Thomas BRADSHAW, or is it STEERS?

This is the gentleman who initiated my surname study. When I discovered him around four years ago I thought he was a STEERS, but now I’m not so sure.

The conundrum that started the one-name study (ONS) was my husband’s four times great grandfather. He was, by all accounts a Londoner; born in Bishopsgate, lived in Bethnal Green and died in Shoreditch. He worked as hearth mat maker. His children all lived and worked in London. However, they were all born in Hull. Yorkshire. Which is not near Shoreditch, or Bethnal Green. His wife, Maria, was born in Durham, which is also not near Hull, or London. She outlived him, but appears to have died as a result of complications of epilepsy in Hanwell Asylum. William was my husband’s three times great grandfather. His marriage certificate states his father was Thomas Bradshaw STEERS. On the death certificate of Thomas Bradshaw STEERS the informant was Maria Steers.

However I couldn’t / cannot find a baptism or marriage for him to Maria. I also couldn’t find him in 1841.

I had identified the children as Ellen (born c. 1834), William (born c. 1840), Eleanor (born c. 1841), Anna M[aria?] (born c. 1844) and Watson (born c. 1846). However I had been unable to find GRO birth index references or baptisms for them.

And thus created a brick wall, which began the ONS, and then later a DNA Study.

Fast-forwarding to the present …

The Y-DNA (37 marker) test that my husband allowed me to do have had no other hits for STEERS. 

His Haplogroup in I-P37 and the hits that he have appeared appear to be Irish. However I don’t understand enough about DNA yet to fully explore this aspect.

The Society of Genealogists ran a (rather successful) series of ‘Brick Wall Workshops’, facilitated by Amelia Bennett. To this I took my conundrum. The sessions produced useful ideas and suggestions for ‘where / what next’ options.

One suggestions made was searching the datasets with the surname blank and ‘Bradshaw’ in the forename box. Another was to search the 1841 census by occupation and forename.

And herein lived the possible breakthrough. A couple of days later I received an email from a fellow attendee and One-Namer, Nicola Elsom.

She had done the above and found a marriage on 26 February 1859 at St. John’s in Bethnal Green for a Thomas BRADSHAW, mat maker to Maria Griffin whose father was William Blackstone. They were both widowed.

Source: London Metropolitan Archives, Saint John, Bethnal Green, Register of  marriages,   P72/JN, Item 013 Accessed at ancestry.co.uk

In 1841 she had found an entry for a Thomas BRADSHAW, rug maker living in Reynolds Court in St. Giles without Cripplegate. He was living with an Ann BRADSHAW, born in Ireland, who was probably his wife.

The problem is there are two Thomas BRADSHAW’s, both are rug makers, both are in Reynolds Court and both have a probable wife called Ann, who was born in Ireland.  One of the Thomas’s was born in county, around 1814, and the other was born out of county around 1818. From Thomas’s death certificate he was born about 1814, so is most likely the Thomas born in Middlesex.

Ref: HO107; Piece: 727; Book: 2; Folio: 26; Page: 46. Accessed at ancestry.co.uk

She also located GRO references for a Watson GRIFFIN, and I was able to locate Anna Maria GRIFFIN, both born in Hull in the correct time-frames.

The certificates were ordered and came back as

•  Anna Maria GRIFFIN was born on the 4^th of July 1843 to Maria GRIFFIN formerly FEATHERSTONE and Thomas GRIFFIN, a labourer in Green Lane, Hull.

• Watson GRIFFIN was born on the 4^th of June 1845 to Maria GRIFFIN formerly FEATHERSTONE and Thomas GRIFFIN, a labourer at 46 Carr Lane, Hull.

However I cannot find a record for William or Eleanor GRIFFIN / BRADSHAW born in Hull. There is a registration for a William Gower FEATHERSTONE in March 1840 in Sculcoates, but he died there in March 1840.

I cannot find an Eleanor GRIFFIN / BRADSHAW or FEATHERSTONE, and Ellen would not have been registered as she was born before Q3 1837.

To date I have been unable to locate William on the 1841 Census. He was not with Thomas and Ann BRADSHAW.

It appears that the family as seen on the 1851 census are blended, i.e. Maria’s children from her previous marriage(s) and Thomas’s children from his. But whose is who?

Well the certificates above show Anna Maria and Watson as Mary’s. That leaves Ellen, William and Eleanor. It is possible that Eleanor is also Mary’s whereas William and Ellen are Thomas’s. William gives Thomas as his father on his marriage certificate, but I’ve not been able to marry off Ellen or Eleanor.

If Thomas BRADSHAW is ‘my Thomas’, and his wife is Ann who is Irish this would support the theory that William is Thomas’s. This would also explain the initial DNA hits.

So the new challenge is – Who is Ann? Why did Thomas change his name? and the biggest question – Should this be a BRADSHAW study?!

DNA is go!

Today I am officially launching the STEERS One-Name Study DNA project!

The project website can be found at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Steers

I’m not entirely sure that this is a good idea and I am both terrified and excited about. Excited because of where it could lead but terrified because I find DNA so confusing. As part of the Post Grad Certificate course I am doing there is a module on DNA. It is, without doubt, one of the more difficult things I have had to get my head around (so far).

As I have begun to read up on Y-DNA tests; that is the paternal line test that only males can take. You can read more about the test here: https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy/lesson-three-exploring-the-y-part-one and here: https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy/lesson-4-y-dna-part-2-snps-and-y-haplogroups. I am starting to gain an understanding of how it would help a One-Name Study. For example, the tests will hopefully be able to determine if STEERS is linked to STEER as the surname dictionaries would have us believe and it will be able to show links between families where the documentary evidence is lacking.

DNA testing is not a substitute for the traditional genealogical research, more an aid to help prove or disprove hypotheses. Of course it also depends on how many people join up as I can only compare results against what is already there.

The first participant is my other half. He is the last (and oldest) of his STEERS line, having no brothers and no other STEERS cousins that I am aware of. The test was simple for him to do, it involved swabbing the inside of his cheek and then having me post it off to Family Tree DNA who are based in Texas.  The kit has been received and we’re awaiting the results of the 37 marker test. The 37 marker test is the minimum required for a useful genealogical result, at some point in the future I may look to upgrade the markers. The sample is kept ‘on file’ so another one is not required for the upgrade.

Unfortunately because this test is on the Y chromosome only males can take it. Female STEERS could order an autosomal DNA (atDNA) test which is essentially a test to find cousins. atDNA is the mix of DNA that we get from our parents, which they got from their parents and so on and so on. A more in depth explanation can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy/lesson-5-introduction-to-atdna. The test is helpful for more recent connections.

The other test that DNA companies offer is called the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test. Just as Y chromosomes are only passed down the male line, the mtDNA is only passed on from mother to daughter. However, for a surname study this is not a useful test as the female surname often changes. If you’re interested in learning more about mtDNA I would suggest this blog post http://www.geni.com/blog/dna-testing-for-genealogy-getting-started-part-two-376163.html and reading ‘The Seven Daughters of Eve’ by Bryan Sykes (ISBN: 0393020185). I borrowed a copy from my local library but I’m sure it’s available at that well-known online book store!

So if you’d like to get involved either drop me a line or head over to the Steers DNAProject page and jump in.

Speedway Star - Ern Steers

Whilst doing a search on e-Bay for Steers-related items and after scrolling past the many, many pictures of cattle I came across a collectable card for ‘Speedway Star - Ern Steers’ and just had to have it. The reason; Ern Steers is my husband’s grand uncle, and namesake of his father.

Card found on e-Bay. Purchased June 2013

Ernest William Steers was born on the 6^th of November 1920 in Hackney, East London, and grew up in South Tottenham. He died at the age of 52 in Hertfordshire.  He was the eldest child of Robert Steers and Edith Ellen Curtis.

Ern Steers c. 1941

Ern and his brother Robert (Bob) both had a lifelong interest in Speedway, but it wasn’t until after the War ended that Ern found his way to the High Beech Training School in Epping Forest. 

Ernie mid-race for the Chads

In 1949 he signed for the Liverpool Chads and I’m reliably informed he rode in thirty-two league and cup matches. 






























When he left the Chads he signed for Oxford, and in 1950 rode for the newly formed Long Eaton Archers who were based in Derbyshire.

Ernie (back row, second from left) with his Oxford Team Mates 1950

1951 he had signed with Wolverhampton and rode for them six times.

Ernie in his Wolverhampton vest, 1951

His biggest achievement appears to have come in 1950 when he was called up by the New Cross Rangers to replace the injured Cyril Roger. 

New Cross were one of the best teams in the country and Ern was called upon to ride for them in the Spring Cup Final match against their local rivals West Ham. New Cross won the cup final and this would have been watched by more than 20,000 people.

After 1951 there is no record of him continuing to ride, but his love of the sport continued.

The information regarding Ern’s Speedway career was provided by Matt Jackson of http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/ An excellent resource if you too have Speedway ancestors.

Sorry, how do you spell that?

This word cloud shows the 25 mis-transcriptions I found when I compared Ancestry's transcription with Find My Past's for the 1841 England and Wales Census. All the corrections were submitted but it has highlighted a need not to rely on one company and, as one of my G+ followers pointed out 'wildcard searches are a must'.

I must admit though, I'd have never thought to look for Weares (Stears) or Keer(s).

Excuse me; are you Mr. Steers or Mr. Stears?

An enquiry from a Mr. Stears has prompted this post. The focus point of his question was;

Are all the Stears variants linked?

Anyone who researches their history understands that you have to look at variations in spelling of surnames because literacy levels were low and names were often written as they were heard. Add to this the different dialects and you're left with all sorts!

The question however got me thinking; Are there areas where certain spellings are more prominent than others?

To investigate this I used the fabulous service provided at http://www.wykes.org/dist/ to create the following distribution maps for each of the variants. The maps are based on the data from the 1841 and 1851 England and Wales Census's and records where they were living (not where they were  born). If you hover over the maps you will be able to zoom in and out as required

STEARES 1841

1851

As you can clearly see from these maps, STEARES is only found in Kent, and later the spelling moves into the neighbouring county of Middlesex.

STEERES
1841

1851

In 1841 this spelling is only found in Hampshire and Yorkshire, the Hampshire chap having being born out of county. By 1851 there is only one recorded instance in Sussex.

STIERS 1841

1851

Again, this is a very low frequency spelling that is confined, in 1841, to a few counties in the south of England and one occurrence on the Chanel Islands. In 1851 there appears to be some migration of the spelling into Lancashire.

STEIRS 1851

There are only two recorded STEIRS and they are both found in Middlesex.

STEARS 1841

1851

It is very clear to see from these maps that the main clusters are found in Yorkshire, Hampshire and Middlesex. In 1851 these clusters remain in Yorkshire and Hampshire, however the Middlesex cluster appears to have moved out into Kent.

STEERS 1841

1851

The main clusters in 1841 were in Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent. This remains the case in 1851 when they have also spread into the neighbouring county of Sussex with most being located in Brighton.

Working Hypothesis

1841

1851

The hotspots for all variants are Yorkshire and Middlesex, with a spread into Sussex, Surrey and Kent in 1851.

To me this suggests that there are at least two distinct starting points of the surname in England; to the north lies the STEARS, and to the south east lie the STEERS, STEERES, STEARES, STEIRS and STIERS.

Of course there are instances where the same person is registered at birth as STEER, baptised as STEERS, and buried as STEARS!!

In order to make a more certain conclusion more analysis must be done, and this is something that I will be revisiting at a later date.

Lost between Census Years; Can You Help?

Well I’ve finished transcribing the 1851 census for the relevant entries (that have been transcribed as such), and I’m now faced with marrying off and killing off those that I can’t identify as being around on my 1841 list.

I’ve been at this for a couple of weeks and so thought I’d share with you the details of those that I can’t identify in the hope that some of you out there may be able to assist.

As these are 1841 birth years, please remember that they could be ± 5 years

192.0 - Elizabeth STEERS

Born in approximately 1771, living in Alfred Street, Islington Elizabeth was not born in County.

193.0 – Susannah STEERS

Born in approximately 771, living in Eaton Lane North, St. George Hanover Square and working as a charwoman.

196.0 – William STEERS

An agricultural labourer born in approximately 1771, living in Hayley Green, Caddington, Hertfordshire. He was not born in County.

334.0 – William STEERS

Born in Middlesex in approximately 1821 to William, a carpenter, and Ann, William was living in Teddington, Middlesex on the road leading to Hampton Clarence Place.

His older siblings, Ann (born ~1780) and Thomas (born ~ 1811) have both been located in 1851.

208.0 – Amelia STEERS

Born in approximately 1781 and living via independent means, Amelia was living in Curtain Hall, Buxted, Sussex. She was not born in County

214.0 – George STEERS

Born approximately 1781, George was working as a servant in Lydiad House, Liddiard Treegooze, Wiltshire. He was not born in County.

215.0 – Humphrey STEERS

Born in approximately 1781 and living via independent means, Humphrey was living in Holsbury, Heathfield, Sussex. He was not born in County

216.0 & 216.1 – James and Susanna STEERS

James was born approximately 1781 and worked as a labourer. Susanna was born approximately 1791 and worked as a laundress. They lived on Sun Street in Potton, Bedfordshire. Neither was born in County.

217.0 – James STEERS

James was born in Hertfordshire in approximately 1781. He worked as a tile maker and lived in Church Street, Ware, Hertfordshire.

218.0 & 218.1 – John and Berthia STEERS

John was born in approximately 1779 in Shoreditch, Middlesex. He married Berthia NEWMAN nee LONG In 1850; she was born approximately 1808 in the City of London. In 1841 they were living on William Street in Bethnal Green, Middlesex.

219.0 – Margaret STEERS

She was born in approximately 1782 in Middlesex. She was living via independent means in Cow Crofts Street, St. Sepulchre, Middlesex.

313.0 – Eliza STEERS

Born in approximately 1813 in Middlesex to Thomas, a gardener, and Ann STEERS. Eliza was living in Teddington High Street, Middlesex.

227.0 – Mrs. STEERS

This rather elusive entry was born in approximately 1791. She was living in Seymour Place, Kensington, Middlesex . She wasn’t born in County.

So that’s it for a first batch. I’m sure there’s many more I won’t be able to marry off or kill off, but if anyone can help I’d appreciate it.

Wordless Wednesday - Ellen STEERS

 Photo provided by Janet Tranter, and used with the permission of Michael Broom, owner of the original image. Both contacts made via Ancestry Member Connect. Please contact me if you want to get in touch.

 

 

This is Ellen STEERS.

She was born in Liverpool in about 1826 to Thomas STEERS / STEARES and Sarah EDMONSTONE. She married  Joseph CEARNS in Liverpool in 1849 and she died there in 1908.

She is number 177 in my database of STEERS's

1851 UK Census - an Overview

It has taken a while but I’ve collected the STEERS and variants from the 1851 UK Census. This has taken longer than I had hoped, but I have a valid excuse… I’m getting married in a couple of months and have had to spend my time looking at dresses, shoes,  flowers, and such so I’ve not had as much time to chase dead people.

In this census collection I have come across the following variants;

·         STEARES

·         STEARS

·         STEERES

·         STEERS

·         STIERS

·         STEIRS

There are 450 individuals in the 1851 Census, which is an increase of only five persons since 1841. The variation ‘STEIRS’ also makes its first appearance.

There has been a movement of families across England as shown in the tables below.

Movement in number since 1841	County	Frequency (%)	Frequency (Actual)
↓	MDX	16.67	75
↑	KEN	13.56	61
↑	SRY	12.89	58
↑	SSX	9.56	43
↓	YKS	9.11	41
↑	NTH	6.67	30
↑	BKM	4.89	22
↓	HAM	4.89	22
↓	BDF	3.78	17
↑	STS	6.27	12
↓	LAN	2.22	10
↓	DOR	2.00	9
↓	DEV	1.33	6
↑	DBY	1.11	5
↑	OXF	1.11	5
═	SOM	1.11	5
↓	BRK	0.67	3

Movement in number since 1841	County	Frequency (%)	Frequency (Actual)
↓	CAM	0.67	3
↑ *new*	DUR	0.67	3
↑	LIN	0.67	3
↑	WOR	0.67	3
↑ *new*	DEN	0.44	2
↓	GLS	0.44	2
↑ *new*	CHS	0.22	1
↓	ESS	0.22	1
↓	HRT	0.22	1
═	HUN	0.22	1
↓	JSY	0.22	1
═	LEI	0.22	1
↑ *new*	NBL	0.22	1
↑ *new*	NFK	0.22	1
↑ *new*	SFK	0.22	1
↓	WAR	0.22	1

The main concentration of the surname remains in Middlesex, but Kent has moved up into second place and Surrey has dropped to third. At first glance it appears that there has been a huge exodus from Yorkshire, however the actual frequency has only dropped by one. The surname is now also found in the English counties of Durham, Cheshire, Northumberland, Norfolk, and Suffolk, as well as the Welsh county of Denbighshire.

For this Census I have also complied the following; ‘Top 10 Occupations’

Top 10 ST[EI]*R[ES] Occupations 1851
1	In Education
2	In Servitude
3	Working on the Land
4	Military (serving or pensioned)
5	Dress Maker
6	Laundress
7	Carpenter
8	Gardener
9	Nurse
10	Tailor

‘Top 10 Male Names’ and ‘Top 10 Female Names’.

Top 10 ST[EI]*R[ES] Forenames in 1851
Male		Female
1	William	1	Ann
2	John	=	Mary
3	George	3	Elizabeth
4	James	4	Sarah
5	Thomas	5	Jane
6	Edward	6	Martha
7	Samuel	=	Charlotte
8	Charles	8	Eliza
9	Henry	9	Hannah
10	Joseph	10	Harriett

Outcomes

·         To date there is a total of 681 individuals; however there are still a number that I need to add from the Census.

·         On the 1851 UK Census there are 450 individuals

o   Each census image has been downloaded (a total of 213 images).

·         Servants named William and Ann are going to drive me crazy!

·         STEIRS has been added to my list of variant spellings.

 Next Steps

·         Add all individuals to the ONS master tree

·         Assign the Census images

·         GRO Births between 1842 and 1851

·         GRO Marriages between 1842 and 1851

·         GRO  Deaths between 1842 and 1851