George Henry Steward, b 1819 Southwark

[Andrew Mead]

Trying to find parents of George Henry Steward, my gg grandfather. I have him in 1851 census, age 32, born Southwark. married to Elizabeth nee Forsdick (HO107/1576; Folio 535; Page 017; Sch 041). He died in 1860 so is not in 1861 census. The marriage was 7 December 1845 at St George, Southwark, but, very helpfully, his father is given as Blank Steward - i.e. no first name! How helpful. Was he actually base born? I cannot find him in 1841 census, trying all sorts of name variations/searches. Ancestry's LMA archives don't appear to have him, so my only information is that from 1851 census. There are too many Steward wills to buy them all at £3.50 a time in the hope that one of them may be his father, so I am open to any suggestions as to where to go now.

[t@nya]

The only idea I have is to check Steward baptisms for Southwark around 1819 and do research to try and find out whether the parents of those children are also the parents of your George Henry. There's a Samuel and Esther and a Samuel and Hannah baptising children in the area around that time.

[t@nya]

I see there's a Jane Brook aunt to George Henry living with him in the 1851 census, 62. born 1789 Norwich, Norfolk. dependent on nephew. That could be a worthwhile line of investigation.

Additional information: unfortunately, Samuel and Esther married 26 May 1820, which I think rules them out.

[Andrew Mead]

Thanks for those. However, there is no name convention which would indicate his father to be a Samuel - it does not seem to occur in the family later on. Although Jane Brook is given as 'aunt, dependent on nephew' I suspect she is actually related to Elizabeth, George's wife, whose grandmother was Brook. I never trust relationships beyond son/daughter in censuses, e.g. step son often means son-in-law.
The lack of a father's name on his marriage certificate suggests he may of been base born, and if so, it is possible that Steward was his father's name which he adopted later, but not his baptismal name. Oh dear!

[t@nya]

I checked the IGI batch numbers page, looking for any George or George Henry baptised around 1819 in Southwark. There were just two candidates:

George Todhunter, baptised 29 June 1819, Saint Georges London Road, Southwark, Surrey, son of George and Mary
George Blick, baptised 16 April 1820, Walworth Locks Field Chapel, York Street Independents, Southwark, Surrey, son of William and Sarah.

A bit of a long shot: maybe the father died young and he took on the name of his stepfather.

Of course, if that is the case, there are a lot more candidates found by doing a search on Ancestry. At least five George Henry's I could see and a lot more plain Georges. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.