I've been researching John William CROOKES, born and died Sheffield (1866-1935), son of John Crookes and his wife Harriet Ferguson.
Family information said he spent some time in Tasmania, Australia, and I have evidence of this as he is an informant on his uncle's death certificate in 1897. I was also told that a cousin travelled with him and I've been trying to find out who that cousin was.
I've found possible shipping records on two different sites of a J.W. Crookes travelling to Australia in 1892 on board the "Oruba". Next to his name is FERGUSON. However the initials vary between M.W. or N.W. or H.M. or W.H. (depending on whether you read the transcript or the original). The age for Ferguson is given as 21 making his birth date around 1871. There's nobody on my tree with those initials and I've tried unsuccessfully looking on GRO and FreeBMD.
Can anyone offer a suggestion of where I could look next?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Christine,

Looking at the original, the 2nd letter does seem to be W.
At first I thought the first letter was H but judging by some of the entries above it, I’m wondering if it might say Mr.
It says his occupation was clerk, and there is a record for a Mr W Ferguson, clerk, traveling on the Medic from Liverpool to Sydney in 1906.
Did the uncle in Australia have a son with the initial W ?

I looked to see if I could find a W Ferguson in Sheffield who was a clerk, but all I could turn up was a William Fergusson who was the Poor Law clerk and also Superintendent Registrar of BMD. He was born ca 1874/5 so was 3-4 years younger than the guy on the travel record.

There is also a Boer War record for a W. Ferguson who was a clerk in the Royal Engineers but I can’t see the details.

Heths

Dear Heths,

Thanks very much for your reply and researching my query. You've looked at areas I haven't thought of. The uncle in Australia did have a couple of sons but they were all just young children at the time John W. Crookes would've been visiting.

As I live in Australia I'm not familiar with all the counties/regions etc, trying to research where Mr Ferguson may have been born. Looking on FreeBMD I know that the District No. for Sheffield is 9c. Do you know where I could find District numbers for surrounding regions in case Mr Ferguson wasn't born in Sheffield?

Again I appreciate the interest you've taken in my research.

Christine
Australia

Hi Christine

Just an idea and apologies if you've tried this already. But given that the story was a 'cousin' and the passenger records show the surname Ferguson, it might be worth going back and revisiting Harriet Fergusons line just in case someone 'slipped through the net'?

Denise

Hi Denise,

Thanks for taking an interest in my query. Do you mean if Harriet Ferguson had a child before her marriage to John Crookes snr? I did wonder that but she married him in 1866 and sadly he died a year later. Then in 1868 she married Henry Nicholson and had 2 sons to him, but of course their surname was Nicholson. I started to check if any of her siblings had any illegitimate children but thought I'd ask here first in case anyone had any other suggestions. The missing Ferguson male needs to be born around 1871 but I'm not sure where though.

Thanks again for your help.
Christine

Hi Christine

I was thinking of Harriet's siblings - so any legitimate/illegitimate children or stepchild that took the Ferguson name, as you were going to research.

Its also possible that the term cousin was used quite loosely - so may not necessarily have been the obvious - a child of one of Harriet's siblings, but maybe a child of a cousin or part of the wider family?

Denise

Thank you Denise. I guess I'll have to investigate Harriet's siblings more. There's at least 10 of them and a couple of the sisters I can't find much on. It's been quite a convoluted family to research as several died fairly young and the partner remarried. The 1881 census records show the youngest brother "Lodging with his late sister, Harriet's, second husband, Henry Nicholson, and his step-son John W. Crookes (Harriet's twin son from her first marriage)."

My line is from the second oldest child William Ferguson, who was a convict and transported to Tasmania in 1848. He obviously kept in touch with his family back home. As well as his nephew staying with him for a few years, he tried (unsuccessfully) to help another sister and her husband to immigrate.

Thanks again for your help.
Christine