William Arthur Seymour; Canadian descent.

[mikefen]

My Great Grandfather, William Arthur Seymour, (I’ll refer to him as WAS) was born in St. John's, Newfoundland between 1863-65. At some unknown point in time he moved/ returned to West Bromwich in England where he worked as a miner. Very little of his life before 1891 is known as there does not appear to be any census or indeed any other record of him before that year. I have attempted to glean as much information as possible from Canadian sources, however to date I have not progressed any further.

Some of the initial confusion lies in that at the time of his birth, Newfoundland was not part of Canada (it officially joined in 1949) and as such Canadian records do not seem to have any documented information. It was on this basis I believed the records were likely to held by the GRO in this country. Subsequently I sent for his birth certificate with the details I had. Unfortunately they could not find any record.

All his census records from 1891-1911 inclusive, plus his army records (he served in the North Staffordshire Regiment) definitely point to his birth being in Newfoundland. This I am 100% certain is the case.

His first marriage was in 1886 to Emily Martha Brown. Together, they had Joseph (my maternal Grandfather) b. 1888, Sidney (my great uncle) b. 1889 and Alice, great Aunt, b. 1896. There could have been more but it is believed they died very early. When Emily died, it is not known and curiously enough, most of her early life is also unknown.

WAS eventually re-married in 1904 to Sarah Withington. She was listed in an earlier census record as being a visitor to WAS at his address (it appears, unless I'm being very suspicious, that he was perhaps having a 'fling' during his first marriage) Together they had 6 children. When WAS died in 1916 at Leeds Infirmary of war wounds (although one record says it was due to kidney stones) the now Sarah Seymour was already very ill. She died of heart failure and bronchitis in 1918. A Barnardo's report describes her as a careless & indifferent woman, the children being left in very dirty conditions although relatively healthy. One of the children was Selina Seymour, who died in 1991. Selina had a daughter called Alice, whom I met recently to discuss our family research. She too is bemused by the early life of WAS and cannot shed any further light.

There is a slim possibility that WAS had a brother called Edwin (also born in Newfoundland in 1866) and like WAS, also had a father called William. I have e-mailed a descendant of Edwin via the site I use (Genes Reunited) but there appears to be no link between our families. The father of WAS is named as William (born c. 1840) on WAS’s 2nd marriage certificate, his profession being a soldier

It has been over 3 years since I have been researching my family history; however I really have come to one huge full stop regarding this particular ancestor. I cannot believe there aren’t further documents prior to 1891 relating to William Arthur Seymour and as once sometime resident in Newfoundland, surely there should be some similar evidence of his existence there too.

I have a photograph of WAS in his military uniform, however I cannot see how I can post this as an attachment as the above icons indicate an image requires a URL reference which I cannot understand I get from a downloaded picture.

[DianaCanada]

It is possible that William Arthur's father was a soldier billeted in Newfoundland. Before Confederation in 1867, British soldiers would be stationed in the colonies that later joined to become in Canada (1867). Perhaps a look at British army records for that period might yield a William Sr. serving in Nfld?

[Nicolina]

the 1911 Census (RG78PN1062 RD371 SD4 ED9 SN213) states "British Subject by parentage"..The 1911 Census also shows a possible father (with new wife, married 14 years)
51 Mount Street, Charlton, London
RG14PN2844 RG78PN97 RD30 SD1 ED1 SN196
William SEYMOUR aged 73 Ely Cambridgeshire occ: Army Pensioner
Martha SEYMOUR aged 48 Marylebone London
David SEYMOUR aged 35 Woolwich Kent occ: General Labourer - Government
May SEYMOUR aged 13 Wandsworth London
Murie SEYMOUR aged 11 Charlton Kent
Ida SEYMOUR aged 9 Charlton Kent
Jessie FULTON, Boarder, aged 77 Greenwich Kent
Beatrice HOGBEN, Visitor, aged 26 Battersea London

there is also a marriage Mar 1899 Woolwich Vol 1d Page 1259
William SEYMOUR and on same page Martha ROBERTS

[Nicolina]

a check of the 1881 Census for 47, Artillery Place, Woolwich (RG11 piece 742 folio 52 page 13) shows:
William SEYMOUR aged 42 Ely, Cambridgeshire occ: Driver R H Artillery
Margaret SEYMOUR aged 35 Ireland
Sarah A SEYMOUR aged 8 Ireland
David I SEYMOUR aged 5 Woolwich, Kent
Mary S SEYMOUR aged 3 Woolwich, Kent
Katie SEYMOUR aged 2 Woolwich, Kent

Margaret died Dec 1889 Woolwich Vol 1d Page 655. There appears to be a descrepancy about her age as she is listed as aged 50.

[Nicolina]

He appears to have left the Army between 1881 and 1891
Census reference for 1891 RG12 piece 529 folio 112 page 12
Censs reference for 1901 RG13 piece 562 folio 33 page 10

I cannot find him on the 1871 Census so maybe he was in Newfoundland or Ireland.

[gratescove]

Hi Mikefen, have you checked out the Newfoundland Grand Banks and Newfoundland GenWeb sites? They are chock full of information transcribed by volunteers.

I did a quick search for you of the St. John's records. There is a 1877 marriage of an Alfred Henry Seymour here, and I saw some baptisms of Seymour children in the 1860's (not your ancestor, but could be relations). I only looked for a matter of minutes, if you spend some time, you might find what you are looking for. Try the Business directories, they are the next best thing to census records prior to 1921. Also there are newspaper records, you might find something there.....

https://ngb.chebucto.org/Vstats/vol-3...1893-sjc.shtml

I found Alfred's will here. https://ngb.chebucto.org/Wills/seymou...ry-9-472.shtml
I also found his wife Jessie's will, it says that Alfred was a Judge.
Unfortunately your William Alfred is named, but he does mention a brother. There is another earlier will listed for a Henry Seymour, but alas, that one is not transcribed. But you could probably order it from the court.

Given the common name Alfred, it seems like a good bet there is a connection with your ancestor.

I am an experienced NF genealogist, if I can help further, let me know.

Susan Snelgrove

[mikefen]

Hello Susan,

Sorry for the long delay in responding; I seem to have subscribed to so many family history sites that I have started to forget which ones I have posted information on!

Anyway, in a nutshell, I still haven't got any further with William Arthur Seymour and that's after taking on board the hints and suggestions you made above, so naturally any further advice or assistance would be gratefully appreciated. Just to confirm that my Great Grandfather to whom I refer is William Arthur not William Alfred as you indicated.