Arthur Montague Murch, born 1878

Arthur Montague Murch was the seventh child of John Benjamin Murch and Charlotte Webb.  His birth was registered in the March quarter of 1878 (so he could have been born in 1877) in the Dover Registration District of Kent, England.

He appears with his family in the 1881 and 1891 censuses in Waterloo Cottage, Cambridge Road, St James (Kent).  His mother, Charlotte, died when Arthur was only ten.  His father, John, was a shipwright and, by the 1891 census, two of Arthur's elder sisters (Kate and Elizabeth) were teachers, while his eldest sister (another Charlotte) ran the house.

In the 1901 census, Kate has taken over the running of the house for her widowed father, while Arthur

remains at home as a 23-year-old commercial clerk.

By 1911, the family has moved to 34 Oakwood Gardens, Ilford, Essex.  Kate is still running the household at 42, younger sister May is a secretary for a barrister's office, and Arthur is still at home, still single, but now a bank clerk.

He features in the Murch Surname Study.  For further information including sources and links, see his WikiTree profile.

© 2019 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved

A-Z Challenge 2016: Q is for Queenie Gladys Noyse Murch 1901

Queenie Gladys is one of those females that would be left out of a Surname Study by some managers.  She wasn't born a Murch, you see - but I think that she spent most of her life, and more of her life as a Murch, so I include her in my Study.

Queenie Gladys Noyse was born in 1901 in the West Ham Registration District of London (hovering over Essex at one point) to Ernest and Mina Noyes.  Since Ernest came from Bow, and Mina from Shadwell, and most of the children were born in Leyton, Essex, there was probably a distinctive Cockney accent within the home.  She married Sydney Samuel Murch in 1920 in the Thanet Registration District of Kent, England.

Queenie features in the Murch Surname Study.

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved

A-Z Challenge 2016: P is for Phillis Emma Murch 1860-1863

You may have decided to read this post because you thought "That spelling is incorrect!  It should be 'Phyllis'!"  Welcome to the wonderful world of genealogy and family history, where spelling can get VERY creative, and you shouldn't dismiss a record because "it's not the way I spell it".

Phillis Emma Murch was born in the late spring or early summer of 1860 in the Colchester Registration District, Essex, England.  She died and was buried just before her third birthday, on 18 March 1863.  She may have lived a very short life, but she manages to teach us (as genealogists) something very important.  Many people in 1860 were illiterate, so the official who registered the name spelled it the way he thought it should be spelled, and maybe the parents didn't know that it was wrong.  How many times have you come across marriage certificates where both the bride and groom made an X instead of writing their name?

And it's not just way-back-when that it happened, either.  When my maternal grandfather went to register the birth of my mother, he had such a thick Devon accent that the registrar wrote him down as 'William Rupert Ball', when his name was actually 'William Hubert Ball' (and he wasn't illiterate).  One of my Haywood families was enumerated in the 1861 census as Howard.  I wonder if there were any thick accents in that crowd?  And one of the best is a lady who also features in the Murch Surname Study: Susaner Murch.  Yes, she is actually spelled 'Susaner'.  It happened in Devon - can't you just hear the accent?

Phillis/Phyllis features in the Murch Surname Study.

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved

A-Z Challenge 2016: B is for Beatrice Murch 1864-1934

The first of my theme is Beatrice Alexander Murch.  (The 'A' post was for All Aboard! and was the introduction to this theme.)

Beatrice was born in 1864 in Colchester, Essex, England. 

On the 1881 census, she is living with her widowed mother at 124 Cromwell Road, Colchester. Her mother, Harriet M Murch from Corlee, Mayo, Ireland, is not recorded as having an occupation, but Beatrice, aged 17 and unmarried, is working as a dressmaker.  Since I cannot find either female on the 1871 England & Wales census, then possibly they are in Ireland.

Beatrice married in Colchester in 1890; her husband was Thomas George C Rich from Ipswich, Suffolk, England, and two years younger than her.  On the 1891 census, the young couple is living with his widowed mother, Emma Rich in 1 Sea View Cottages, Walton le Soken, Essex, and Thomas is a smith's striker (the smith would heat the metal and give directions, the striker would wield the hammer and shape the metal).

They are still in Walton le Soken on the 1901 census, living at 13 Broomfield Cottages with a small son, William Henry, aged 7 and born in Walton on the Naze.

Beatrice died in 1934, aged 70.  She features in the Murch Surname Study.

© 2016 Ros Haywood. All Rights Reserved