The Winner of WDWTYA? 3rd April 2008 is.....

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

johnadey

Well done John!

[deletejb]

Well done. Good luck knocking down your brick wall.

[borobabs]

Congratulations John , hope you get some walls knocked down dear ;;;

[SBPF Wendy]

Congratulations John, hoe you find out loads.xxxxx

[johnadey]

Percy Linnell Adey

Thank you everyone.

One of my favourite characters in my family tree is Percy Linnell Adey, the son of baptist minister William Thomas Adey, he was born on 25th February 1879 in Scarborough, Yorkshire. I have quite a lot of information about him but I suspect that there is more to be found. I have found one wife and one daughter but I suspect that this was not his only marriage. Any help in adding to my information would be appreciated but I hope that you all enjoy sharing Percy's life with me.

At the time of the 1891 census Percy was at school at 9 Mabelthorpe Lodge, Christchurch. The school was run by Joseph Tuckwell (aged 40) from Exeter in Devon. Only 4 pupils are shown in the census.

There is no trace of Percy in the 1901 UK census probably because he was overseas at the time. It is known that he fought in the Boer War and was awarded medals.

Unconfirmed stories say that Percy was a renegade, a spy during World War 1 and a walking racer who travelled the world.

Australian immigration records show the a P L Adey aged 22 arrived in Victoria, Australia during May 1904 on board a ship named the Perthshire. This does not exactly match the age of Percy as he would have been about 24 years old in 1904.

Percy was living at The Pacific Hotel, Boise, Ada County, Idaho at the time of the USA WW1 draft registration. He registration details list his occupation as herder working for Harvey & Weeks in Smiths Ferry, Boise. They also say that he was medium height, slender build with blue eyes and blonde hair. Harvey & Weeks may have raised cattle in Idaho and employed herders to drive the cattle down to Oklahoma & Texas where the slaughterhouses were.

According to information at Ellis Island he boarded the Santa Ana bound for New York from Peru, Chile and the Canal Zone having joined the crew originally on 27th December 1919 in New York but he deserted at Valparazio on 10th January 1920. His position on the Santa Ana reads PO Jessman which perhaps should read messman.

On 3rd March 1921 he arrived in New York from Antwerp as a member of the crew of the Kroonland a Red Star Liner. At this time Percy aged 41 was 5ft 8in tall and weighed 164lbs. He had no distinguishing marks.

He married Victoria Johnson Lundquist a postmistress in Fallon, Kansas possibly because he thought she had money but in reality she was as poor as he was. Supposedly Percy was verbally and physically abusive to his wife and step daughters and he abandoned the family when his daughter was 6 months old. There were rumours that Percy moved to Australia when he left Victoria, these have not been confirmed but he may have stayed with his sister Ellen Eliza who went to Western Australia in around 1900.

It is rumoured that Percy was involved in some way in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

USA Social Security Number 440-12-1810 was issued to Percy in Oklahoma before 1951 but it is not known when.

He died on 19th November 1966 in ZIP code 91744 area which is La Puenta, Los Angeles, California, USA.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

Well, it would seem you have a pretty extensive biography of your man already, John!

I'm not sure I can assist much (at all?) as I don't have access to any specific US records. However, one little thing I can say is that Mabelthorpe Lodge in Wootton Gardens would have been in Bournemouth, not Christchurch I'm sure that will make all the difference to you!! The district was named Christchurch for the 1901 census dispite the growth in Bournemouth's size towards the end of the Victorian era. The houses there today are Victorian four story semi-detatched (from memory).

[deletejb]

There is a Percy L Adey on the Border Crossings from Canada to U.S

He arrived at Vancouver on 24 May 1916, Age 37, DOB about 1879, nationality English and birth country English.

I look at the image, it say's he was a journalist but this is strange although it said he was English under the heading Nationality (Country of which citizen or subject) it said Australian.

[deletejb]

Just noticed on the same image it said his father is Wm. T. Adey under his name it says Bristol

[Mary from Italy]

I've had a quick look in Australian records, but I can't find anything really useful. I've checked the online electoral rolls, but I can't find Percy or his sister.

The only similar name is a Percy George Adey, who was on the NSW electoral roll in 1930 and 1936. According to his WW2 service record he was born in Victoria in 1899, next of kin being his wife Ivy. There is an earlier service record online for him, but the attestation page is missing, so it doesn't have his parents' names. He sounds like quite a bolshy character from the record, so I wondered if he might be your Percy's son (assuming he paid a visit to Victoria before 1904), but there's no marriage for your Percy in the Victoria BMD registers.

There's only a small selection of Australian electoral rolls online (on Ancestry):

Australian Capital Territory: 1928, 1935
New South Wales: 1930, 1936
Northern Territory: 1922, 1929, 1934
Queensland: 1903, 1905, 1913, 1919, 1925, 1930, 1936
Tasmania: 1914, 1919, 1928, 1936
Victoria: 1856, 1903, 1909, 1914, 1919, 1924, 1931, 1936
Western Australia: 1901, 1906, 1916, 1925, 1936

You could try asking the "Ask a Librarian" service of each State to do a search for you of other dates.

Can't find a marriage or death in WA for his sister, but only the following WA indexes are online:
Birth indexes - 1841 to 1931
Death indexes - 1841 to 1953
Marriage indexes - 1841 to 1921

These are the sites I checked:

RecordSearch - National Archives of Australia
WW2 Nominal Roll
Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages - Victoria - Index Search - Historical Index Search Form
Searching WA Online Indexes
Australian Electoral Rolls, 1901-1936 - Ancestry.co.uk
Convictions Australian Shipping
Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters

I also checked Google book search and the Gale newspaper site, but didn't find anything.

I don't suppose you're interested in an Edward Linnell Adey who went bankrupt in 1869, are you?

[johnadey]

Percy & Co

Thank you all. No dramatic discoveries but we are slowly adding a little more information.

Yes please Mary I would like to hear about Edward Linnell Adey, born 1835, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. He is also in my tree.

[Mary from Italy]

You'll find his bankruptcy in the Gazette:

beta.gazettes-online

He lived in London if I remember rightly.

[johnadey]

Thank you Mary I did not know of this site. Sadly I found another family member there!

[johnadey]

Thank you

Thank you everyone.

John