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CHAPTER ONE

MAKING A START.

Prior to my starting out on this idea of trying to discover my ancestors, I actually knew very little about my Dad’s family. Right from an early age, I had realized that my Dad, John Mills, had a completely different surname to his mother, who was Ellen Joy ---- and known to me as Grannie Joy. I suppose, back in my early childhood, I must have asked  why their names were different and accepted what I was told, without question.

Basically, I was told that my Dad’s own father,  who was also called John Mills, had been orphaned as a young boy, and  placed  aboard  a training ship on the Thames, in preparation for a ‘career’ in the Royal Navy.

By 1904, whilst serving with the Royal Navy, he had met and married my Gran. A year later they had a son, who was destined to become my Father.  Unfortunately, just three years later, at 26 years of age, Grandad was drowned in  a tragic accident at sea. It happened in the Sea of Marmora, just off of the Turkish coast. Gran, unexpectedly widowed, found herself left with a 2 year-old son to bring up, and precious little money to help her.  There wasn’t much in the way of financial or social  help in those days, so her future must have looked pretty bleak.  Fortunately, the fates smiled on her, and Gran married for a second time in 1908.  Her second husband, who was Arthur Joy, became my Dad’s step-father.  Although Gran took on her new husband’s surname when she married him, my Dad retained the Mills surname of his true father.  Hence the reason my Gran and my Dad had different surnames.

Because all this happened when my Dad was so young, he had little or no recollection of his own father.  Although he was well-treated by his stepfather, and looked upon him as a real father, my Dad did admit to me, towards the end of his own  life, that he wished that he had known more about his own father. Therefore, in some respects, I am partially doing this ‘family history’ thing for him, in an effort to find out more about the man we never knew.  

The trouble was, other than one solitary photograph taken of my true Grandfather, wearing his naval uniform, the only documentary evidence that I had of his existence, was his name on my Gran’s first marriage certificate ---- the details of which, appear on the following page:-

From their certificate, I could see that my  Grandfather’s name was the same as my Dad’s ---- i.e., John Mills ----  and that my Grandmother’s maiden name had been Nellie Ellen Roff.  It also showed that their marriage had taken place at the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and St. Philip Neri, in Lower Sydenham, on the 13 January 1904, and that they were both 23 years-old. It also gave me the names of their respective fathers.

Grandad’s father was George Mills, who had been a labourer, and was shown on the certificate as ‘deceased’ at the time of his son’s wedding.  Gran’s father, was Edwin Roff, who was still alive at that time, and worked as a bricklayer’s labourer.

By performing a simple calculation, since they were both 23 years of age when they married in 1904, it showed that my grandparents had been born c.1881.

Although, at that stage, I wasn’t really involved in family history research, I had read one or two simple books on the subject, plus purchasing some Family History magazines to see if they would help me to find out how to learn more about my Grandad.   The books and magazines didn’t exactly provide me with any of the answers I wanted, but they did help to point me in the right direction in which to look.

Further research enabled me to obtain a copy of my Grandad’s birth certificate, which showed he had that he was actually born on the 7 May 1881, at 18, Golding Road, Sevenoaks, in Kent.  That certificate, detailed on the following page, also provided me with the names of his parents, namely, George and Emily Mills, which told me that they were my paternal Great Grandparents.  George’s occupation was given as him being a labourer, and that Emily’s maiden name had been ‘Fuller’.

A quick look at a current street map of Sevenoaks, showed that Golding Road was still in existence.  I then felt the need to visit Sevenoaks,  to see if I could locate the actual house in which he was born, and where my Great Grandparents had lived some 120 years ago.  To my delight I found the house, and although I wasn’t able to physically go inside it, I was able to take the picture on the following page showing how it looked in 2004: -
 

Having obtained a copy of his birth certificate, showing the family’s address at the time he was born, and having gained ‘advice’ from the various books and magazines, I decided to check the 1881 Census for their home at 18, Golding Road, Sevenoaks.  

Censuses have been carried out every ten years since 1841, and it just so happened that the census in 1881, had taken place just one month prior to my Grandad being born.  Although I realized that my Grandad’s name would not appear on that particular census return for 1881, I knew that it would give me an idea as to who was living there on that census night.  I therefore went ahead, and obtained a copy of the 1881 census return for the house at 18, Golding Road, Sevenoaks ---- (Census No. RG11 - Folio 0908/25 - Page 46, refers).  It gave me the ages, occupations and places of birth of all the members of their household at that time: - 

Strangely, it showed the head of the house as being a Henry Mills and not the George Mills, that I had expected from reading my Grandfather’s birth certificate.  His mother’s name, Emily Mills, appeared correctly on the return, which also revealed that my Grandfather had had an older brother and sister; William aged 6 years, and Edith, who was just 5 years old.  I cannot remember either my Dad, or my Gran, ever mentioning these two siblings to me, if indeed, they ever knew of them.  After all, the family story had it, that my Grandad had been orphaned at an early age, in which case, perhaps the children had been split up for some reason and maybe he never knew that he had an older brother and sister.

Unfortunately for me, by the time the next census came along in 1891 the family was no longer living at the address in Golding Road.  In fact, they seemed to have disappeared completely ---- which,  together with the information I had been told about my Grandad ---only added credence to the belief that my Grandad a had been orphaned at a very young age.

Not being able to proceed any further forward than the 1881 census, I then decided to try and track down when and where my Grandparents, George and  Emily Mills had got married.  I knew from the 1881 census that George (or Henry) had been born in Bridgwater, Somerset, and his wife, at Edenbridge, in Kent. Since the  census had indicated that  Emily was 30 years old in 1881, and the age of their first child, William,  was 6 years old, it seemed reasonable to assume that  Emily had married George, possibly in her early twenties, which would have been c.1871.    It also seemed likely, as most brides have tended to marry in the town or village where they were born, that Emily and George might have got married in her home town of Edenbridge.

A search of the Marriage Records revealed that revealed that there was indeed  a marriage  for a George Mills and Emily Fuller in Edenbridge in 1871.  An application for a copy of their Marriage Certificate, showed that the couple were married at Edenbridge Parish Church, on the 3 May 1871. 

Although the 1871 Census for Edenbridge took place a month before they married, I thought it might show where the couple was living at that time. Unfortunately, although Emily’s parents and siblings were mentioned in the census return, I couldn’t find any mention of George and Emily themselves.  Where they were at that census-time is anyone’s guess!

As a matter of interest, the following is a table showing who was living with Emily’s parents on that census night, at No.9, Goodwin Cottages, Edenbridge.

I mentioned earlier, that in the 1881 Census for Sevenoaks, George Mills had appeared as ‘Henry’ instead of ‘George’ ---- and at that time I couldn’t understand why!  However, looking at the above-mentioned table showing details from the 1871 census, covering Emily’s family at Edenbridge, it can be seen that there were already two Georges ---( father & son) ---- in her family.  Could it have been,  that Emily’s family decided to call the ‘newcomer’  ---- George Mills ----  ‘Henry’  instead? Perhaps his second name was Henry!  Maybe it was done to avoid confusion as to which of the ‘Georges’ people were referring to!

Having discovered Emily’s family in the 1871 census, and also, from their marriage certificate, that  George Mills’s father’s name was William Mills, I thought I should endeavour to track down his family origins in Bridgwater, Somerset, which was shown as his place of birth on the 1881 census.

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