I'm told by an aunt that my great grandmother Ada Jarvis abandoned her son in a Shropshre market square in approx 1901. Her son was James Herbert/Herbert James Jarvis born in 1900. He was found and then raised by his grandparents William and Elizabeth Jarvis according to the story. Herbert is living with his grandmother Elizabeth on the 1911 census but this doesn't prove the whole story. Is there anyway of finding out if this is true or not? I live in West Yorkshire. I would be grateful for any suggestions. Thank you.
Debbie
Hi Mike,
Thank you very much for your reply.
When I began family research I already knew through my older family members that Elizabeth (nee Jones or Griffiths) and William Jarvis were my great, great grandparents. Thomas was indeed my great granddad and he was involved in the second Boer War and WWI. The family story said that Elizabeth abandoned Herbert to follow Thomas in the army? We are assuming that Ada could have only done this after the death of her oldest son William Thomas, who died in Sept 1901 aged 3. Ada and Thomas then had a daughter Mabel born in March 1902 followed by at least another 5 children.
Ada lived until 1943 and Thomas lived with his son and son's family, until his death in 1956. That son was my maternal granddad Richard Joseph Jarvis. By this point Thomas and Ada and some of their children had moved to the Bradford area of West Yorkshire, and they may have also spent time in Lancashire. Herbert stayed in Shropshire for all of his life and I visited him with my granddad, my mum and extended family back in the 70s.
On Thomas' army records we found two lists of his children and Herbert isn't listed in either, which is very strange because we know he lived until the mid 80s. Perhaps Thomas only had to list dependants and if Herbert was raised by his grandparents Thomas and Ada no longer had responsibility for his care.
According to my aunt the story of abandonment was supposedly found through paid research sometime ago but we don't know in what way it would be possible to find out about something that happened so long ago. We don't have access to this research unfortunately. It would be great to know the facts but I just can't see how we'd get to them.
Thanks again Mike.
Regards
Debbie
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Hello Debbie
The first thing to point out is that formal adoption did not start until 1927 so you are unlikely to find a paper trail to substantiate this story.
I notice there is a James Herbert JARVIS born Apr/May/Jun (Q2) 1900 in the Atcham Reg. Dist. of Shropshire which will have included Shrewsbury and the area west to the Welsh border.
Are you sure that the Herburt (sic) JARVIS age 10 months you have found living with his grandmother Elizabeth JARVIS at Lythwood Road, Bayston Hill in the 1911 census (RG14PN16065 RG78PN991 RD349 SD1 ED21 SN67) is the correct person? How did you establish Elizabeth was indeed his grandmother because for this to be correct Herburt (sic) must have been the son of one of Elizabeth's sons?
The 1901 census was taken on the 31st March 1901, about a year after the birth of Thomas Herbert / James Herbert JARVIS . I can't see the family who are in the 1911 census but there is another family who have a son James H JARVIS age 10 months. On Find my Past he has been wrongly transcribed (I have reported problem) as born Walsall when in fact his mother was born Walsall and he was born Bayston Hill, Salop. They were living at Sharpstones Lane, Meole Brace RG.13/2541 Folio: 68 Page: 46. The father Thomas JARVIS Head M 22 had been entered and crossed out because he was in the Boer War in South Africa.
So going back to your original question it would appear that Ada JARVIS was left at home with two young children while her husband was away in the army. I think you should explore his army records to discover what happened to him. It was far from unusual for children to be looked after by their grandparents for various reasons. Have you established when Ada JARVIS died? The idea that the mother abandoned the child and he just happened to be found by the grandparents seems rather far fetched to me and I think you need to look for more rational reasons for him to be living with the grandparents.
Mike