Part of the Gash Family History

Lucy Gash was born on the 1st March 1868 and baptised at Kirton-in-Holland, Lincolnshire as follows; her younger sister, Emma was born on the 1st October 1878 in Bardney, Lincolnshire - daughters of William and Mary Gash. Their sister, Mary Gash, was my Grandmother. I found the following entry in Kirton Parish Records:

BAPTISMS Solemnized in the Parifh of Kirton in Holland n the County of Lincoln in the Year 1868

1868 May 17 No.2361.

Lucy

William

Mary

Gash

Kirton Holme

Labourer

C I Bowse?

Picture 1 - Great Aunt Lucy as I remember her - a lovely, kindly old lady who lived in Sheffield and then moved to Southport in Lancashire where we used to visit her at Meols Cop.

Picture 2 - Great Aunt Lucy lived at Meols Cop with her daughter Mary Emma and her husband Ernest Templeton - this picture shows my Mother and Lucy in front of the house at Southport with Lucy's daughter Lucy E Simms and her husband - unfortunately I can't remember his name.

Picture 3 - I also remember Great Aunt Emma's visits to Rawmarsh from her home in Canada.

To see more pictures of please visit the Photo Gallery page. Amongst them you'll find Lucy and Emma's parents, William and Mary Gash; Great Aunt Lucy Simms nee Gash and her daughters; and Mary Emma Simms who supplied some of the pictures. Mary Emma was not really my Aunt, being my Mother's cousin, but in view of her age, I was always told to call her 'Auntie Emma'.

Lucy was 3 at the time of the 1871 Census living in Kirton-in-Holland, Lincolnshire with her parents; the family had moved to Thornton le Fen some time before the 1881 census and in 1881, they are shown living on Sibsey Road, Lincolnshire - Lucy was 13 and Emma, 2.

Some time after the 1881 Census, the Gash family migrated to South Yorkshire probably because of the expansion of work opportunities within the Yorkshire coalfields.

I couldn't find Lucy at first in the 1891 Census but after talking to my cousin, Eileen, I learned that Lucy's married name was Simms - I discovered them living close to William and Mary Gash at an address in Hemmingfield - they could have been living in the same house - at 121 Hemmingfield - their schedule does not list the whole address but the schedule number follows on.

Arthur's full name was Arthur John Charles Simms and in 1881 he was working on a Farm at Langton Moor, age 17, born Lincolnshire, Thornton, a Farm Servant working for Cristopher and Harriet Day. There's a marriage on FreeBMD, registered at Boston, March quarter of 1885: Lucy Gash and Arthur John C Simms were on the list of 4 shown, vol 7a page 501.

I found a birth registered Boston Sept quarter of 1886 for a Gertrude Simms vol 7a, page 533.

The 1901 Census shows Lucy Gash was by then living at 23 Princess Street, West Melton -

* On the Census return, this certainly looks like House but is most probably Kirton Holme; and 'Sutherton' probably misheard by the Census clerk, because Gertrude was born at Sutterton, Lincolnshire. I have found baptism/birth entries for Lucy E and Mary E in the West Melton Methodist Church Registers:

My nephew David Braithwaite has sent me two wonderful pictures of Gertrude one posing in a very smart outfit complete with hat; the other with her husband Tom in his Canadian army uniform. These are shown below. I have not yet managed to find details of their marriage and I do not know the surname of her Canadian husband Tom.

I did though find a marriage for Gertrude on FreeBMD in 1912 some time ago, but discounted it because the spouse name was not "Tom or Thomas". However, I looked through St Andrew's Church, Sharrow, marriage records in Sheffield Archives and I have found a marriage for Gertrude in 1919 - this was a Gertrude White marrying Edwin Smith, and the father of Gertrude was Arthur John Charles Sims, the address given was 66 Wayland Road. I found this 1919 marriage on Free BMD and so sent for both marriage certificates. The intriguing thing though is none of these husbands is called "Tom" and the photo of Gertrude described above is definitely a marriage photo where the couple are showing their rings and the date given for the photo was 1916. Was Gertrude married 3 times? but if so her name in 1919 should not have been "White"? Or was Tom also named White? The certificates have arrived and the 1st marriage details are:

CERTIFIED COPY OF AN ENTRY OF MARRIAGE GIVEN AT THE GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
1912, Marriage solemnized at St. Philip's Church in the Parish of St Philip's Sheffield in the County of Sheffield
No	When married	Name and Surname	Age	Condition	Rank or Profession	Residence at the time of marriage	Father's name and surname	Rank or profesion of father
270	April seventh 1912	Arthur White Gertrude Simms	25 25	Bachelor Spinster	Porter	136 Wentworth Street 136 Wentworth Street	James Henry White Arthur John Charles Simms	Brewer's Labourer Grocer
Married in the Church of St Philip's according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church by or after Banns; by me Ernest V Everard, Vicar Arthur and Gertrude signed and the Witnesses were Bernard A. Fish and Sarah A. White

I found the White family in the 1901 Census living in Wentworth Street at No. 184:

I recently added a request for information on the Sheffield Rootsweb mailing list and thanks to Hugh Waterhouse, I now know that Arthur died in WW1. http://www.cwgc.org/search/certificate.aspx?casualty=478097 commemorates his death with details of his grave or memorial at Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. Arthur was a Private in the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards regiment. He died on 5 November 1914, age 28. The above mentioned website gave this additional information, but notice that Arthur's mother is shown as "Lydia":

CERTIFIED COPY OF AN ENTRY OF MARRIAGE GIVEN AT THE GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
1919, Marriage solemnized at St. Andrew's Church in the Parish of Sharrow in the Counties of Sheffield & York
No	When married	Name and Surname	Age	Condition	Rank or Profession	Residence at the time of marriage	Father's name and surname	Rank or profesion of father
436	5th June 1919	Edwin Smith Gertrude White	31 32	Bachelor Widow	Rigger	66 Wayland Road 66 Wayland Road	Henry Smith deceased) Arthur John Charles Simms	Tailor Springmaker
Married in the above Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church by or after Banns; by me W. Odson, Canon of Sheffield Edwin and Gertrude signed and the Witnesses were Arthur J.C. Simms and Gladys Hodgkinson

Gertrude's sister, Mary Emma Simms married Ernest Templeton in 1917; and I have obtained their marriage certificate:

CERTIFIED COPY OF AN ENTRY OF MARRIAGE GIVEN AT THE GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
1917, Marriage solemnized at St. Andrew's Church in the Parish of Sharrow in the Counties of Sheffield & York
No	When married	Name and Surname	Age	Condition	Rank or Profession	Residence at the time of marriage	Father's name and surname	Rank or profesion of father
312	January 29th 1917	Ernest Templeton Mary Emma Simms	22 22	Bachelor Spinster	Soldier	66 Wayland Road 66 Wayland Road	Jack Templeton Arthur John Charles Simms	Grinder Engineer
Married in the above Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church by or after Banns; by me W A Kendall, Curate Ernest and Emma signed and the Witnesses were Arthur John Charles Simms and Elsie Maw

The Templeton family are shown here in the 1901 Census living in the Park district of Sheffield at 22 Priestley Street:

Grave of Arthur White in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery

The Poppy Cross placed on Arthur White's Grave

The Simms family had moved to Sheffield by this time and as can be seen on Ernest and Mary Emma's marriage certificate, were living at 66 Wayland Road in Sharrow. Amongst the photographs and memorabilia sent to my brother Roy by Aunt Emma was a postcard of Wayland Road, with a large 'X' marking number 66, a copy of which is shown here on the left.

Photos 2 & 3: also from the same collection shows Emma and Ernest on their wedding day.

Photo 5: is Gertrude with her Canadian Soldier husband, 'Tom' in 1916, most probably their wedding picture as they are displaying their rings - however I can't find any record of this marriage.

Photo 6 & 7: Barry and I went on a tour of the World War One battlefields on the Somme and we found the grave of Aunt Gertie's first husband, Arthur White in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery. This is me placing a poppy cross very kindly given to me by Tim Maguire.

The 1911 Census shows Lucy and Arthur Simms had moved from West Melton to live in Sheffield and Arthur had changed his job. They were living at 136 Wentworth Street, Sheffield and they'd been married for 25 years:

*I need to find out what a "Maker of Mongers" is!! Perhaps this is a transcription error. Mary Emma eventually trained as a nurse - see photo Gallery 1.

Lucy E Simms, aged 19, born West Melton, Yorks is missing from the above record, I eventually found her by searching without using the 1st and 2nd names and putting "born West Melton" in the search form - it looks as it she'd lied about her age probably to obtain work - she was a probationary nurse in the Union Workhouse and Infirmary in Nottinghamshire, the address given was 105 Stockwell Gate, Mansfield and the entry read:

Emma Gash married Thomas Herbert Simms, Sept quarter 1900 Rotherham, V9c, p1017 - I don't think Thomas Herbert Simms and Arthur Simms (husband of Lucy Gash) were brothers but they both were born in Thornton le Fen, so may well have been related. Using the remaining credit on my 1901 Census voucher I found Emma living at 69 Winterwell Road, West Melton.

Thos and Emma with their son, Herbert, emigrated to Canada and settled in Saskatewan; they had a farm and eventually retired to Duncan on Vancouver Island. Thomas died on 18 January 1947, age 72 in Duncan. Great Aunt Emma later married William Taylor. Aunt Emma became ill in 1955 and she invited her widowed sister, Amy Copley to stay with her. It was her greatest wish that when she died, she wanted her husband William to marry Amy. Amy had looked after her invalid husband in Ambleside for many years until his death.

Great Aunt Emma Taylor (nee Simms formerly Gash) died on 15 August 1955, aged 76. William Taylor married Amy Copley (nee Gash) and they were together until 1964, when William died on 1 July, age 77. Great Aunt Amy died at my Mother and Father's flat at Manor Farm, Rawmarsh, on 3 Sep 1975. She was buried in Ambleside. Please follow this link for information on the Copley family in Ambleside.

My cousin, Susan Principe has sent me a scanned copy of the marriage certificate of Thomas Herbert Simms and Emma Gash, found amongst Great Aunt Amy's possessions - they were married at Christchurch, Brampton Bierlow, Rotherham in 1900:

CERTIFIED COPY of an ENTRY OF MARRIAGE Pursuant to the Marriage Ats, 1811 to 1932
Registration District Rotherham
1900, Marriage solemnized at the Parish Church in the Parish of Brampton Bierlow in the County of York
No	When married	Name and Surname	Age	Condition	Rank or Profession	Residence at the time of marriage	Father's name and surname	Rank or profesion of father
111	Sept. 5 1900	Thomas Herbert Simms Emma Gash	26 21	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	Attercliffe Albert Road, West Melton	- William Gash	- Pensioner
Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by or after Banns; by me H. d'A. Hubbard, Vicar Thomas and Emma signed and the Witnesses were James Henry Redfearn and Ruth Gash

Keen to find out the origins of Thomas Herbert Simms and to see if he were related to his brother in law, Arthur Simms, I found that Thomas's birth, shown on FreeBMD had been registered at Horncastle December 1874 vol 7a p531. I next found him in the 1881 Census but the family name was recorded as "Sims". Thomas was living with his Grandparents, William and Sarah at Thornton le Fen, Lincolnshire in the Gate House:

William Simms, Head, Marr, age 60; Platelayer on Railway, born Northamptonshire, Hundle*

Sarah Simms, wife, age 55, born Boston

Headley Bennet Simms, Son, Unm, age 21; Platelayer, born Thornton, Lincolnshire

William H. Simms, Grandson, age 9, Scholar, born Hull, Lincolnshire (sic)

Thomas H. Simms, Grandson, aged 6 born Thornton, Lincs; Scholar

*Earlier census records show William to be born in Oundle. I've traced the family back through the Census records but can't find an obvious parent for William and Thomas. I plan to send for Thomas's birth certificate*.

In the 1871 Census, I found the relationship of the two Simms who married into the Gash family - Thomas Herbert (Great Aunt Emma's husband) was the nephew of Arthur John Charles Simms (Great Aunt Lucy's husband). William and Sarah Simms were shown living in "Gate House", Thornton Moor and their son Arthur was age 7:

William Sims, Head, Marr, age 50; Railway Plate layer, born Oundle, Northamptonshire

Sarah Simms, wife, age 45, born Boston, Lincolnshire

Lucy Elizabeth Sims, Daughtr, age 14, Scholar, born Thorton Moor

Headley Bennet Sims, Son, age 11; Scholar, born Thornton Moor

Arthur John Sims, son, aged 7, Scholar, born Thornton Moor

* Thomas Herbert was born 29 August 1874 and his birth certificate, like his marriage certificate, shows no name in the 'father' column:

CERTIFIED COPY OF AN ENTRY of BIRTH GIVEN AT THE GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
Registration District of Horncastle 1874 BIRTH in the Sub-District of Horncastlein the County of Lincoln
Columns	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
No	When and where born	Name (if any)	Sex	Name and Surname of Father	Name and Maiden Surname of Mother	Rank or Profession of Father	Signature, Description and Residence of Informant	When Registered	Signature of Registrar
129	Twentyninth of August 1874 Thornton Moor	Thomas Herbert	Boy		Sarah Ann Simms, Domestic Servant		X The Mark of Sarah Ann Simms, Mother Thornton Moor	First October 1874	John Chantry Registrar

The 1861 Census shows Thomas Herbert's mother, Sarah Ann, age 9 living with parents, William and Sarah Sims at Railway Cottage, Thornton:

William Sims, Head, Marr, age 37; Railway Platelayer, born Oundle, Northants	Sarah Sims, wife, age 35, born Boston, Lincolnshire		Francis Petre Sims, Son, age 14, Labour, born Boston, Lincolnshire		Sarah Ann, Daughtr, age 9, Scholar, born Boston, Lincolnshire
William H. Sims, Son, age 6, Scholar, born Boston, Lincolnshire		Lucy Elizabeth Sims, Daughtr, age 4, Scholar, born Boston, Lincolnshire		Headley Bennet Sims, Son, age 1; born Thornton Moor, Lincolnshire

In 1871, Sarah was working in the household of widow, Thomas Howard in Martin, near Billinghay, LIN (road/street column states 'Fen'):

Thomas Howard, Head, Wid, aged 86, Farmer, born Lincoln, Leadenham	George Howard, Son, Mar, aged 40, Farmer's son, born Lincoln, Martin		Mary Howard, Daur, Mar, aged 31, born Lincoln, Martin		Robert Howard, Son, aged 9, born Lincoln, Martin		Sarah Howard, G.Daur, aged 8, born Lincoln, Martin		Mary A. Howard, G.Daur, aged 6, born Lincoln, Martin
Eliza Howard, G.Daur, aged 4, born Lincoln, Martin		John Howard, G.Son, aged 2, born Lincoln, Martin		Emma Howard, G.Daur, aged 6m, born Lincoln, Martin		Sarah A. Simms, Serv, Unm, aged 19, General Servant, born Lincoln, Boston		Samuel Edwards, Serv, Unm, aged 16, Ag. Serv indoor, born Lincoln, Timberland

and three years later, her son Thomas Herbert was born. I have found a marriage which might be Sarah - July quarter of 1879 registered at Horncastle, 7a p792 to William Wright. In 1881 this couple were living in Martin in Sleaford, Address 'Private House':

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Lucy Eva Simms born 8 July 1891	Mary Emma Simms born 29 July 1895
The two sisters were baptised at the same time on 13 July 1896 at West Melton