JOHN MARTIN is born in Dumfries on 6 May 1850 to David Martin, a master tailor, and Mary Carson Smart of Dumfries. He marries my great-grandmother, Jane Lorraine, at Dumfries in November 1870 and by 1880, they have had four children – Walter, Mary, David (my grandfather) and Agnes. The 1881 census shows that on census night John is staying with his mother-in-law, Mary Lorraine (née Muir), in Kirkdale, Liverpool, while his wife, Jane, and children remain in Dumfries. Mary Lorraine has moved to Liverpool after the death of my 2 x great-grandfather in 1862 and on 27 June 1870 in the Parish Church of St Simon, Liverpool. she has married William Hamson, a seaman from Exmouth, Devon.
It is unclear whether John goes to Liverpool looking for work or whether he and Jane are going through a marriage crisis – he is an alcoholic, according to my father – and in 1881, the Hamsons and John are living at 10 Priam Street, Kirkdale. However, in 1881-82, my pregnant great-grandmother takes the family from Dumfries to Gateshead, Co Durham, where John and Jane’s fifth child, Margaret, is born.
On 30 May 1886, John signs up with the Cunard shipping line as a third baker and he joins the crew of the SS Scythia, a 4,557 gross tons steamship, which plies for several years between Liverpool and New York or Boston carrying immigrants. Between 1886 and 1887, John serves aboard the Scythia as butcher and second baker for a further four voyages out of Liverpool.
By the end of 1887, Jane has moved the whole family to Liverpool and, in 1888, she and John have their sixth child, Jane. At the 1891 census, John and Jane plus five of the six children are all living at 46 Chancel Street, Kirkdale, though on census night their fourth child, 11-year-old Agnes, is for some reason staying with the Hamsons, who have now moved to 53 Blair Street, Bootle.
After this, the trail of John Martin (now aged 41) goes cold and nothing more is heard of him – well, almost nothing. I have no reason to disbelieve my father’s story that my grandfather, when he is about 16-18 years old (between 1894-96), physically ejects his father from the family home because he had been using the housekeeping money for alcohol. The very last to be heard of John is in Jane’s death record in April 1919 which states that he is “deceased”. This is not necessarily true, but although probate of Jane’s will is granted to her sons Walter and David rather than to John, he is certainly not buried with her in Kirkdale cemetery. The burial record indicates that Jane is buried with the Hamsons.
So, what is John doing between 1891 and 1919. Where is he living, particularly at the 1901 and 1911 censuses? Are there any electoral or other local records for him in the Kirkdale area? Does he leave the area or emigrate? Is he in the local hospital or poorhouse or in prison? Does he join another ship out of Liverpool or (unlikely given his age, I guess) join the army or navy? When does he die? Where is he buried – separately at Kirkdale?
I’ve done exhaustive searches and cross-checks in most of the online records of Ancestry, Find My Past, IGI and in local BMDs for Liverpool, as well as in Scotlands People. So far, I’ve drawn a blank – apart from a possible sighting of someone with similar details in the 1901 census, who is living at Medland Hall Night Shelter for Homeless Persons, Radcliff, London. That census return of itself is not detailed enough to confirm the sighting. I am wondering what local records are available in Liverpool that might help me take my researches further and whether other people may have some ideas for further research. As I live on Tyneside, a trip to Liverpool seems to be beckoning (and maybe to the Northwich FHS Fair in February, as my trail in search of other ancestors leads there too!).
Many thanks
