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Some of you will be aware that despite having a large family tree, the main paternal Osborne line has been blocked at just three generations ever since this research began. Finally that blockage has been removed!
I only had my Gt Grandfather Charles Osborne 's marriage certificate from November 1894. No firm evidence of his parentage, place of birth or even existence before that date. Neither he, nor my Gt Grandmother (Mary Jane Smitherman) could be found anywhere on the 1891 census. Sadly Charles died just 6 years (and four children) after the marriage, so there isn't even any oral history about him among family members. The marriage certificate did however provide a few clues:
Charles' age on marriage was 25, his occupation "labourer". His father was also called Charles Osborne, a labourer, and deceased at the time of the marriage. An "E Osborne" was a witness, perhaps a relative of Charles'.
I had many offers of help, and went down a number of wrong lines. However, eventually one family, living in Maidstone in 1881, began to emerge as a distinct possibility. At that time the family consisted of father Charles Osborne, mother Caroline, and children Thomas, Charles (aged 10), Elizabeth, and Lilly. All except Lilly were born in Sevenoaks where they lived before the 1881 census date. In 1891 they were living at 135 Upper Stone Street, Maidstone - but without Charles junior.
A number of clues stood out with this group:
- The father/son called Charles combination
- Charles junior's date of birth - not quite the 1869 the marriage certificate implied, but not a long way off.
- The names all fitted with Charles and Mary Jane's later family. They called their children Thomas, Elizabeth and Caroline. Only their fourth child, my grandfather, didn't quite fit, but then he was born 2 months after his father Charles died.
- That witness on the marriage certificate - "E Osborne" - could it have been Elizabeth?
I then realised that of all Charles and Mary Jane's children just the eldest, Thomas, wasn't born in Tonbridge. He was born in Maidstone. He was actually born six months before his parents marriage - although his mother still gave her name on his birth certificate as "Mary Osborne"! Obtaining a copy of that certificate I also discovered that his actual place of birth was 17 Waterloo Street, Maidstone. That is literally round the corner from the adjacent Upper Stone Street, where my possible family were living in 1891.
This all pointed positively to my having found the right family group - but was it really proof? I felt it needed more verification, but what absolute proof could I find?
I decided to look again at Charles' sister Elizabeth, the possible marriage witness. She was single at the time of Charles' marriage, but married an Edward Parks just a couple of years later. I ordered a copy of that certificate, and waited anxiously. When it arrived it immediately told me two important things:
- She, like Charles, gave her fathers details as Charles Osborne, deceased, labourer.
- Her signature is virtually identical to the witness signature on Charles' certificate. She has a very distinctive way of writing a capital 'E' - which can also be seen later when she signed, as informant, her mother's death certificate. Here are those three signatures:
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Witness at Charles Osborne's marriage
1894
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Signature on Elizabeth's own marriage certificate
1896
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Signature on mother's death certificate
1917
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Purists might still say I don't have "absolute proof", but this is sufficient for me to comfortably state that I am descended from Charles Osborne, born Sevenoaks 1871, son of Charles Osborne, also from Sevenoaks (1845). His father was Stephen Osborne, born Sevenoaks 1818, and his father also Stephen Osborne, my 4 X Gt Grandfather, born Sevenoaks 1792. Beyond that, I still have further research to do.
Nigel Osborne
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