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An Adamthwaite tale of Tragedy, Bigamy and Intrigue
- the ORANGE Adamthwaites
Another interesting man –
Mark ADAMTHWAITE - who possessed powers of everlasting youth!
(NB spellings of
surnames in this section are as transcribed by Ancestry)
When we first came
across this young man, we spent some time puzzling about how his age
jumped about and it was some time before we were satisfied that we were
indeed dealing with just one individual! So the following events are
listed in chronological order and each gives the stated age of Mark
Adamthwaite.
2 aug 1859
– birth of ‘male’ Adamthwaite, s of John Allen Adamthwaite, railway
clerk and Eliza (Saynor) b. at 9 Taymouth Terrace, Mile End, London
(source Birth Certificate) This
turns out to be Mark – and he was the fourth of five children born to
John Allen Adamthwaite and Eliza (Saynor) between 1853 and 1860.
1861 UK census given age
19 months - (approx year of birth 1859/60) - living with
his mother Eliza (occupation 'Lady') and siblings Florence, Alexander,
Thomas and Annie in Blackawton in Devon. No sign of his father but his
mother is ‘married’ not widowed. The family were living in Bow Hamlet,
next door to Shipleigh Court, which was the home of Alexander Ridgeway
(according to the 1871 census his occupations were as follows:
Public Notary, Magistrate, Captain of Militia, Official Regimental Army
Agent, Editor of London Weekly paper, Landowner, farmer, India and
Colonial Merchant) and his family, though they were ‘absent in London’
at the time of the 1861 census – interestingly, Alexander Ridgeway was
also one of the Executors of John Allen Adamthwaite senior’s will. Did
Eliza take her five children to Blackawton to seek financial help after
John Allen Adamthwaite junior appears to have deserted her? Or was
Eliza’s husband John Allen Adamthwaite away fighting, having been
recruited to the Army by Alexander Ridgeway? And was Eliza’s son
Alexander named for Alexander Ridgway? [the answer to this question
appears to be 'yes' - as we have now discovered from his army
discharge papers that his full name was John Alexander Ridgeway
Adamthwaite]
1871 UK census
given age 10 years - (approx year of birth 1861) - living
with mother Eliza and brother Thomas in Newington – still no sign of
father but mother is still ‘married’ – but note the family have moved
back to the Newington area, where his father was living with his new
wife Annie in 1868.
1881 UK census – we have not
found Mark, but his mother Eliza (still described as ‘wife, married’ but
no husband evident) and his sister Annie are living in Camberwell.
Eliza is living on ‘income from dividends’
in 1884 Mark
arrived in NY from Antwerp on SS Nederland,
occ. Engraver age 24 (approx year of birth 1860). It looks as
if he then returned to the UK and married Mary Glynn and they had the
first three of their children before going back to NY where the youngest
was born – but there is no record of any marriage on the UK indexes.
Mary Glyn was born in Ireland, so it is possible that they married in
Ireland.
1891 UK census
living in Handsworth, Staffs:
-
Mark Adamshwaste,
30, labourer, b. Brixton (approx year of birth 1861)
-
Mary A, wife, 22,
born Ireland
-
Mary A, dau, 3, b.
Kennington (GRO ref 1888 dec qtr, St Saviour Southwark 1d, 125)
-
Kate, dau, 2, b.
Birmingham (GRO ref 1889 sep qtr Birmingham 6d 198)
-
Elizabeth, dau, 4m,
b. Handsworth (GRO ref 1891 mar qtr West Bromwich 6b 800) - did
Elizabeth die? she does not appear after this, but there is no
record of her death.
1893 – birth
of son Mark on 21 dec 1893 at 12 Eden Grove
Islington. Father Mark Adamthwaite, ironmoulder, mother Mary
Adamthwaite, formerly Glynn. (source Birth
Certificate)
Although we have not
managed to find details for a Mark Adamthwaite and his family’s arrival
in New York – it would have been between son Mark’s birth in London in
December 1893 and the birth of daughter Rosa in New York in December
1898 – the following family bears an uncanny resemblance to our Mark’s
family!!
1894 arrival in New
York on SS Maasdam, 27 August from Rotterdam
-
Mark Glyn, 30,
male, labourer, country of birth England , destination New York
(approx year of birth 1864)
-
Mary Glyn, 26,
female, England to New York
-
Mary Glyn, 6
-
Kate Glyn, 5
-
Mark Glyn, 9m
1900 census
(USA) - living in Queens, NY with wife Mary
and four children - all born in UK except youngest child.
unfortunately his occupation is illegible and much of the
detail is very hard to read. It looks as if the given ages do not always
correspond with the given years of birth (someone couldn’t subtract, but
don’t know if it was the enumerator or the informant!)
-
Mark Adamthunite
(his name and his wife’s were transcribed as Mary!), head, 35, b
Jun 1864, mar 13 yrs, b. England
-
Mary, wife, 32, b
May 1878, mar 13 yrs mother of 4 children all living, b. Ireland
-
Mary, dau, 6 b.
1894, b. England (her age looks very wrong – she should be 11and
her entry comes before those for Kate and Mark)
-
Kate, dau, 10,
b1888, at school, b. England
-
Mark, son, 7, b
1892, at school, b. England (transcribed as ‘Bark’)
-
Rosa, dau, 1, b
1898, b New York
The page is very
difficult to read, but it looks as if they have all lived in New York
for 6 years
1910 census (
USA ) (approx year of birth 1861) -
living in Rockland , New York - Mark is an inmate at Hope Hall House,
occ nurse. He is aged 49, married for 24 years and in US since 1883 – a
US national. No sign of wife Mary or son Mark, but their daughter Rose
is aged 12 years and a pupil at the St Rose Industrial School. Their
other daughter Mary Ann seems to have become a novice at the Convent
Order of St Dominic in Babylon, Suffolk, NY – she is now aged 20.
There are also two
Adamthwaites living at the Nazareth Trade School who could actually be
son Mark and another brother, but why would they have different names?:
-
Adam Adamthwaite,
age 15, b 1895, helper in school, b.England, parents b. Ireland
-
Theodore
Adamthwaite, age 7, b.1903, pupil, born NY, parents born England
1912 Marriage
number two: on
12 June in Westchester, New York, Mark was married to Lucy Toghill POPPE, she was 45 -
his given age was 41 years and his occupation nurse - (approx year of
birth 1871) it was his first marriage. His place of residence was
Mount Vernon Hospital , Westchester NY. He was born in London , England
. His parents were John and Lizzie (that would be John Allen
Adamthwaite and Eliza Saynor) . Lucy was aged 45 years of 429
Denham Ave, NY , born London England. Father Thomas Toghill, second
marriage, former husband: dead. Maiden name of mother Rebecca Gray,
England. Witnesses Anna and Ella Johnson)
[source marriage certificate] Note: have found Lucy Toghill
living with her parents Thomas and Rebecca in the 1861, 71, 81 and 91
census – she was actually born in 1861 in Sopwith, Wiltshire – not 1867
in London as stated on the marriage certificate.
The Ellis Island
website shows that Lucy arrived in New York on 23rd June 1894
on the SS Paris ex Southampton. Two of Lucy’s brothers also emigrated to
the States: Frederick and George both arrived on the SS Teutonic from
Southampton in 1908 – they were both bound for Cleveland, Ohio. And her
nephew Herbert Rice arrived in 1905 on the New York, also from
Southampton (information from Bob Lawrence)
A Lucy Poppe (born about 1865) appears in the
1900 and 1910 US censuses living in Westchester, New York, married to a
C J Henry Poppe (b ~ 1841, possibly German)
1915 appl for Canadian Exp Force
given date of birth 2 Aug 1872 - he gave his brother 'Alick' in London
(Alexander?) as his next of kin (he was turned down by the way - the
stated reason was 'insufficiency of height' - he was 5' 2")
by this time he said he was a widower, occupation male nurse.
[source Attestation papers]
1918 Marriage number three: on 23
january 1918 Mark Adamthwaite, son of John Allen Adamthwaite and his
wife Elizabeth Syner (sic) married Florence Jane WARD, daughter of
Loving John Ward and his wife Mary Morrow. The couple were married
at the Methodist Church at Mount-Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
1918 Passenger lists in
August 1918, Mark
and his latest wife Florence arrived in New York from the Port of
Montreal. Mark is aged 45 (year of birth 1873) and a munitions
worker, Florence is 38 – both state they are English and give their last address as
1171 Berth St, Montreal – they are residents of Canada.
We do know however from her entries in the 1901
and 1911 Canadian census, that Florence was born in Canada - though her
father was English.
1918 WW1 draft registration cards
have found cards for Mark’s son Mark Adamthwaite, b. 21 dec 1894 in
London now of 384 Pulaski St, Kings, NY and also for a Thomas Michael
Adamthwaite, b. 29 jun 1900 of the same address. Thomas Michael gives
Mary Adamthwaite of the same address as his next of kin. I believe he
must be another son of Mark and Mary (Glynn) and is possibly the child
named Theodore in the 1910 census.
1920 census (
USA ) living at 34 West 52nd
St,
Manhattan with spouse Florence
-
Mark Adamthwaite,
head, 46, occ hospital orderly, born England and both parents born
England, arr US in 1918, alien (approx year of birth 1874)
-
Florence, wife, 38,
born England and both parents born England , arr US in 1918, alien
1921 Birth of son
John Thomas Adamthwaite - either in USA or Canada Although no
record of the birth of this child has been found, we have a record of
the death on 23 August 1928 of John Thomas Adamthwaite, son of Mark
Adamthwaite and his wife Florence Ward of Ste Anne de Bellvue in
Montreal, the child was aged seven years and was found drowned.
1925 Birth of
daughter Florence - either in USA or Canada again, no record of the
birth of this child has been found, and we only know of her existence
from the entry on the passenger list in August 1929 when she was aged 4
1/2 years.
1929 passenger
lists Mark (listed as Max), age 69 (approx
year of birth 1860), occupation ‘Doctors Assistant’, Florence, age
46, occupation housewife and Florence, age 4 ½ occupation student,
depart Liverpool for Montreal Canada on the SS Regina on 12 july 1929.
Their last address in the UK is given as 46 Cooks Row, London SE17.
[Note that whilst wife Florence has aged 8 years since the 1920 census, in the same period
Mark has suddenly aged 23 years!]
1929 passenger
lists Just six weeks later, Mark Adamthwaite,
age 69, occupation ‘banker’, departs Glasgow for Montreal on SS Melita
on 30 August 1929. His last address in the UK is given as 3 Cunningham
St, Glasgow.
1930 census ( USA )
- no sign of Mark or Florence (though they would probably be living in
Canada at this time), but his son Mark (age 35) is living
with Mark's first wife Mary (age 62) at 18 Park St, Brooklyn in Kings NY
– Mark is a shipping clerk filing cabinets, he is single, born England,
father born England, mother born Ireland. He arrived in US 1896 and is a US
national and a veteran of WW1. His mother Mary is 62, widowed, first
married at 18 and arrived in US 1884 she is a US national – she was born
in Ireland as were both her parents.
Mark and Mary’s son
Mark died 21 aug 1957 and is buried Long Island Cemetery.
NOTE: We have
not yet found a death for Mark or any of his three wives, Mary, Lucy or
Florence.
All possible explanations
and theories - or better still evidence to prove or disprove these
stories - will be most gratefully received:
please email me
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