Ellis Island Arrivals Compared to FMP Listing

[Raymond M]

Thanks Andy. I only used the Rev. Wright and family as examples of the differences between departure and arrivals manifest for the Philadelphian. There are others. I don't believe there is any connection between them and Kate Whitefield.

You are correct in that I am looking for Catherine Eliza keys (nee Whitefield) the only sibling of my wife's grandfather who just disappeared after the 1901 census. Her husband William did have a child Elsie Botley in 1911 via another lady whom he didn't marry, and as there is no record of a divorce the feeling in the family is that Catherine 'took off' abroad, probably reverting to her maiden name.

I have spent much time examining the possibilities within the 1911 census - although she could obviously have ignored submitting her details - but found nothing viable. Her father had declared her 'alive' on the census but that could be alive 'abroad'.

We can find no record of a wiil for her father Thomas who died in 1929. Kate's brother Bertie took possession of Thomas's house with no sound from Kate which is what makes us think she wasn't in the UK.

It's a shame really that for a person of whom we have so much information up to 1901 we have nothing from then on when she was just 34 years old.

Ray

[Raymond M]

Thanks Andy. I had a look at the return journey of the Philadelphia to see if she had decided to catch the boat back from Cherbourg to Southampton! No luck I'm afraid. As you also said she might have felt ill and disembarked.
I'll have to think of other avenues to follow. The 'stopper' would be if she lived under another surname. I can also await the release of the UK 1921 census to see if her father still declares her alive! Only another 9 years!
Ray

[jac65]

Hi

This is a long shot but a Kate Keys arrived in Sydney, Australia from Liverpool in March 1902 on the Afric. The passenger list from the Australian end has no additional information and a look at the index of the UK departure just shows she was an adult. A check of the outward passenger list from Liverpool might show more information and, if it has a ticket number, whether anyone else is travelling on the same ticket number.

The Afric called in to Melbourne Feb 1902 on the way to Sydney and the Melbourne passenger list Index for the Afric has the following.
Miss Kate Keys age 24
So the age fits, I know it says Miss but that could be either deliberate by Kate or an assumption by the whoever filled out the passenger list.

Andy

[SueNSW]

She is shown as a nurse on the outgoing passenger list - but as Irish - though the person filling out the form seems to have had trouble getting entries in the right column so far as some ages and sexes were concerned!!

No obvious person travelling on the same ticket

Sue

[Raymond M]

Thanks Sue. I looked at Ancestry Australia and there are 2 entries against Kate Keys on the Afric. The ship's arrival in Mebourne on 27 Feb 1902 has no view available of the manifest but does state via a script that she was a Miss Kate Keys, born approx. 1878, age 24 and was English.
The ship's arrival in Sydney on 4 March 1902 does have an original manifest but merely states Kate Keys ex Liverpool on an unassisted immigrant's passage. The manifest gives more information on the ship's crew members than the passengers!
I will however examine any possible Australian connection.
Ray

[Raymond M]

Thanks Andy. I hadn't realised how popular the name of Kate Keys can be on shipping manifests.
However just your mention of Australia set me thinking.
Kate's late nephew left some old glass plate negatives (all unidentified!) and the family had them printed a couple of years back.Amongst them is a wedding photo of a bride and just her father (assumed to be). We don't recognise the location.
The bride is jauntily wearing a sailor's hat and if you look closely at the band you can see the final letters of the ship's name 'NGUIN'. I think this is possibly HMAS PENGUIN. There is nobody within my wife's 60/70 years old generation who recognises her as the period looks mid 1930s.
On the offchance Kate Keys went to Australia I have just trawled through the Australian Electoral Rolls starting with NSW and believe I have actually found her. I hadn't realised Electoral Rolls showed a town of birth in some cases and in this case it shows Portsmouth. I have to confirm a couple of details but it looks very positive.
If it turns out to be her then I wish we had known 40 years ago when we emigrated as she might have visited some Australian family there.
Ray

[jac65]

Hi Ray

I can't recall ever seeing a place of birth on an Australian Electoral Roll, can you post an example please.

Andy

[Raymond M]

Hi Andy, actually the more I look I can see quite a few. I don't know what the column header was on the original form - perhaps you can find out for me - but possibly it was on the lines of 'if born outside Australia state where' or 'name of property'. If the latter then it's been really helpful.

Here are some examples:-

Australian Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, Electoral Year 1936, State NSW, District Macquarie, Subdistrict Katoomba, line 1545.

1. Leathart, Henry Godfrey, Plymouth, Cascade Street (Katoomba)
2. His wife Jane next line 1546 similarly from Plymouth
3. Lamont, Jessie, Ireland, line 1524
4. Keys, Eliza, Portsmouth, Cascade Street (Katoomba) line 1482

Using the 1930 Electoral Roll same place:
Kerr, Florenda Doris, Wrexham line 1349

It may have applied to the pre-war forms only as when I look at 1949 and 1954 I can see no obvious examples.

Ray

[jac65]

Hi

They will be the names of the properties not the birthplaces of the residents. There is a death notice in a 1952 newspaper for Henry Godfrey Leathart at his residence (Plymouth) Cascade St, Katoomba.

If the residence was named by the owner then it could be more than a coincidence that the Keys family are living at Portsmouth.

Andy

[Raymond M]

Hi Andy, the house naming could be a real stroke of luck then.
Can you give me the name of the newspaper please and the website you went via - less the http & www? I would like to check for 2 death notices for the Keys family. William James Keys died 1943 Death Registration# 19293 and Eliza Keys died 1945 #17361, both Katoomba.
I believe these are probably the Keys from Portsmouth, Their son living with them in 1936 could be named for Eliza's father Thomas. I can see the latter married in Katoomba in 1944 to a Joyce Agnes Suffield and sometime after his mother's death in 1945 moved off to Dandenong, Vic.
thanks again
Ray