Lost Boy in USA?

[Lorna Allison]

Hello Folks

With my Ancestry free trial drawing to a close I discovered that my brickwall has possible links to the US instead of Australia, as I had believed.

John Charles PRICE b. 1884 in Pontypool lost his mother Annie ms CURZON in 1885. His 3 older sisters, one being my grandmother, were taken in by family and I have traced the sisters up to 1901, but no trace found of baby John Charles. My grandmother was only 5 when the family was split and she seemed to think that he had gone to relatives in Australia.

However, trying to find Jesse CURZON my gmother’s Uncle b. 1870 Trevethin, Pontypool, Mons. I discovered that he appears to have emigrated to the USA months after his mother’s death in 1893. Looks like him on the Lord Gough sailing from Liverpool 1st June 1893 bound for Philadelphia. He has put his relation there as “J BATEMAN, Uncle” who also paid his fare. Excitingly, the only relative my grandmother and her children really kept in contact with was a Bateman cousin who was born in Newport. Her father was Thomas BATEMAN b. about 1866 in Pontypool, Mons who married Fanny CURZON (Jesse & Annies sister), but I know nothing about his family.

A Bateman family (Mother & 3 children) did sail for Philadelphia in 1848 with a son called John aged 4.

Ancestry trial is at an end. Haven’t connected a John BATEMAN to Thomas BATEMAN – but I wonder if some kind person could look at maybe an 1891 census for Philadelphia to see if there is a (John) Bateman family with a boy called John or John Charles (could have dropped the PRICE) aged about 7 years?

Sorry, bit of an epistle this. Most grateful for any help.

Regards

Lorna

[SarahND]

but I wonder if some kind person could look at maybe an 1891 census for Philadelphia to see if there is a (John) Bateman family with a boy called John or John Charles (could have dropped the PRICE) aged about 7 years?

Unfortunately, that isn't possible The 1890 census was destroyed in a fire, so there is an uncomfortable gap of 20 years between 1880 and 1900 where anything could have happened (and usually did). I'm struggling with that gap on one of my lines right now...

There are a couple of John Batemans (Batemen? ) in Pennsylvania in 1900, none in Philadelphia, but that could just be where the boat landed. Is it possible the family could be coal miners?

Lykens Borough, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
John Bateman, 55,head, born Dec 1844 in Wales, Mine laborer. Immigration year unknown
Kate Bateman, 50, wife, born Jan 1850 in Pennsylvania
Samuel Bateman, 21, son, born March 1879 in Pennsylvania, Mine laborer
William Bateman, 14, son, born March 1883 in Pennsylvania, Mine laborer
Arthur R Bateman, 10, son, born March 1890 in Pennsylvania, at school

Wiconisco, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
John Bateman, 55, head, widowed, born Dec 1844 in England, Miner- coal, Immigration year 1887
Elizabeth Bateman, 29, daughter, born Aug 1870 in England, Immigration year 1888
Frederick J Bateman, 15, son, born June 1884 in England, Breaker Boy (coal), Immigration year 1888

Next door is a John C Bateman, but he was born July 1872 in England, Immigration year 1888. He is married to Annie, born in Pennsylvania

All the best,
Sarah

P.S. Have to admit I'm a bit confused... the mother died, but was the father still living? There are a couple of possible John Prices, but they are listed as "son" to the head of household.

[SarahND]

Excitingly, the only relative my grandmother and her children really kept in contact with was a Bateman cousin who was born in Newport.

Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Which Newport would that be? Rhode Island is what springs to my mind, but you probably mean Wales?

There is a Thomas Bateman also in Wiconisco, Dauphin county. He was born July 1867 in Wales, but his wife's name is Rebecca, not Fanny. Also a coal miner, he came to the U.S. in 1868, i.e., as a toddler. So maybe he's not the one.

Regards,
Sarah

[Lorna Allison]

Hi Sarah

“Wiconisco” is exactly where Jesse CURZON went to in “Pa” in 1893, I just couldn’t make head nor tail of the place name and thought that since the boat went to Philadelphia the “Pa” meant Philadelphia (funny how once you know what something is it jumps out at you from the page) Jesse had himself down on the manifest as an Engineer, so that could have been ok for the mining industry I suppose.

The Curzons & Batemans lived in West Wales (The Marches) and I would not be surprised at there being relatives living in England but still having contact with them. John Bateman aged 55 emigrating with his family in 1888 would be spot on to take little John Charles with him. If only John C Bateman, living next door in Wiconisco could have been my John Charles having been adopted, but the difference of 12 years rules him out.

What a bummer about the 1891 census. My JC might have appeared on that and died before the 1900 one. I expect Jesse Curzon had moved on by the 1900 census.

Re your confusion: Sorry - the mother died in 1884 in Pontypool and the father (John Price), having lost his dairy business, turns up in 1891 living with his parents (who had run the business with John) and one of their grandsons, William, in Newport. All 3 men are working as gardeners. The story my grandmother passed down was that her father had a “breakdown”, gambled away his business then shot himself. I haven’t found any suicide but the breakdown may well be correct. In any case they certainly fell on hard times. There are two suitable deaths one in Griffithstown Poorhouse and one in Newport Poor House for John Prices in 1900 (both Apoplexy) and the Newport one is buried in Pontypool, same churchyard as his wife but different grave (she is with her parents). I do think that is him – but no proof. (Oh yes – I meant Newport, Wales)

The only likely John Charles Price I found in Wales in 1891 was 7 (right age) and living as a lodger in a doctor’s house in Cardiff where his mother Mary Price, Widow aged 27, lived-in and worked as Housekeeper. Am not able to join this Mary up with the family and she disappears by 1901.

I am really pleased to have that info on the Wiconisco Batemans, Sarah. I shall also keep tabs on the Lykens Borough family and the other Thomas Bateman – you just never know . . . . . I smell a connection

Thanks very much for that Sarah.

Kind regards

Lorna

[SarahND]

Hi Lorna,

I just couldn’t make head nor tail of the place name and thought that since the boat went to Philadelphia the “Pa” meant Philadelphia

it's whatever you're used to! Philadelphia is "Philly" and I was born in PA, but certainly not in Philly I have to admit that I had a long mental pause between reading your Mons. and finally translating it as Monmouthshire and therefore Wales... (further confused by the fact that Mons is a city in Belgium and my husband is Belgian)

What a bummer about the 1891 census. My JC might have appeared on that and died before the 1900 one. I expect Jesse Curzon had moved on by the 1900 census.

It is a real bummer, for sure. I am trying to trace the life of a young woman who was born about 1889 and died just 3 months before the 1910 census was taken. The only census to go by is 1900 and that document is, for various reasons, full of either errors or downright lies So the truth is hard to get at-- I'm trawling the newspapers...

Jessie S Curzon, engineer, came back to the U.S. (heading for Ohio, this time) in 1904, so he must have returned to the UK in the interim.

All the best,
Sarah