USA help (illinois) and yorkshire

[kylejustin]

can i get a hand with agnes woolley and wilfred crossfield please?

my uncle wilfred crossfield was b.1905, leeds. son of david crossfield (1865-1926) and edith maude ford (1871-1941). he married monica mary simpson (1908-1981, dau of herbert simpson and martha noble) in 1928, scoonie, fife. he had two children (1928 and 1933) in nth bierley district of yorks.

in 1954, he left southampton aboard the 'georgic', with an agnes crossfield. their last address was edinburgh. they arrived in new york. wilfred died in 1983 in chicago, and agnes in 1986 at norridge, both in illinois.

wilfred's first wife died as crossfield in nth bierley district in 1981. i'm unsure if they divorced.

agnes' death stated she was born in 1910, illinois. her parents were given as charles woolley and flora blair. i've been unable to locate anything on agnes or her parents, asides from the passenger list and the death cert. i'm interested in finding out wilfred's movements from 1933-1954, apparently he served in WWII from his death cert.....and agnes' movements prior to 1954. is there a record of her entry to the UK?

[PhotoFamily]

It sounds like you have the DCs - where were they buried? You could create memorial pages for them on findagrave, and hopefully someone would take the photo for you. Ask that they photo any grave stones in the plot, and any nearby Woolleys and Crossfields.

I didn't find Agnes Woolley on familysearch's census indexes, even broadening the year of birth.

What about obits? Chicago Tribune usually has only a two-line blurb, but it might name family. Who were the informants?

[PhotoFamily]

Wilfred's DC info on fs

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9V-529X

Agnes on SSDI. Norridge is in Cook count

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V3QM-L31

[PhotoFamily]

Do you know if Wilfred naturalized? And who is Paul Vega on the Wilfred's DC?

I wonder if Agnes' POB is incorrect on the death cert. If it was filled in by, say, a registrar in a nursing home, that might give the incorrect info.

Have you looked for her in UK 1911 census?

[Elaine]

1944 Gunner, passenger list

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HSC-4D7

This one says they did not embark 10 Feb 1954

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HW6-B3V

and the other one left 19 May 1954

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HW1-D15

[Elaine]

Got her I think, off to 34 Albert Street, Edinburgh

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=agnes&gsfn_x=NP&gsln=woolley&gsln_x=NP_NN_NS&msbdy=1910&msbpn__ftp=illinois&cpxt=1&cp=4&MSAV=0&uidh=euf&pcat=40&h=29291534&db=BT26&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960
Name: Agnes Woolley
Birth Date: abt 1910
Age: 20
Port of Departure: New York, New York, United States
Arrival Date: 26 Sep 1930
Port of Arrival: Liverpool, England
Ship Name: Andania

???

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=agnes&gsfn_x=NP&gsln=woolley&gsln_x=NP_NN_NS&msbdy=1910&msbpn__ftp=illinois&cpxt=1&cp=12&MSAV=0&uidh=euf&pcat=40&h=3051648&recoff=3+4&db=CanAtlPacArriv&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

Index to Alien Arrivals at Canadian Atlantic and Pacific Seaports, 1904-1944

Name: Agnes Wooley
Age: 20
Birth Year: abt 1910
Arrival Year: 1930
Arrival Country: USA

[Elaine]

Looking again was a bit unsure as she is coming from Quebec but there is a passenger list for a Flora and Chas

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=flora&gsfn_x=NP&gsln=woolley&gsln_x=NP_NN_NS&cpxt=1&cp=4&MSAV=0&uidh=euf&pcat=40&h=17531570&db=BT26&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960

Name: Flora Woolley
Birth Date: abt 1885
Age: 29
Port of Departure: Montréal, Québec, Canada
Arrival Date: 3 Jun 1914
Port of Arrival: Liverpool, England
Ship Name: Virginian

[PhotoFamily]

Just looked again at Cook County Genealogy, and Illinois Cyberdrive for the Birth Cert of Agnes, but no joy.

I have relatives born in Chicago in that time frame who did not have their births registered. Procedures were not fully followed at that time.

[Elaine]

This Charles Woolley c 1864 off to Quebec was at 94 Albert Street Edinburgh going to USA

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=charles&gsfn_x=NP&gsln=woolley&gsln_x=NP_NN_NS&cp=0&MSAV=0&uidh=euf&pcat=IMG_PASSLISTS&h=34867174&recoff=6+7&db=UKOutwardPassengerLists&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

Name: Charles Woolley
Gender: Male
Age: 65
Birth Date: abt 1864
Departure Date: 6 Sep 1929
Port of Departure: Glasgow, Scotland
Destination Port: Quebec, Canada
Ship Name: Athenia

Presumably Margaret is his wife, sure they are in Illinois too

1900

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1900usfedcen&h=12193401&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&rhSource=2542

Charles Woolley 35
Margaret A Woolley 34
Earl E Woolley 14
Dewey Woolley 2

[Elaine]

Scap 1900, passenger list as family have them 1930 Cook, Illinois

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1930usfedcen&indiv=try&h=84826810

Charles Woolley 65 born Scotland
Henry Woolley 21
Margaret Woolley 24

Border crossing wife Farquhar 94 Albert Street
Son John and address Detroit

http://search.ancestry.co.uk//cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=CanadianBC&h=1823002&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&rhSource=1101

Loads of info Michigan passenger list

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=charles&gsfn_x=NP&gsln=woolley&gsln_x=NP_NN_NS&msbdy=1864&cp=0&MSAV=0&uidh=euf&pcat=IMG_PASSLISTS&h=276944&recoff=7+8&db=MichiganPL&indiv=1&ml_rpos=2

Then I checked the hints

1891 Farguhar Blair

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1891Scotland&h=1647318&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&rhSource=1247

1901 Scotland Woolley

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=1901Scotland&h=2428229&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&rhSource=1108

Charles Woolley 35
Farguhar Woolley 26
John Woolley 1
Robert Keir 28
Jane Ferguson 45
Jas D Ferguson 15
Jane A L Ferguson 11
Mary A Ferguson 9

Farquhar and Agnes

http://search.ancestry.co.uk//cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=UKOutwardPassengerLists&h=140366304&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&rhSource=1101

UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960

Name: Farquhar Woolley
Gender: Female
Age: 53
Birth Date: abt 1877
Departure Date: 16 Aug 1930
Port of Departure: Greenock, Scotland
Destination Port: Quebec; Montreal, Canada
Ship Name: Antonia

US Border Crossing

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=CanadianBC&h=1481307

They are off to Charles but have come from dau Helen Fox 3 Bathfield Road, Leith. Both are as Farquhar

Michigan passenger lists also

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8MN-67X

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8MN-676

[PhotoFamily]

So, if this is they in 1954
5 Wilfred Crossfield 15 Feb 1954 Southampton, England Britain British Queen Elizabeth New York, New York 179
6 ??Ens Crossfield 15 Feb 1954 Southampton, England Britain British Queen Elizabeth New York, New York 179

Not that I can read the actual record, but don't you think the ??Ens is Agnes? Showing that she's British nationality? Altho it's true that her Birth place is blank. Perhaps she was traveling on her husband's British passport?

[Karamazov]

1944 Gunner, passenger list

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HSC-4D7

Difficult to say with any certainty, other than the name and birth year being right, but IF this is your Wilfred, it gives some indication of movements during WW2 - he had been a crew member for 4 years. I don't know if this might get you any further, but just in case, here's some more info on the Tureby. It was a Danish cargo ship (but sailed under a British flag 1940-1945) sailing out of Cardiff to NY on this occasion. More info here:

http://7seasvessels.com/tureby-1936-imo-000000/

• SS Stella (Copenhagen, 1935) was a 4,372 ton cargo ship launched as the Danish Tureby on 31 October 1935, by Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen, Denmark. Renamed Stella in 1968. Scrapped in Hamburg, Germany, from 12 August 1969.^[22]

[Elaine]

Just realised Farquhar x2 and Agnes left 1930 but Agnes is not on the border crossing

[Karamazov]

So, if this is they in 1954
5 Wilfred Crossfield 15 Feb 1954 Southampton, England Britain British Queen Elizabeth New York, New York 179
6 ??Ens Crossfield 15 Feb 1954 Southampton, England Britain British Queen Elizabeth New York, New York 179

Not that I can read the actual record, but don't you think the ??Ens is Agnes? Showing that she's British nationality? Altho it's true that her Birth place is blank. Perhaps she was traveling on her husband's British passport?

Its definitely AGENS crossed through so just a typo for Agnes. On the May sailing where they did actually embark, she and Wilfred are both travelling on differently numbered British passports. So she had a British passport in her own right, not travelling on her husband's.
I'm inclined to think Illinois as the place of birth is a red herring and that she was British.

Christine

[Karamazov]

Its definitely AGENS crossed through so just a typo for Agnes. On the May sailing where they did actually embark, she and Wilfred are both travelling on differently numbered British passports. So she had a British passport in her own right, not travelling on her husband's.
I'm inclined to think Illinois as the place of birth is a red herring and that she was British.

Christine

Was too late to edit previous post with this addition:

I'm inclined to think Illinois as the place of birth is a red herring and that she was British. If the only mention of Illinois as the place of birth is from the death info that Kyle posted in post 1 - well, I'm sure we've all come across errors in death certs where the informant didn't know the deceased well (as in the case of a public official). Even close relatives can simply get it wrong, assume or misremember. Just yesterday, I had a death record where the wife as informant said her husband's mother was Mary Jane Sanford when she was actually Mary Ann Redpath!
Christine

[PhotoFamily]

I didn't spot her birth in FreeBMD, but I wonder if Scotland's People is the place to look?

The Cunard line record is a bit confusing, because it's supposed to be a list of British passengers, but they are circled USA, and that's their next permanent record. Perhaps labelled that way because they had stated their intent to settle in the US?

Also, the border crossing for Farquhar indicates that they had never been in the US before.

Yes, I think the Illinois birth place is likely incorrect

[kylejustin]

Ooh thank you all for the information. I have copies of wilfred and agnes' deaths. Paul vega certified wilfred's, he was his doctor. The person who certified agnes worked at the nursing home. They are buried at memorial gardens in Arlington heights, cook county.

Wilfred's death stated he was english, of english nationality....yet his death appears on the socual security number database.

Agnes is recorded as being scotch on hers, but it asks for descent, with another box recording Nationality. So her father was born in Scotland, and her mother isn't flota, but farquhar?

Starting to wonder if the errors are due to nursing home staff recording the deaths. I'm starting to think she was scottish born. And wondering how she met wilfred. He married in Scotland in 1928, and we have no idea why, as he and monica were yorks born.

[Karamazov]

Kyle,
The fact that he appears on the U.S. SSDI just indicates that he had applied for a U.S. social security number. He would have needed it for work purposes-the equivalent of a national insurance number here in the UK. I have lots of Irish immigrants who did so too - some who became naturalised, some who didn't.

Photofamily -- re post 16
re the May 1954 sailing on the Georgic and their arrival in NY - both are travelling on separate British passports and are recorded on a page of inbound passengers (Aliens) indicating that neither had US citizenship at that time.

Kyle - re post 12 - what was his occupation in the U.S. ? Do you know if he applied for naturalisation?
If he had been a sailor previous to WW2 perhaps that offers some explanation as to marriage in Scotland??

Christine

[Chrissie Smiff]

Agnes Woolley was born in Colinton, Edinburgh on 11th June 1910. Will type details shortly.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Kyle,
Kyle - re post 12 - what was his occupation in the U.S. ? Do you know if he applied for naturalisation?
If he had been a sailor previous to WW2 perhaps that offers some explanation as to marriage in Scotland??

Christine

Just jumping in at the end of things - re Wilfred's occupation, he could have been on the construction/maintenance side of things rather than a member of either the merchant or royal navies. (I'm thinking Clydeside and the shipbuilding industry.)

Jay