Our family relationship with the Marshall family is through Ruth Staveley‘s mother – Edith Beck ( nee Marshall ). As a family growing up in the 1970’s we would regularly see Aunt Eunice and Aunt Miriam and our relationship with the Marshall family is focused around our two aunts. The following research allows us to take a more detailed look at the Marshall family tree. Extensive research has not been carried out since we focused mainly on the Staveley and Beck family line.

Our research into the Marshall ancestry began with the information that Edith Marshall was born on 25th April 1890 at Bradfield, near Sheffield, the daughter of James Albert Marshall and Ada Marshall (nee) Jackson. James Albert and Ada married on 18th March 1888 at Wadsley, and had nine children; we were supplied with the dates of birth for five of these children. James Albert was the son of John Marshall. There were three known addresses for the Marshall family: 20 Fox Hill Road, Wadsley; Wood Lane, Stannington; and 456 Jenkin Road, Sheffield.

We began our investigations by searching for a record of the marriage of James Albert Marshall and Ada Jackson in the civil registry marriage indexes at the Family Records Centre in London. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales began on 1st July 1837. From this date all births, marriages and deaths were supposed to be recorded by local registrars and copies sent to a central registry in London. In practice, especially during the earlier years, a fair proportion went unregistered. For example, many parents failed to register the births of their children, assuming that baptism in the local church was still sufficient to record the event. Marriages fared better, since it was the responsibility of the church rather than the individual to pass on the information to the registrars.

The actual registers are not open to public inspection and information can only be obtained in the form of a certificate, for which a fee is charged by the Registrar General. Access is by way of quarterly indexes.

The civil registry marriage indexes list all brides and grooms intermingled alphabetically within each quarter together with the district in which the marriage was solemnized and the volume and page number. There is no cross-referencing in the earlier indexes; in order to locate a particular couple it is necessary to work back, quarter by quarter, until a matching pair of entries is found. As expected we found matching entries for the couple in the March quarter of 1888, registered in Wortley (ref. 9c 293). The purchased certificate provides the following details:

We turned our attention to nineteenth-century census records. We searched the three known family addresses in the 1891 census and were pleased to find the family of James Albert Marshall living at Wood Lane, Stannington, Bradfield. We obtained a copy of the appropriate page of the census from the microfilms held at the Family Records Centre and this is included with the documents at the back of the report. The entry provides the following details:

The entry provided the important information that James was born
in Sheffield. The entry also, as expected, included the eldest two daughters of James and Ada.

We next searched for the entries of the children of James and Ada in the civil registry birth indexes. The civil registry birth indexes list all names alphabetically within each quarter together with the district in which the birth was registered and the volume and page number. The earlier indexes contain only these bare details; the indexes since September quarter of 1911 also record the mother’s maiden surname. We restricted this search to the five daughters whose birth dates we had been provided. The purpose of this search was to confirm the information regarding the birthdates of the children and to be able to see whether the family moved, by analysing the registration districts of the births. We noted the following entries:

Ada Marshall was thought to have died during or shortly after the birth of Eunice Marshall and so we searched forward from the June quarter of 1907 for Ada’s death in the civil registry death indexes. The civil registry death indexes list the deceased alphabetically within each quarter together with the district in which the death was registered and the volume and page number. Age at death is recorded in the indexes since 1866, and after 1969 the date of birth, if known, is also shown, although this may not always be correct and should be checked with other sources.

We found Ada Marshall’s death entry registered in the June quarter of 1907, at Wortley registration district (ref. 9c 107), aged 37 years. The starting information also suggested that James Albert Marshall died shortly after the death of his wife. We searched forward from the date of Ada’s death and found the entry for James Albert Marshall, aged 41 years, registered in the June quarter of 1909, from Wortley registration district (ref. 9c 170).

As there was also thought to have been a daughter of James and Ada who died in infancy, we also examined the death indexes for this entry. We searched forward from the June quarter of 1891 to the death of Ada in the June quarter of 1907. There was only one infant death in the name of Marshall in that period. That entry was for Clarice Marshall, registered in North Bierley registration district in the September quarter of 1894 (ref. 9b 136), the index entry recorded her as being 0 years of age. We searched in the birth indexes for Clarice’s birth and found an entry registered in the December quarter of 1894, from Sheffield registration district (ref. 9c 549). Although the birth is registered after the death this would still appear to be the correct entry as births can be registered at any point up to six weeks after the birth. The registration district of Sheffield also fits well with the fact that we know this is where the family was living when Miriam was born in 1900. Therefore it would appear very likely that Clarice was a daughter of James and Ada.

We turned our attention back to census records and searched for James Albert Marshall in the 1881 returns. The 1891 census information and James’ age at death suggested James would be aged around 13 years at the time of the 1881 census. The whole of the 1881 census has now been indexed, we searched through the Yorkshire section and found what we were confident was the correct entry in Wadsley, Ecclesfield. The entry shows James was living with his uncle Robert Marshall. We obtained a copy of the relevant census page and this is included in the documents section. The entry provides the following information:

We next searched for the births of James Albert Marshall and Ada Jackson in civil registration. The census information and death index entries place James’ date of birth in 1867/68 and place Ada’s date of birth in 1869/70. We were pleased to locate both entries: James Albert’s birth was registered in the September quarter of 1867, from Ecclesall Bierlow registration district (ref. 9c 287); and Ada’s birth was registered in the March quarter of 1870, from Wortley registration district. We purchased both certificates and they are included in the documents section. The certificates record the following information:

Both certificates provided us with a new family address. We searched the 1871 census returns for Victoria Street for the family of John and Sarah Marshall, but the family were not living at this address. We also searched throughout Wortley for the family of John and Ruth Jackson, but this search was also fruitless.

We searched through the 1881 census return indexes for Yorkshire for Ada Jackson, aged around 11 years, probably living with her parents John and Ruth. We found the family living in Wood Lane Farm, Bradfield. The census entry provides the following information:

As the birth certificates of James Albert and Ada had provided us with the maiden name of their mothers we were now able to search for the marriage of their parents in civil registration.

We searched for the marriage of John Marshall and Sarah Kershaw back from the September quarter of 1867, but despite searching as far back as 1846 we did not note any matching entries. We wondered whether the couple, despite the information on James’ birth certificate, may not have been married at the time of James’s birth and so also searched forward to 1870 but this search did not uncover the marriage.

We searched for the marriage of John Jackson and Ruth Kay back from the March quarter of 1870, and found matching entries in the September quarter of 1866, from Sheffield registration district (ref. 9c 564). The purchased marriage certificate provides the following details:

John’s age on his marriage certificate is at a slight variance to his age as recorded on the 1881 census return, however in any case he was born between 1844-49. We also know he was born in Stannington, Bradfield, the son of Joseph Jackson. We searched through the 1851 census returns for Stannington and found John aged three years, living with his parents Joseph and Selina Jackson. A copy of the relevant page is included in the documents section. The entry provides the following information:

In any further research we could continue tracing the Jackson line. The next step would be to obtain the birth certificate of one of the children on the 1851 census return. This certificate would provide us with the mother’s maiden name. We would then be able to search for her marriage to Joseph. We could then turn our attention to the parish registers of the Bradfield area and search for the baptism of Joseph and details of the earlier ancestry. The Marshall line has proved more problematic as we have been unable to find the marriage of John Marshall and Sarah Kershaw. The starting information suggested the family was of Scottish descent and it may be that the marriage took place in Scotland. In any further research our first step would be to search for this marriage in Scottish civil registration. However, it seems that the earlier ancestry, before this marriage, is indeed English. The 1881 census return for James Albert shows him living with his uncle Robert. Robert would therefore be a brother of John Marshall and is recorded as having been born in Yorkshire, suggesting that the family originated from England.

This research was carried out in 1990 and much of the family tree has been improved since that date.