Looking For Family - Rapley

[Missiletech]

Hi, my name is Ronald Thomas. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1950. I am looking for relatives in England.

My Grandmother Annie Rapley was born 14 November 1894 (one of 11 children) (Father: Stephen Rapley and Mother: Eliza Crane) and in 1920 supposedly lived in Jubilee Cottage, Burrow Hill, Chobham Surrey, England. This information is from her Alien Free Information 22 September 1920. It is my understanding that she was the only one of her family to come to the United States. I have gotten bits and pieces of information but am hoping this new information will get me closer to the correct information. I was in contact with a Shannon Fuller some years back who had some information but lost touch with her over the years. I have a copy of my grandmother's passport if any one is interested I can sent it to them with other information I have gathered.

I am interested in any and all information on my family history that I can obtain. Thanks in advance.

Ron Thomas

[Nicolina]

the 1901 Census (RG13/595/46 Page 17) for 3, Jubilee Cottages, Burrow Hill, Chobham, Surrey has:
Stephen RAPLEY b. abt. 1864, occ: Bricklayer
Eliza RAPLEY b. abt. 1868
William RAPLEY b. abt. 1892
Emily RAPLEY b. abt. 1894
Annie RAPLEY b. abt. 1895
Eliza RAPLEY b. abt. 1897
Arthur RAPLEY b. abt. 1898
Stephen RAPLEY b. abt. 1900

all born Chobham

in 1911 the family were still living at Jubilee Cottages (RG14PN3022 RG78PN106 RD32 SD3 ED8 SN140) plus:
Harry b. abt. 1904
Mabel b. abt. 1907

however daughters Emily, Annie & Eliza were not with them.

[notanotherminer]

Hi Ron

Are you looking for census details of Annie and her parents or do you already have these? Your comment that she was one of 11 children implies that you know a fair amount already.

I was also wondering if you were wanting to go backwards in time or forwards. If the latter please be aware that our rules prohibit the details of living persons from being posted on the Forum (Please see our Acceptable user Policy). If members can help with living relatives they may of course contact you by private message.

Do you have the family in all census years and have you got further back than Stephen and Eliza? If you let us know briefly what you already know it will prevent our members from researching unnecessary information.

[Nicolina]

in 1911 (RG14PN3029 RG78PN107 RD33 SD1 ED2 SN36) Emily Mary was a General Domestic Servant for the JEFFES family at Hendrew Heathside Crescent, Woking

I'm having difficulty finding Annie & Eliza

[Missiletech]

Hi Ron

Are you looking for census details of Annie and her parents or do you already have these? Your comment that she was one of 11 children implies that you know a fair amount already.

I was also wondering if you were wanting to go backwards in time or forwards. If the latter please be aware that our rules prohibit the details of living persons from being posted on the Forum (Please see our Acceptable user Policy). If members can help with living relatives they may of course contact you by private message.

Do you have the family in all census years and have you got further back than Stephen and Eliza? If you let us know briefly what you already know it will prevent our members from researching unnecessary information.

No, I am looking for family history. I would like to make contact with some living relatives to ask them for current history if that is possible.

Here is what I know from one of my Aunt's

Husband: Stephen Rapley
Wife: Eliza Crane
Died: 13 November 1946 in: London, England

CHILDREN
1 Name: William Rapley
2 Name: Stephan Rapley
3 Name: Emily Rapley Married: Spouse: Frank
4 Name: Arthur Rapley Married: Spouse: Lily
5 Name: Fred Rapley Married: Spouse: Hilda
6 Name: George Rapley Married: Spouse: Alice
7 Name: Indigo Rapley
8 Name: Mabel Rapley Married: Spouse: Robert Burden
9 Name: Eliza Rapley
10 Name: Harry Rapley Married: Spouse: Noreen
11 Name: Annie Rapley Born: 14 November 1894 in: Chobham, Surrey, England
Died: 19 June 1973 in: Cleveland, Ohio
Married: 08 February 1921 in: Toledo, Ohio
Spouse: Samuel Thomas (Salvatora Tomas)

I do not have any other information other than Stephen the father died while in London and was buried there and that a Vicar? denied moving the body back to their home in Surrey. No birth dates on any one other than my Grandmother and death dates only on my Grandmother and her Mother. So, any sources to answer questions like these would be greatly appreciated. I do have her passport http://www.multiwebs.net/misc/annie_rapley_passport.pdf and the number but do not know if that will get me any information.

[Coromandel]

A really useful site for locating birth, marriage and death registrations in England and Wales from 1837 is FreeBMD, which you can find at freebmd.org.uk (put "www." in front).

Searching FreeBMD for Stephen Rapley marrying Eliza Crane, there is a possible match in 1890 in the Chertsey district (which would cover Chobham). This would fit well with the approximate date of birth of their first known child, William (approx 1892) as shown in the 1901 census given by Nicolina in post #2.

Armed with the details and reference numbers shown on FreeBMD, you could send off for a copy of their marriage certificate. You may also be able to identify the children's birth registrations, and perhaps their marriages, from FreeBMD.

For more recent events (not yet transcribed by FreeBMD volunteers) you could try the BMD indexes on Ancestry.

[notanotherminer]

I do have her passport

You're very lucky to have that. It's a good photo.

Thanks for answering the question. Hopefully we can now get a bit further back for you, although it's likely that you might need to get a couple of certificates.

[notanotherminer]

The only death registration that fits his year of birth that I can find is this one:

Rapley Stephen Jun qtr 1930 Chertsey (Surrey) vol 2a page 113, aged 66

[olliecat]

No birth dates on any one other than my Grandmother and death dates only on my Grandmother and her Mother. So, any sources to answer questions like these would be greatly appreciated.

Another site that is useful is Family Search. Sometimes you can find relevant baptisms, marriages and burials amongst other things. For example, a possible christening record for Stephen (based on the census data) is...

name: Stephen Rapley
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 22 Nov 1863
baptism/christening place: Saint Lawrence, Chobham, Surrey, England
father's name: Inigo Rapley
mother's name: Frances

www.
familysearch.org/

I see Stephen had a child named Indigo (from your list.) It would of course be best to get hold of Stephen's marriage certificate first in order to make sure of his father's name.

[notanotherminer]

Armed with the details and reference numbers shown on FreeBMD, you could send off for a copy of their marriage certificate.

All birth, marriage and death certificates for England can be purchased online from the General Register Office for £9.25. Never buy your certificates on genealogy sites or you'll be charged much more than that. You'll find their website here