Cottey Family - brick wall and only at the start

[tina Fletcher]

I am tracing my Maternal family and have very little information to get started, varying anecdotes and unable to pick up any threads on Ancestory. The name I am researching is Cottey, sometimes spelt cotty. I have located some Cottey's in Bristol but only two of the names match the family members. My Great Aunt worked as a nurse or nanny in Guernsey during the occupation of the island and apparently married a Walter Le Page but no records can be found for this marriage. All a bit odd.

[Lin Fisher]

Hi Tina

What info do you have on the Cotteys.

You say its your maternal side, so is it your Mother or Grandmother that is the Cottey.

If you could give us some more help but please remember you can not post living people.

I'm sure some one will be able to help

[tina Fletcher]

info about the cottey family

Thanks for the reply. It is my grandmother's maiden name and the information that I can confirm so far is that her name was Catherine anne Louise and she was born 20th August 1906, she had 3 older brothers called Herbert, john, William Francis and a sister called Violet May. They lived in Redland in Bristol and the Father was killed on a ship. My Mother cannot remember ever seeing her grandfather. All of the family members of my grandmother's generation are dead and my mother and her siblings were not told anything. Great Aunt Violet was in Guernsey during the german occupation.
I am starting with a visit to the Bristol records office in the hope I can locate the family and confirm what I know already. Hopefully some other lead will come from this.

Tina

[Anne in Carlisle]

Do you have the census images for 1911? It appears your great grandmother married at 18 and she says she has had six children one of whom has died. Your great Aunt Violet is in "Miss Steers Home for Little Girls" in Chingford Essex. I wonder why?

What certificates do you have? Presumably you have your grandmother's birth certificate and know her father's name? You should then be able to find the marriage. Probably this one ...
William Henry Cottey and Emma Rosina Warden married June quarter 1893, Cardiff. Their first child was born in Wales according to the 1911 census.

Unfortunately if William "died on a ship" it may be hard to find his death. However since Emma is a widow in 1911 and your grandmother was born in 1906 it narrows the time down.

Anne

[Janet in Yorkshire]

William Henry Cottey died Bristol Reg Dist Sep qtr 1908, at the age of 36 yrs.

(In 1901 census, he was a grain porter, so could have had an accident in the docks?????)

Jay

[Anne in Carlisle]

Just found the 1901. There is a baby, Alice, so I would guess she might be the child who died.

William Henry says he's born in Liverton which seems to be in Devon. This could be his birth registration ...
William Henry Cottey Sept quarter 1862, South Molton registration district, Devon. If you get his birth certificate it will tell you his parents names.

Anne

[Mary from Italy]

Emma R Cottey died in Bristol in 1940, aged 66. You said on the New to Family Tree Forum? thread that she was killed during the war, but she isn't listed on the Commonwealth War Graves commission site among the civilian war dead, so she presumably wasn't killed in the bombing.

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

[Mary from Italy]

William Henry says he's born in Liverton which seems to be in Devon.

I think it'll be Tiverton.

[Mary from Italy]

This is Emma's birth:

Births Sep 1873
Warden Emma Rosina Bristol 6a 28

From http://www.freebmd.org.uk

[tina Fletcher]

Thank you everyone - you have been busy. I have also been searching and can now confirm that Emma Rosina is my Great Grandmother. I did not know when she died so that is helpful. Thank you for the info about my Great grandfather and it links with the information about East Moors cardiff. I do not have any certificates to confirm or identify information but will be visiting the records office to try and do this tomorrow. using some of the Geneology sites I have repeatedly searched for Violet and found nothing at all. The only result on 1911 census belonged to another family. I have tried a web search for the children's home but nothing comes up.
Anne - where did you find the information about Violet, she is one year older than my grandmother Kate ( catherine) and is not on the 1911 census. If she was sent away I would like to try to find out why.
many many thanks to all of you. I will keep you posted if I find anyting else.

[Mary from Italy]

The only result on 1911 census belonged to another family.

There are two results for that name in the 1911 census:

INSTITUTION / COTTEY / VIOLET / F / 1902 / 9 / Epping / Essex
HOUSEHOLD / COTTEY / VIOLET / F / 1906 / 5 / Bristol / Gloucestershire

[tina Fletcher]

Violet Cottey

Mary - thank you for the two records - it all seems to be quite a mystery not being able to find my Great Aunt, especialy as I knew her. Nothing seems to fit together. She is not on the census for the family in 1911 and just appears to have vanished for a space of time. perhaps I should start from when she died and work back to 1911. I know her married name was Lepage and she worked in Guernsey during the occupation by the germans, she was a children's nanny and a nurse. This could be a suitable place to look and confirm. I shall unravel this mystery now I have opened it.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Sorry - I didn't realise your great aunt was only a year older than your grandmother. So it appears that she is NOT the one in the school in 1911 (that one is born in Bristol!). The other Violet mentioned above is with her mother and father James and Annie in Bristol. I think her birth was registered as Violet Annie Cottey.

When did your Great Aunt die? There is a record of Violet Gertrude L Le Page died in Bristol in 1970. Is that the correct one? BUT that one says she was born on 4 Jan 1902 and so she could very well be the one in the school in 1911! Violet Gertrude L Cottey's birth was registered in Q1 1902 in Barton Regis district (which includes Bristol).

If the above are the wrong records I think you need to consider that your great aunt may have called herself by a different name than that she was registered with. There are only two Violet Cott(e)y registered at that time and they are the two who appear on the 1911 census. Neither of them have the middle name May. Fascinating!

Anne

[tina Fletcher]

The records office did not give many more details than you all had given me. I was able to confirm that Alice did die at a young age - 2 yrs and this was confirmed by the rrecords office. Violet gertrude was born in 1902 in Bristol but I will need to go the registry office to check the birth certificate to be sure it is my great Aunt. This is the one who was sent to a home for little girls. I now have the Chingford records office to check for any info about this institution. It seems that I will need to visit devon and Cardiff registry offices at some point for confirmation and to be able to move forward. I will attempt to check the guernsey records for My great aunt which may have some valuable information to continue my search. My first vsist to the records office was very confusing and I will need to be better prepared before searching there again.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Would it be easier and (possibly) cheaper to buy the certificates on-line? They are £9.25 now but if it saves a long journey .....?

Anne

[tina Fletcher]

Hello Anne,

I think you have found my Great Aunt Violet. The birth date could be accurate as it was only a guess as to her dob. The marriage to le page fits and the year of death. I am still trying to trace the school ( home for little girls). I can quite understand why she would change Gertrude for May. Were these records in BMD? I know that Auntie Violet died of stomach cancer in a Bristol Hospice but have no name of the place. My grandmother was very victorian and one was not allowed to pry into family history it was considered rude. ( not surprising with the information everyone has been finding out). If they are watching me now then I am in big trouble when I meet them on the other side. I am using ancestory, find my past and 19 11 census to search are there any other places I can work in. Many thanks for the help, I will let you know if I find anything in Guernsey.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Glad to have helped! I found what I presume could be your great Aunt's death registration index on Ancestry. I just put in Violet Le Page and there were only two! Then I saw that the most likely had the same name as the Violet Gertrude Cottey who was in Essex in 1911. I found that birth registration on FreeBMD. I always use FreeBMD for anything before about 1915 as I prefer they way it delivers results.

If it was my family I think I would want to get Violet's death certificate and work back from there, as you said. Presumably she married in the Channel Islands? I know nothing about finding records there - I'm sure someone else would know! Sending for Violet Gertrude's birth certificate would tell you for sure if she was the right one. Perhaps she didn't like the name Gertrude?

Anne

[Elaine ..Spain]

You might find some useful links for Guernsey on our Channel Islands page in the FTF Reference Library.

[Mary from Italy]

I can quite understand why she would change Gertrude for May.

You'd be surprised how many people changed their middle names; lots of people on my tree did (particularly the Australians).

Were these records in BMD?

You can find births, marriages and deaths up to about the 1920s on FreeBMD, which I linked to earlier:

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

After 1916, you need to use Ancestry:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8782

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8753

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=7579

[tina Fletcher]

Many Thanks Mary.