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Help with Olivia Melvina...

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  • Help with Olivia Melvina...

    Thanks to Sue's thread I was reminded of a question I have been meaning to ask for some time

    My great great great grandmother was born on the 21st August 1851.

    Her name is given as Olivia Melvina Newbury January and her father is a Private. Parents are James and Sophia, and she was baptised in Kingstown later in 1851. (however, it doesn't say where Kingstown is on the cert - it is an overseas one).

    Olivia had four daughters in India in the 1870s (her husband, Thomas Kerr, was in the army) so I think she must have married him out there.

    In 1881 the family are in Scotland and Olivia's place of birh is St Vincent, West Indies.

    Am I right in thinking that this is where she was born?

    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Sadly, Olivia died in 1882 but her Scottish death certificate does give some extra information:

    Father was James Jannaway, barracks sergeant, deceased.
    Mother was Sophia Ann Jannaway, maiden name Abbott.

    I can find nothing else about James and Sophia anywhere and I can find no records of Olivia and Thomas' marriage.

    Any ideas?

    Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

  • #2
    That certainly looks like the right place for her birth, Tom, since it says the capital is Kingstown.
    KiteRunner

    Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
    (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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    • #3
      Should one infer that JANNAWAY and JANUARY are variations of the same name?

      Christine
      Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Christine in Herts View Post
        Should one infer that JANNAWAY and JANUARY are variations of the same name?

        Christine
        That is what I have taken it to be Christine.

        Her scottish death certificate told me her parents were James and Sophia Ann Jannaway but when I was looking at ordering her birth certificate the only one that looked likely was with the surname JANUARY. I ordered it and I am confident it is the correct one as the parents are James and Sophia, and she has the middle name Melvina.

        Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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        • #5
          It's easy to imagine that one name could morph into the other - especially if anyone had any trouble with a rolling R in speech.

          I have a name for one of Errant Grandfather's USA brides (there appear to be more than one). It looks like FEBUARY, but may be FEBRUARY (which is often pronounced without the middle R)... or it could be something else altogether.

          Christine
          Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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          • #6
            I am just trying to imagine them both being said in a Scottish accent, as her husband was from Scotland so when pronouncing January it may have sounded like Jannaway or the other way round and her family were originally from Scotland.

            I can see how they are similar though and could easily morph into each other.

            Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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