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View Full Version : Joseph Woodburn USA after 1921



justanne
19-02-2006, 3:35 PM
This has been my "brick wall" for quite some time now, so am hoping someone might have better sleuthing skills than I have !!

JOSEPH WOODBURN born 1892 Darwen Lancashire. He left the UK in 1921 with his wife of 2 years, Mehetabel Alice, leaving a young child behind. They sailed to New York

His wife must have returned to England, at some stage, as I found her returning to the USA (Boston) in 1922 along with her parents & an 18 month old child, Irene Amelia Woodburn. According to the records they were going to join Joseph in New Bedford. According to the records the address was 98, Reynold St, New Bedford. Massechusettes & Joseph had paid for all 4 passages.

According to my dad there was a lot of scandal attached to Joseph's relationship with his wife - he was under the impression Joseph had left her in England for "another woman" in the USA, which clearly wasn't the case. However this happened before my dad was born in 1928 & the family lost touch with Joseph, until the early 1960s when my grandmother, Joseph's sister, asked the Salvation Army to find him.

They did find him & I remember him visiting us in 1963 or 4, just after his wife, Florence, had died.

At some stage he ( probably ?) married FLORENCE MAYE SLOANE (her previous married name ) - according to her obituary in 1964, she had a son HERBERT H SLOANE (b 1927) & a daughter KATHRYN ( b 1921) from her previous marriage. I found her on the 1930 census) She was born in Massena (is that New York?) in 1896. She was a member of the Denver Episcopelian Church. At the time of her death they were living in Kern County California.

I'm TRYING to find out what happened to his first wife MEHETABEL ALICE (nee Nutter, born 1892). I don't know if they were divorced, or if he just left her. Also their daughter Irene Amelia Woodburn, born 1921. My dad thinks he had two d Joseph in New Bedford. According to the records the address was 98, Reynold St, New Bedford. Massechusettes & Joseph had paid for all 4 passages.

According to the Social Security Death Index Joseph got his registration number in New Jersey.(Was that in the 1930s?), so presume he was in that area at some time

When he died, in 1967, he was living in Kern County, California & appears to have had several addresses in that area, including Bakersfield & Oildale.

I have tried (and failed) to find Joseph Woodburn in the 1930 US census records - I can't find his wife Mehetabel (or Mayetabel) Alice either, but she might have returned to the UK, after Joseph left her. She was born in Haslingden Lancs, the only child of John Nutter (b 1861) & Ann (b 1860) who went with her when she returned to the USA in 1922. Joseph had paid for all the passages.

My dad would really like to find a living relative of Joseph's. I would just like to find out what happened to his first wife & how (& where) he came to meet Florence Maye. I thought the 1930 census might give a few clues, but to date I've found exactly nothing !!!

Here's hoping !!

Anne in Lancs

Yellabelly
04-03-2009, 8:01 PM
Hi I have just joined this site in an aim to try and track down my grandfathers family, His name was Michael James Maye born in Ireland in 1910 moved to England in 1920's.
When I was a child in mid 1960's he had 2 sisters or maybe a sister and sister in law come from America to england to see him they were called Flo and Bea, he also had a nephew called John with his wife visit him in England around1970 I think they were from Boston area. Maybe your Florence Maye is the family connection I am looking for!

Yellabelly

Jan1954
04-03-2009, 8:05 PM
Hello Yellabelly - welcome to Brit-Gen

Unfortunately, Justanne has not visited the forum since April of last year and so may not see your message. Hopefully, she will have email notification enabled, which could bring her back.

Thank you for your interest,