METTERS - Tavistock area - 1911

[brentor boy]

From the 1911 census index I have deduced the following possible family group living in the Tavistock area:-

Ernest Metters (1882), William Henry (1903), Thomas (1905) and Mar (1908)

Is someone able to confirm that this, in fact, a family unit, possibly living in the Brentor/Blackdown/Mary Tavy area?

[geneius]

Wrong!

Tavy View Cottages, Whitchurch, Tavistock

METTERS Ernest b 1882 golf pro & wife Frances Mary Jane METTERS b 1882 Bradninch, Devon married 7 years Nil child


Burnlane, Brentor, Tavistock
METTERS William Henry b Jo'burg SA
METTERS Thomas b Jo'burg SA
METTERS Mary b Brentnor

FRIEND Elizabeth aged 74 single desc as childrens Aunt

h/hold THORNE Mary b 1862 widow farmer

[brentor boy]

Many thanks, Geneius.

It is the children in whom I am interested, and the entry for them is consistent with what I anticipated. I am trying to make sense of some dimly recalled childhood memories and the first step is for me to identify the people involved. I am as satisfied as I can be that Thomas and Mary Metters are the people I am looking for.

I have now to establish whether the relationship between their family and ours was one of friendship or something closer.

[geneius]

If its any help a 'family' arrived in the UK on 7 August 1906 on board the Durham Castle form Mozambique via Port Elizabeth & Cape Town at Southampton

Listed as

METTERS
METTERS W 35 male
METTERS M 25 female
METTERS D 9 female Transvaal ( Daisy)
METTERS E 7 female Transvaal ( Eliza Jane)
METTERS W 3 male Transvaal ( William )
METTERS T 1 male Transvaal ( Thomas)

1911 Daisy 1897 serv at Borough, Kelly, Lifton, Devon

1911 Eliza Jane boarding as school girl with Richard GERRY aged 48 in Brentnor

I am wondering if mother was Mary who died aged 29 q2 1908 Tavistock 5b 243

[brentor boy]

Thanks for that additional information. If they are parents and children, which seems they probably are, the mother was only 17 when she had her first child - again assuming she is the mother and not step-mother. I can see no obvious marriage on BMD which means they could have married in SA - or not married at all!

The death of Mary Metters in 1908 looks a distinct possibility.

I think I have set myself quite a challenge to sort this family out. The child Mary's birth certificate appears to be a must.

I do have a Metters marriage in my tree in 1886 but have no idea if that is of any relevance. In a small rural community inter- marriage between families can often occur more than once.