Lawrence Arthur Jacobs / Johnson

[NChittenden]

You are right, must be one of them!!
As far as I can see William and Martha had at least 10 children between about 1818 - 1837, six were sons.
Each of those sons married and seemed to go on to have large families with more children, they being the grandchildren of William and Martha. At a rough guess born from the 1850s to about the 1880s.
(Isaac, William, John, Henry, Charles and Jacob)

I am not really sure where I am going with this but I am trying to work out if your Sarah born about 1882 could have been a grandchild or a great grandchild. Could she have been the daughter of Jacob, the son of one of the others above.

Does not help that I just cannot find sight nor sound of her amongst the hundreds of Barleycorns I've looked at.

If it is my Sarah in 1891 in hospital and she was born in 1882 (almost certainly so) there is not other way to verify her parents, than buying the birth certificate. I will probably end up doing so anyway but it is frustrating that she was not in the 1891 at home and the Hospital admission records are not available.

I have also seen Sarah Barleycorn daughter of Martha Barleycorn (maiden surname). Unverified but another possibility.

[Peter Goodey]

From what I can tell Sarah was most likely suffering from Smallpox or some other kind of infectious disease common to the age.

Not smallpox. From 1884, smallpox patients were not accommodated in London hospitals. They all went to to "hospitals established in isolated positions on the banks of the Thames or to hospital ships on the river".

"The two Stockwell Hospitals, now renamed the South Western Hospital, were converted in 1884 to form one hospital to be used for patients suffering from infectious diseases."

Source - LMA catalogue.

[NChittenden]

It seems that Lawrence Arthur Jacobs / Johnson was not the illegitimate child. His mother Sarah Barleycorn was also born out of wedlock to Martha Barleycorn and an unknown father. Martha (b.1863) was a sister of Charles (b.1864). She was housemaid and most probably had a liaison with the head of household's son. Sarah was brought up by her grandparents, Jacob and Sarah, Martha married Robert Warner in 1888(?).

I cannot give any references because the person I have had contact with, for whatever reason, does not want any of the details to be public knowledge (I have his permission to divulge to you honourable people). The person has a private account on Ancestry.

Thank you to all those that gave help solving part of the mystery.

Now, who wants to help solve the mystery of Henry Lawrence Johnson?

[NChittenden]

Before the 1901 census Henry Lawrence Johnson does not appear to exist, probably due to the fact that he was most likely Lawrence Jacobs.

The only possibility I have, from nothing more than family gossip, is Henry Lawrence was Lawrence Frederick Jacobs (b.1865 Middlesex). In 1891 Lawrence (Laurence F. in the census) was married Jessie Jacobs (formerly Leppard / Sheppard) and living with his mother Eliza and sister Ellen. By 1901 Eliza has died and Ellen has married but Lawrence and Jessie have disappeared. I cannot find a death index for either, nor can I see a divorce record.

Both Henry Lawrence and Lawrence Frederick were born in the same year and in Middlesex. As well as this they were both Carpenters.

The questions I need help with are, how easy / common was it for husbands to abandon their wives? Is there anyway of knowing if that is what happened? Could the two merely have separated and gone their separate ways without getting a divorce? Or does this all seem too far-fetched?

I would once again be very grateful for any help, even if it is to tell me I am stretching the realms of possibility.

[martint530]

hello I mite be able to help with this