My Ancestors

My 2 x great aunt Ada Grace QUICKFALL (1867-1919) emerges from my research as a formidable woman. The family story passed to me was that she had six children, each with a different father. A search of the readily available records suggests a slightly different story. First, the 1911 Census asked married women to state how many years they had been married and to enter the number of children born alive to the present marriage, and how many of those are alive and how many have died. In 1911, 44 year old, Ada Grace, whose signature appears at the bottom right of the form, has filled this in that she is single; that 7 children have been born alive; that 5 are still living; and that 2 have died. The census collator has scored out these figures in red pen: as an unmarried woman Ada Grace’s data was not required and wasn’t taken into account.

A search of the General Records Office (GRO) indices reveals the following births:

• Hilda Alice Moody QUICKFALL (born Q2 1889)
• Grace Miller QUICKFALL (born Q1 1897)
• Bella Miller QUICKFALL (born Q1 1899)
• Joshua Blakeney QUICKFALL (born Q2 1901)
• Charles Whitby Blakeney QUICKFALL (born Q3 1902)
• George Foster Blakeney QUICKFALL (born Q3 1904)
• Evelyn Maud Hedley QUICKFALL (born Q1 1909)

No father is recorded under any entry, but it isn’t a great surprise when the 1901 census entry reveals Ada as head of household, and a Charles G BLAKENEY as a boarder. There seems to be a clear pattern to the list of children’s names that strongly suggests 4 different fathers, each having their name hidden in plain sight.

The two deaths noted in the 1911 census are easily traced in the GRO indices. Bella died at around 6 months old and George at around 2 years old. Using census records, www.freebmd.org.uk, and newspapers I’ve then been able to trace sixty-nine of Ada’s descendants, including twenty-three third cousins of mine. So far I’ve only really scratched the surface of this remarkable woman’s life. There must be photographs and many stories out there amongst her descendants. So much more to explore and so many dots to join up.

What first put me on the trail of Ada Grace was the remarkable story of her birth. It’s all too easy to ‘bolt on’ records to the family tree: records collected by others, hints provided by the software etc. I noticed that Ada Grace’s baptism record dated 19 July 1863 at Cabourne in Lincolnshire didn’t tie in with the ages recorded in the census which indicated she was born around 1867. But the baptism record seemed right because it showed she was the daughter of a woodman George QUICKFALL (1837-1872) and Elizabeth Ann QUICKFALL (nee STOURTON) (1843-1924) which ties in with the records I have for my 2 x great grandparents The mystery was eventually solved by an article that appeared in the Suffolk Chronicle on 27 May 1865:

Death from Drowning – On Thursday, an inquest was held at the Cricketers’ Arms Inn, St Margaret’s[, Ipswich] before W B Jackaman, Esq, deputy coroner, touching the death of Ada Grace QUICKFALL. Dorothy Kelsey Fullerton said: I am cousin to the mother of the deceased, who is a married woman, living at Arboretum Cottage. Her husband is a gamekeeper in the employ of Mr Fonnereau. The mother of the deceased child has recently been confined, and during her confinement I have been managing the house. The deceased was thee years old except a month. Yesterday afternoon I saw the deceased in a field near the house, and not far from the pond, playing with the dogs. I left the window for a minute, and on coming back missed her. I came downstairs at once and searched for her and while walking by the pond I thought I saw her, but dare not look again. I called for assistance, and a man named Thorn came and took the body out of the water, which was so shallow that he could reach it merely by stepping in. I don’t think more than five minutes had elapsed from the time I missed the deceased till she was taken out of the water. The body was at once put into a warm bath and medical aid sent for. Mr Atthill assistant to Mr Edwards, surgeon, attended, and several attempts to restore animation were fruitless. The child was healthy, of a very daring disposition, and has been corrected when found too near the water. The deceased’s father is quite satisfied that the death of the deceased was purely accidental. Alfred Thorn, who was at work on the estate of Christ Church Park, corroborated the evidence of the last witness as to the finding of the body, and the exertions made to restore animation. The Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death.

Gradually piecing together the families’ movements, my 2 x great grandparents grew up and married in Cabourne, Lincolnshire, but then moved first to Ipswich (where the first Ada Grace so tragically died and then the Ada Grace of this piece was born early in 1867) and then to Little Horsted in Sussex. They moved with George’s job as a game-keeper, moving wherever he could get a position. But at the age of just 35, George died of TB. He died in Grimsby. What took the family to Grimsby (which is about 10 miles east of Cabourne) is a mystery. Perhaps it was to get care for George? Or could it have been to get support for Elizabeth Ann who was left with four children, the oldest just seven and a half? There’s no immediately obvious links (parents, grandparents or siblings of either George or Elizabeth Ann) to connect the family to Grimsby prior to 1872. Perhaps this mystery will never be solved?

Bibliography

Suffolk Chronicle, 27 May 1865, 8a