in Southsea and that Alf died on the 13th of December 1960 in St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth.

Julia (Jude) Rolfe

Julia was born in Wickham in 1888 and nothing is known about her until 1918 when she marries Alfred Colmer, a veteran of the first world war, in Hartley Wintney registration district (as Farnborough came under Hartley Wintney I'm sure that the marriage took place in Farnborough where the family appear to have lived). 


In December 1925 Julia arrived in Southampton from South Africa, where she and her husband  were living. Accompanying Julia to England were her sister Flossie and young nephew Maurice. They had obviously come to visit the family. Early the following year the Colmers emigrated to the United States from Cape Town, living for a while in North Hillside Avenue in Chatham, New Jersey. It wasn't long before they travelled, yet again, to visit Flossie in South Africa calling in at London on their way back. They arrived in the UK on the 4th August aboard the SS Dunluce Castle and by the 28th August they were boarding the RMS Mauretania for their journey back to the United States. 

RMS Mauretania

I've no idea how enjoyable their trip on the Mauretania was but they were not welcomed with open arms on their arrival in New York. They were detained by the Immigrant Inspector as "aliens held for special inquiry". The reason for detention appeared to be that they were considered "LPC" or those who were likely to be a burden on the public purse - LPC standing for Likely Public Charge and "PH" which appears to denote a physical handicap. They were two of the luckier ones and after only 30 minutes of interrogation they were allowed entry in to "the land of the free"!

By 1930 they were renting a house in Livingston, New Jersey where Alfred worked as a carpenter and joiner in the building trade. That year they decided to return to the UK on board the Mauretania and gave their intended address as 6 Alhambra Road, Southsea.


By the 1940's they were living in St John's Wood in London.