Adolph Herman W. Weiss and Mary Elizabeth Middlemass Weiss

     Adolph Herman W. Weiss, son of Frederick Heindrich Adolph Weiss and Ferdinande Lehman Weiss, was born circa 1853 in Hamburg, Germany.  He is my paternal great great granduncle.  I have also seen his name written Adolphe Hermann W. Weiss and Adolphus.  To date I do not know what the "W" in his name stands for.

     I have had a difficult time researching Adolph and his family, not finding any information past a directory in 1883.  Did they leave the UK?  There is an Adolph Weiss who immigrated to the United States and lived in Massachusetts during the time frame; however, the information does not match my granduncle.

     

1861 United Kingdom Census

      The 1861 census is the first document I have found in the UK for the Weiss family.

Town of West Hartlepool, Parish of Stranton,  Ecclesiastical District of Christ Church.

John Street, perhaps Number 3 John Street.

Frederick H. A. Weiss, head of household, married, male age 35,  dock laborer, born in Mecklenburg, Germany.  Living in a house.

Ferdinand Weiss, wife, married, female age 31, dock laborer--wife, born in Hanover, Germany.

Adolph H. W. Weiss, son, male age 8 1/2, dock laborer--son, born in Hamburg, Germany.

Ferdinand Weiss, daughter crossed out and replaced by son, age 1 1/2, dock laborer--son, born in Hamburg, Germany.  This is a daughter and my paternal great great grandmother.

     Curious as to whether Adolph, age 8 1/2 was actually working on the docks.  Children, at that time, were not to work under age ten; however the laws seem to be for textile, mining, various factory workers.  I suppose Adolph could have been doing errands and helping with easier jobs on the docks at age eight.  Or, for some reason the enumerator just dittoed the employment of his father down the family list.  Certainly, young Ferdinande, Adolph's sister was not working at age 1 1/2.

     The Weiss Family lived a street away from the main business street (Church Street) in West Hartlepool in 1861.  This area was also within walking distance to the Hartlepool docks.

     On November 27, 1870, Adolph's father, Frederick Heindrich Adolph Weiss, died at their home on Victoria Terrace.  Frederick Weis was only forty-two years old when he died from bronchopneumonia.  Adolph became "the man of the family" at age eighteen.

     

1871 United Kingdom Census

Primary Borough The Hartlepools, Town of West Hartlepool, Township of Stranton, Ecclesiastical District of Christ Church.

Victoria Terrace

The Weiss enumeration was at the bottom of one page and the top of the next.  I did a cut and paste of page one.

Ferdinande Weiss, head of family, widow, female age 49  not employed, born in Hanover (Germany).  Living in a house.  Reading between the lines, Ferdinande was indeed employed.  She was running a boarding house.  Perhaps her daughter was assisting her mother with some of the daily chores as well as employment as a dressmaker.

Adolph Weiss, son, unmarried, male age 18, employed as an apprentice to an outfitter, born in Hamburg (Germany).

     The people enumerated on the next page of the 1871 census are three boarders and Adolph's sister, Ferdinande Weiss.  Of interest to me, one of the boarders, Christian Olesen married Adolph's sister, Ferdinande Weiss and they are my paternal great great grandparents.

     The Weiss family continued to live on Victoria Terrace following Frederick's death.  Victoria Terrace is an extension of Church Street.  One side of the street would have had a view of water. Today, there are not many houses on Victoria Terrace and the water side is mostly open.  

     Adolph was apprenticed out to an outfitter by 1871.  I google searched that particular apprenticeship and found nothing; however, what I did find was that an outfitter made clothes for hunting.  I was thinking that he was apprenticed to learn to make clothes for the general public. 

     A very precious piece of my family history that has been saved for almost 149 years.  Little did Ferdinande and Adolph know the remnants of this birthday gift would have been saved and in the hands of a descendant in 2021.  The birth date given for Ferdinande Weiss on the 1861 UK census is incorrect  according to other records, as well as that she was a son.  Her birth was November  14, 1855.  This gift was given by her brother to commemorate her seventeenth birthday.

     Adolph Weiss, age twenty-five married Mary Elizabeth Middlemass, age twenty-two at All Saints Church, located in Stranton, West Hartlepool on September 19, 1876.  Adolph had moved from West Hartlepool and was living in Sunderland, north of West Hartlepool and employed as a drapers assistant. Mary Elizabeth was living with her parents, George and Jane Ridsdale Middlemass in West Hartlepool. The witnesses were Adolph's brother-in-law, Christian Olesen and Mary Elizabeth's father, George Middlemass.

Map showing the location of Hartlepool
in relation to Sunderland

     On May 22, 1888, Adolph's mother, Ferdinande Lehman Weiss, died at age sixty-two at her home in West Hartlepool.   

1881 United Kingdom Census

Town of Sunderland, City of Municipal Borough of Sunderland, Civil Parish of Bishopwearmouth, County of Durham, Ecclesiastical Parish of Saint Thomas.

1 Coronation Street

Adolphus H. Weiss, head of family, married, male age 28, occupation:  tailor, clothier, born in Hamburg, Germany

Mary Eliz Weiss, wife, married, female age 26, born Tundale, Yorkshire, England.

William E. Weiss, son, male 3 months, born Sunderland, Durham, England.

Durham Records Online

     Adolph and Mary Elizabeth's son, William Ernest Weiss died in 1882.  Was William their only child.  The baptism records on the Durham website only show one Weiss baptized and the date is too early for Adolph and Mary Elizabeth.  There are two possibilities with question marks on the list.  I have not thrown a credit card on this website, so I cannot say whether these two babies were born to this family.  Unfortunately, both died as as infants.

     The 1883 Kelly's Directory is the last piece of information I have on Adolph and Mary Elizabeth Middlemass Weiss.  They live at 2, 3 and 3 1/2 High Street East in Sunderland.  Adolph is employed as an outfitter.  It is very likely that the Weiss' lived at one of the addresses and his shop was one of the others.  Perhaps the 3 1/2 is an apartment above a shop at 3 High Street. 

Other Weiss blogs on Flipside:

The Weiss Family of West Hartlepool, England written in 2015

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.    PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2021, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser



Addendum to the Family of Frederick Heindrich Adolph Weiss and Ferdinande Lehman Weiss

     

     In 2015, I blogged about my paternal great great great grandparents, Frederick Heindrich Adolph Weiss and Ferdinande Lehman Weiss.  The blog was entitled Weiss Family of West Hartlepool, England.  In the past five years, more information has come to light.  Adding European search to my Ancestry account and a subscription to British newspapers has given me a new research outlet.  I apologize if some of the information in this blog is also located in the one written in 2015.  I am trying to toggle between the two to keep the information in 2021 new.

1861 United Kingdom Census

Town of West Hartlepool, Parish of Stranton,  Ecclesiastical District of Christ Church.

John Street, perhaps Number 3 John Street.

Frederick H. A. Weiss, head of household, married, male age 35,  dock laborer, born in Mecklenburg, Germany.  Living in a house.

Ferdinand Weiss, wife, married, female age 31, dock laborer--wife, born in Hanover, Germany.

Adolph H. W. Weiss, son, male age 8 1/2, dock laborer--son, born in Hamburg, Germany.

Ferdinand Weiss, daughter crossed out and replaced by son, age 1 1/2, dock laborer--son, born in Hamburg, Germany.  This is a daughter and my paternal great great grandmother.

John Street, Hartlepool today

     John Street in Hartlepool today is an alleyway where folks park their cars.  The side of the street with buildings appear to be the back end of the building not the entrance.  Perhaps the Weiss house was located on the side of the street where there is a fence.  The front side of the buildings are actually businesses and apartments located on Church Street many of which look to be in a state of rehabilitation.   After looking at the map at the end of the blog, back in 1861, John Street was a residential street between Lynn Street and George Street.  It appears that the street now called John was an alley between the the back of the buildings above and the fence.  John would have been the street behind the fencing.

Frederick Heindrich Adolph Weiss Death Certificate

     Between 1861 and Frederick's death on November 27, 1870 the Weiss family moved to a house on Victoria Terrace.  Reposting Frederick's death certificate.  Frederick died at age forty-two from broncho-pneumonia at his home.  His employment is listed as a brokers clerk.  The website, Hartlepool Then and Now, has an article regarding ship broking and that there was an agency in Hartlepool.  Another website lists the job description of a ship broker, "The main purpose of a ship broker is to act as specialist intermediaries/negotiators between ship owners and charters to arrange ocean transport of goods and commodities by sea, the employment of a vessel to buy/sell ships on behalf of his client."

     Relocated after it was hidden in the Weiss file.  In 2006 a very helpful Hartlepool researcher sent me this information.  Since I forgot about it, I do not know if I ever looked up the actual obituary when I had membership to the British newspaper website.  

1871 United Kingdom Census page 1

1871 United Kingdom Census page 1

Primary Borough The Hartlepools, Town of West Hartlepool, Township of Stranton, Ecclesiastical District of Christ Church.

Victoria Terrace

The Weiss enumeration was at the bottom of one page and the top of the next.  I did a cut and paste of page one.

Ferdinande Weiss, head of family, widow, female age 49  not employed, born in Hanover (Germany).  Living in a house.  Reading between the lines, Ferdinande was indeed employed.  She was running a boarding house.  Perhaps her daughter was assisting her mother with some of the daily chores as well as employment as a dressmaker.

Adolph Weiss, son, unmarried, male age 18, employed as an apprentice to an outfitter, born in Hamburg (Germany).

Christian Olesen, boarder, unmarried, male age 25, employed as a clerk for a ships broker, born in Denmark.  My paternal great great grandfather.

Ferdinande Weiss, daughter, unmarried, female age 16, employed as a dressmaker, born in Hamburg (Germany).   My paternal great great grandmother.

Johann Knutsson, boarder, unmarried, male age 21, employed as a clerk for a ships broker, born in Sweden.

Olaf Anderson, boarder, unmarried, male age 29, employed as a clerk for a ships broker, born in Sweden.

     The house on Victoria Terrace must have been large enough to hold the family and an additional three boarders.  I imagine it is the same residence that Ferdinande's husband died in months earlier. 

Victoria Terrace today

     I opened google map and searched Victoria Terrace.  It connects to Church Street, which is the main/business street in that portion of town.  Most of the housing units on Victoria Terrace have been destroyed.  There are a few; however, they look newer than 1871.  When my brothers and I visited Hartlepool in 2003, we wandered around this area.

     Of note, my single paternal great great grandparents, Christian Invart Olesen and Ferdinande Weiss, were living in the same household.  They married on August 30, 1874, probably in Christ Church.  My paternal great great grandmother, Ferdinande (also known as Ferdinanda, Ann and Annie) did not make a very wise choice in husbands as I found numerous articles in Hartlepool newspapers of Christian Olesen going bankrupt, stealing and making threats.

     One such threat was against his mother-in-law, Ferdinande Lehman Weiss.  Christian Olesen was brought up on charges for threatening language against Ferdinande, broke open the door to her house and threatened to kill her son, Adolph Weiss.  Christian did not appear at court.  He was at the Royal Hotel.  Perhaps his wife, Ferdinande's daughter had thrown him out.  

1881 United Kingdom Census

Primary Borough of Hartlepool, Town of West Hartlepool, Parish of Stranton, Ecclesiastical Parish of Saint James.

10 Lower Reed Street

F. Weiss, head of house, widow, female age 54, occupation running a lodging house, born in Germany.  Living in a house.

Harold Casper, lodger, unmarried, male age 24,  occupation shipping clerk, born in Denmark.

A. Samuelson, lodger, unmarried, male age 27, occupation shipping clerk, born in Norway.

W. Kurtzlisel ?, lodger, unmarried, male age 30, occupation shipping clerk, born in Germany.

Mary Costide ?, servant, unmarried, female age 18,  occupation general servant, born in West Hartlepool.

 

Reed Street, Hartlepool today

Reed and Lynn Streets today

     

     Google map searching, there are no houses remaining on Reed Street.  The houses standing today on Lynn Street were probably built after 1881.  No houses are left on Reed Street.  At the far end are a few factory buildings.

Ferdinande Lehman Weiss Death Certificate

     On May 22, 1888, Ferdinande Lehman Weiss, age sixty-two, died at her home, 20 Scarborough Street, West Hartlepool.  Cause of death was dropsy, today called edema, puffiness caused by excess fluid trapped in tissue.  Secondary cause was cardiac disease.  I do not know where Frederick and Ferdinande Weiss are buried in the Hartlepool area.

Obituary for Ferdinande Weiss
May 23, 1888

Corner of Church and Scarborough

     Wahoo, I found the house, located on a lovely street with a metal street sign above the street.  Indulge me as I walk you down Scarborough Street.  The metal sign is at the corner of Church and Scarborough Streets.

20 Scarborough Street, Hartlepool

     20 Scarborough painted, rehabbed and ready to sell.  In the 1898 "To Let" notice above, we know it is an eight roomed house.

Known streets where the Weiss Family lived

     

Adolph Herman W. Weiss--son

Ferdinande Weiss Olesen--daughter

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.    PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2021, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser



John George Hughes Burial Information

     Apparently, I never did a Tombstone Tuesday blog on my paternal great grandparents.  Or, if I did, I was not able to find it doing a search on Flipside.  No matter, I do have one new piece of information on my paternal great grandfather that has never been included on a blog.

     My paternal great grandfather, John George Hughes, died at age forty-seven, one month shy of his forty-eighth birthday.  Obituaries reveal that he had been ill for some time.  He and his wife, Elizabeth, spent over six months visiting family in England a year before he died.  It begs the question, was he beginning to become ill and took the trip to see his parents and siblings in West Hartlepool before he died?  Or did the onset of the illness begin sometime after his return to the states?  

     

     John died in the Hughes home, 131 Spring Street, Woodlawn, Beaver County, Pennsylvania on May 20, 1921.  Woodlawn was a company town built by Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.  Today, Woodlawn is part of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

     Primary cause of death was laryngeal abscess and secondary was pneumonia.  There is plenty of information on the net regarding this condition.  This is a medical journal I chose to take a quote from, "An acute laryngeal abscess is rare in the post-antibiotic era. It is a serious condition characterized by rapid deterioration in the size of the laryngeal inlet necessitating urgent airway management." 

     My great grandfather worked with and around unhealthy agents during his life.  In West Hartlepool he was a coal dealer.  When he came to the United States, he worked in steel mills.  I just assumed his condition was work related.  Breathing in coal dust and dust that contains metallic particles tends to cause throat and lung issues.   

     I did know my Great Grandmother Hughes and certainly my Grandfather Hughes; however, never thought to ask them about their husband and father.  Once they passed, the opportunity to learn more was gone.  John George Hughes died before his grandchildren were born.  My Dad was the oldest of the grandchildren and was born 41 days after his grandfather's death.

    Also of interest, George Henry Hughes, my paternal grandfather and the Hughes' only child, supplied the information and signed the death certificate.

     John George Hughes was buried in a family plot, purchased by his wife, Elizabeth Ferdinande Olesen Hughes.  He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery on May 23, 1921. Other's buried there are Elizabeth Olesen Hughes, her mother, Ferdinande Weiss Olesen and her brother, William Christian Olesen.

     There was one obituary announcing my paternal great grandfather's death in the local newspaper.  I learned that my great grandfather attended church, that he was a member of the Loyal Order of Moose (LOOM) and the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF).  The three interconnected rings on John George's headstone represent the IOOF.

     My UK friend and fellow genealogy researcher sent me this obituary from the West Hartlepool, England newspaper years ago.  This week I just relocated it.  This is the new piece of information mentioned above and finding it lead me to at long last, write the blog.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

  © 2021, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser



John George Hughes--Did My Paternal Great Grandfather Have an Additional Sibling(s) ?

     On the 1911 UK census, my paternal great great grandmother, Mary Ann Storey Hughes lists that she had thirteen children, four have died and nine are living.  Checking my ancestor chart, I have nine living and one deceased.  I am missing three children who died before showing up on a census report.     

     I have been checking the Durham County UK records on line and saw an interesting births and a death listed for Hughes' living in Stranton and on Hill Street in West Hartlepool.  The earliest record that I have found for my paternal great great grand parents, George Henry and Mary Ann Storey Hughes living at 61 Hill Street, is the 1881 UK census.

     The 1881 UK census shows the George Henry Hughes family living at 61 Hill Street, Longhill, West Hartlepool, Parish of Seaton Carew.  The Hughes family in 1881 consisted of George Henry, Margaret A (Mary Ann), Ann M. (Maria) born 1871, John G. (George) born 1873 and Samuel born 1876.  The next child born to George Henry and Mary Ann was Mary Alice in 1881 after the census was taken.

     Going backward, the 1871 UK census shows George Henry and Mary Ann living in the home of George Henry's parents, 60 Thorne Street, Parish of Stranton, West Hartlepool.  I have no record of where George Henry and Mary Ann lived during the 1870' after the 1871 census.  Did they remain with George Henry's parents or find their own home. 

      Two of their known children were born in the Parish of Stranton.  Ann Maria Hughes and my paternal great grandfather, John George Hughes, both baptized the same year they were born.  Of interest is another Hughes from Stranton baptized in 1878, Mary Emilia Hughes.  Stranton is a large area in West Hartlepool and the Hughes surname was somewhat common.  I was able to check more records and found that Mary Emilia was the daughter of Joseph and Margaret Ann Hughes.  That mystery solved.

     

     Next question.  The underlined baptisms are children of George Henry and Mary Ann Hughes.  Joseph Hill  Hughes born 1883, Elizabeth Hughes, born 1886, her twin, Thomas Henry Hughes, and William Hughes born 1888.  Were Elizabeth and Thomas not twins but triplets?  Was Sarah Hughes baptized in 1886 and from Longhill, Seaton Carew from my Hughes family?  I did do a search on ancestry for a Sarah Hughes.  I did find one, daughter of John and Ann Hughes; however they were living in Stranton, in the All Saints Parish.  When the Hughes moved to their home on Hill Street, Longhill, it was located in Seaton Carew, Holy Trinity Parish.  To date I have found no burial records for a Sarah Hughes as a child and Sarah Hughes does not appear on any of my Hughes family records going forward.  A partial question mark, but probably not a member of my family.

  I will let the reader know that two of George Henry and Mary Ann's children did not appear on Durham baptism records on line--Samuel Hughes and Mary Alice Hughes.

     Final record from Durham County lists Eliza Jane Hughes, born about 1879 and a cemetery registration in Hartlepool 1880.  Eliza Jane was born on Hill Street.  Was my Hughes family living on Hill Street in 1879? Wandered back out to ancestry and lo and behold I found another researcher who just posted, a month ago, that Eliza Jane was the daughter of George and Mary Ann. The key is the birth information that lists her mother's maiden name as Storey.

     Accounting of the children of George Henry Hughes and Mary Ann Storey Hughes

1. Ann Maria Hughes Hussey  1870-1945
2. John George Hughes  1873-1920
3. Samuel Hughes 1876-1936
4. Eliza Jane Hughes  1879-1880
5. Mary Alice Hughes Marsh  1881-1949
6. Joseph Hill Hughes  1883-1958
7. Elizabeth Hughes Dawson  1886-1941
8. Thomas Henry Hughes  1886-1963
9. William Alfred Hughes  1888-1959
10. Aidan Hughes  1895-1943
11. Baby Boy Twin  1895-1895

     I am still missing two children.  There is a gap between William and Aiden.  More research is needed.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.    PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2021, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser



Addendum to Burial of George Henry Hughes and Mary Ann Storey Hughes

     

     Always back up your files.  Several years back, I purchased a years worth of access to British newspapers.  There was years worth of the Hartlepool England newspapers.  What fun!  I downloaded so many family articles, changed the PDF into jpegs.  Fortunately, I did use some in blogs because my computer crashed several months later and I lost it all.  Lesson learned....back up your files.  I am slowly trying to rebuild my UK Hughes data, which is what I lost.  

     A decade ago, on January 10, 2010,  I blogged about my paternal great great grandparents death and burial.  It was before my British newspaper subscription.  It was a happy dance day when I found both obituaries.

Obituary and Death Certificate of George Henry Hughes

Northern Daily Mail

Friday, May 9, 1930

Hartlepool, England

page 6

HUGHES--On the 8th inst. (instante mense--a date of the current month) at 70 Florence  Street, George Henry, aged 78, beloved husband of Mary Ann Hughes--Cortege to leave above address Saturday, 3 p.m., for service in St. Aidan's Church.--Friends please accept this (the only) intimation.

     Looking back through my blogs, it appears I never posted George Henry Hughes' death certificate.

Obituary and Death Certificate of Mary Ann Storey Hughes

Northern Daily Mail

Saturday, March 16, 1935

Hartlepool, England

page 4

HUGHES--On the 14th inst. (instante mense--a date of the current month) at 70 Florence  Street, Mary Ana, aged 82, dear beloved wife of the late George Henry Hughes--Cortege to leave 11-45 a.m. Monday for service at St. Aidan's--Friends please accept this the (only) intimation.

     Posting this blog secures these pieces of Hughes history in case the computer and external go belly up.  I really need to look into saving my information to a cloud site.

 

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published.    PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.

© 2020, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser