William James Sole b. September 23, 1877

[sileo2]

Hi Bob,
Me again, just received the copy of William's birth registration which yielded a surprise and many additional questions. Seems on his birth registration no father is listed at all. In your Sussex branches of the Sole family do you have an Ann or Annie ? Seems she was William's mother. On the birth registration filed on 20 Oct 1877, her residence is listed as 1 Station Road, Horsham, occupation listed as domestic servant cook. Birthplace for William James Sole was first listed as 12 Bighton/Brighton? Road, Horsham, then crossed off and 1 Station Road listed so am not sure if one of those was her parents and one employer or both had been employer residences. Anyone in the group familiar with Horsham ? Perhaps they may be able to shed some light on this one. Am wondering if James was the first name of Annie's father or the natural father or neither, however William does have this for his middle name and a son & grandson were given the first name of James so it must have had some significance to William. Apreciate any further information you might find now that we have his mothers name.

Best Regards,
Cindy

[Bob Sheldon]

Hi Cindy

As no father's name was given on his birth certificate, we have to assume that William James was illegitimate. You may be right that his father was James but it is unlikely that we shall ever know this for sure.

I have looked through our records for Ann or Annie SOLE who might have been his mother and the only one that might fit is one who was born in 1856 in Lurgashall in Sussex which is just under 20 miles west from Horsham. She was shown as a 15 year old servant in Lurgashall in the 1871 census, but thereafter we have lost track of her. It was not uncommon for servant girls to move around for work, but it is just speculation that she was the mother of William James.

I expect you have visited >http://www.goldonian.org/photos/photo_archive_homes/pages/clapham_home.htm< where there is a photo of the Carter Home in Clapham with very brief information. It was presumably for orphan children and subsequently taken over by Dr Barnardo's.

So I regret that we are not able to help further with your search for William's family, but thank you for telling us what happened after he reached Canada.

Bob Sheldon.