Harriet Guilfoyle

Is this Harriet?

OK family it has taken me a while but I had it in my mind that this was a picture of a young Bessie Nathan - it very well could be - but during the course of a sleepless night I was going through the information we have gained recently and I thought................ well, let's try to explain

Bessie Hope

Bessie Nathan passport photo

Bessie had a scrapbook in which she kept her reviews and cuttings and some pictures. A couple of portraits of Charles GS in costume, A couple of pictures of her youngest daughter Bessie Hope when she was already living in the USA. A picture of a sailor that has turned out to be her eldest son Daniel

The eyes are Bessie's but the shape of the face isn't quite right and the mouth is slightly different.

"She must have been very young", I thought, "unless it is Harriet" fell into my mind. I didn't get up and come down stairs to look at the picture as it was 3am and Mr M was asleep. I would appreciate any feedback on this. I have no idea how we will ever prove it unless Pat, daughter of Alice responds to my letter and shares the scrapbook again. It is so frustrating to be so far away. I would be on her doorstep there in San Diego, demanding to see the bloomin' thing if it wasn't for the long plane journey to get there.

One day

Chasing the Children of Daniel Guilfoyle Seymour

note the place of birth and the nearly correct date

Today I received two of the three certificates I ordered last week. The John Seymour that was born in 1911 is, as far as I can tell, not ours. The mother's name is not one that we know but we cannot be sure that old Danny-Boy wasn't in Yorkshire  at the appropriate time and calling himself Charles.

The second certificate is for Herrman Edward born 1st May 1910 at 106 Eascott Hill, Swindon Father Daniel Seymour, Mother Luisa Emily Seymour formerly Braun. Father's occupation is Retail Dealer.
Interestingly the registration was made by Luisa and we know that Karl Benjamin was also registered by Luisa so I think it unlikely that she didn't register "Arthur". I think we just haven't found the real names she gave him.

I continue the chase!!

Cousin Colin

Colin Carlson, aka The Lord Admiral Bluefunnel Died today. Thursday 6th October 2016.

Charles GS and his reviews in South Africa

The Natal Witness 8 June 1877.

Mr Guilfoyle Seymour as Hamlet, had already given us a taste of his mettle quite sufficient to whet our appetite and increase our anxiety to see his impersonation of Othello; and, notwithstanding the fact that there are very few, even of our greatest actors, who succeed in both characters, we were most pleased with his Othello.
At first he is rather cold but from the moment when Iago begins to whisper doubts of Desdemona into his ears, until the closing of the play, his rendering of the different phases of the evil effects of the 'green ey'd monster' with occasional moments of doubt and reproach for so doing is very grand and completely carried his audience with him.

Now here's a funny thing...

Emily first day at St Joseph's

Kyra first day at St Joseph's

This morning my favourite Son-in-Law sent me a picture of Emily in her school uniform just before she left to catch the bus to her fist day at St Joseph's High School. I oohed a bit because our girl was suddenly old enough to travel across town to school instead of across the road, and then I went on Facebook.

The first thing I saw was The picture that Kathryn Chambers had put up of her youngest daughter in her school uniform just before leaving to go to St Joseph's High School.

Just to keep you all straight about the relationship between these two beautiful young ladies, they are third cousins.

Emily is descended from Frederic Gibbon, Bernard Gibbon, Ann Macey, Andrea Roberts

Kyra is descended from Frederic Gibbon, Mary Carlson, Jackie Poole, Kathryn Chambers.

I do hope they get a chance to meet up in school, but girls, don't worry if you don't become close friends, it doesn't matter as long as you remember that you are family and watch each other's backs.

This is not the first time cousins have been in the same school several years ago at the first family reunion Rebecca and Lucy Carlson were quite surprised to see Kerry Ann and Hannah Smith because they knew each other in school but didn't know they were cousins.

Godd luck and best wishes to all cousins who are starting back to school in the next week or so. Enjoy this time and work hard, you will be rewarded

How did Charles GS and Bessie Nathan Meet?

This was something Pamela and I discussed during our weekend of discovery. Ever since I found out that Bessie had been to South Africa with the Company run by Captain Disney Roebuck I have been convinced that this is where they met. I had already found Charles GS on a passenger list going to South Africa and I have an image of his advertisement sending good wishes to his friends in the diamond fields, so it was a strong possibility that they had met there as the dates seemed to fit together.

Today, 27th August 2016, I have received some cuttings from the Natal Witness. There are three separate items for three dates Friday 1st June 1877, Saturday April 8 1878, and Nov 27th 1878.

This gives us a lot of information.

The first thing it does is date this picture. On Monday 28th May 1877 Charles Guilfoyle Seymour gave a performance as Hamlet. The review tells us this. So this picture, taken by Kitsch Brothers, Durban, Natal Must have been taken around that time.

The review spends several column inches displaying the reviewers knowledge of the play and discussing whether Hamlet was mad or not, before telling us about the performance.

"We should judge that Mr Guilfoyle Seymour, to whose care the part of the Prince of Denmark was entrusted on Monday, inclines to the sane theory which has the advantage, so far as simplicity is concerned. Hamlet, As Mr Seymour reads the part, is oppressed enough by the death of his father and the hasty re-marriage of his mother; but he is free from those darker mental clouds with regard to himself and everything else in the world, to which some well known actors have accustomed us. Viewing the part in this light, Mr Seymour's effort was decidedly praiseworthy, and if he failed to rise into any very high region of tragic acting, he at least suceeded in keeping up an equable tone throughout, and avoiding those pitfalls (and there are not a few of them scattered up and down through the play) into which unwary young actors are so liable to fall..."

Bessie was in the same production:

"Miss Bessie Nathan made up well into a pert and somewhat juvenile Rosencrantz..."

On Tuesday 29th May The company performed W.S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea and the same reviewer had this to say.

"Mr George Yates made a good Leucippe - the honest soldier whose love for Pygmalion's sister Myrine (Miss Bessie Nathan) forms a sort of sub-plot...."

The review continues

"The after piece was the Irish Comic Drama entitled "Handy Andy" - a piece in which the plot, if it can be called a plot at all, is merely used as a peg upon which to hang the extraordinary mistakes and vagaries of an untutored Irish peasant lad in his attempts to discharge the duties of a gentleman's servant. Of course these are laughable enough, but we must confess the utter dulness and stupidity of the whole piece in every other respect seemed to go very far towards neutralizing the amusement caused by Mr Guilfoyle Seymour's delineation of Hibernian characteristics.

The Natal Witness of Nov 27th 1877 tells us that "The Roebuck Company have been performing in Capetown to poor houses. From Cape Papers we see that Miss Bessie Nathan has sued Capt. Roebuck for £15. 8s for part salary, stopped by him. The defendant alleged that the plaintiff was entitled to only half salary while travelling or ill. Judgement was given for the plaintiff, less five shillings fine. A portion of the company, including Miss Nathan, Miss Young, Messrs Yates and Thorne with Mr Wilson as manager for Captain Roebuck, proceed to the Diamond fields to join the company there. They play various towns by the way."

Natal Witness Saturday April 8 1878

"...... Mr Seymour and Mrs Seymour (Bessie Nathan), have seceded from the Roebuck Company at the Diamond Fields. Captain Roebuck is with the other portion of the company at Capetown. Miss Hilda Temple is performing with them. It is expected they will come on to Natal in a few weeks."

Now I have to try and find out if the apparent marriage actually happened in South Africa or whether Mr and Mrs Seymour were simply telling people this because they had been ... getting to know one another.

I believe that the journey from South Africa to England took at least two months in those days so we know that Bessie was "with child" on her journey home. 

Goodness me I love this woman!

The trip up North

 The top picture is our Cousin Pat, daughter of Muriel, granddaughter of Margaret Annie Guilfoyle at her 80th birthday meal, with her brother Leonard and his daughter Debra. It is Debra I want you to look at because............... well look at the next picture. I am sitting at the computer with Patricia daughter of John Benjamin, son of John Daniel Guilfoyle. Debra and Patricia have inherited the same genes - yes?

Colin took this picture after watching us for half an hour and he said we had been usinh our hands and moving our heads in the same way for all that time.

I have to say right now that from the moment we met face to face it was as though there had never been a time before we met. even though I have a south Wales accent and their's is Liverpool and surrounding area. Even though we use different words in different places  we were finishing each others sentences and taking thoughts out of each other's heads.
There was one moment when we recognised together what we were both going to say so we laughed and carried on ... without actually saying it

Next to Patricia is her daughter Pamela, the one who saw the picture I put onto the British-Genealogy forum and realized that the Daniel Seymour that was her great grandfather is the John Daniel Seymour I had been tracking through the register offices.

Colin says it was spooky watching us three together. I think he should be used to it by now. He's seen it working at every family gathering.

On Sunday Pamela and her husband Paul ( oh gosh he is just lovely and fits into this family like a hand in a glove) and Colin and I met up with cousin Richie, son of Dennis Gibbon, and his gorgeous wife Dolores for Sunday lunch. Once again you simply could not imagine us never knowing one another. The time flew by and we eventually remembered to order food. Then we had to move because the free car parking would be ending - it was only three hours!

Lots of hugs shared and a great reluctance to part. It was amazing to be in the presence of a punk rock star - at least Richie told us we should be amazed so we were.
Paul and Pamela WILL be coming down here to visit and as soon as we have sorted out dates I will be telling everyone.
Did we have a good time? oh you betcha! So much so that I didn't want to come home. This is me! The one that gets homesick after two days and I wanted to stay longer.
We sorted out a bit more information for the family tree and these adjustments will be made and put into the gazette. I will also be sending out an edition soon.

Now I have some stuff to move into the fornow room so that Pamela and Paul will have somewhere to sleep!

We're off to meet the cousins!

Tomorrow we climb into our shiny car and head north to put the word on the street............ sorry, just a quote from my most all-time favourite film, The Blues Brothers.

We leave YS behind to take care of the house and water the tomatoes. He usually does things while we are away. In February he stripped and redecorated the downstairs loo and shower room so heaven knows what he will do in the four days we are up north.

We go to Southport to meet the newly discovered cousins and to meet up with Cousin Richie and his lovely lady Dolores. So that's Saturday ( showing Ela and Patricia the family tree and digging further into the roots of this family) and Sunday sorted. I suspect there will be hugging - or cwtching as we say round yer, lots of cwtching I will make sure there are pictures taken and a report filed both on here and in the special edition of the email Gazette.

Monday we travel to Colwyn Bay to see Eldest Son and family. There will also be pictures from this as I am sure that sweet baby has grown and his youngest son is now a year older.

Now I am going to sort out the bags and pack enough underwear and T-shirts to see me through to next Wednesday............... OH, oh that is very nearly one of the things in every John Landis film.

Newly Discovered Cousins!

Some of you may have heard a loud, high-pitched shriek earlier this week and wondered if it was an air-raid warning. No it was just me and our new found cousins connecting through www.british-genealogy.com

 You might remember that I rediscovered this picture and wondered who it was.
I put it onto Brit-Gen and asked the experts what the uniform was. I am delighted to say that it was discussed and it appears to be a British Petty Officer's uniform and the star on the collar indicates the type of job he was doing. Either Cook, Steward, Wireless or something like that.



I had sort of deduced that it could be one of the sons of the real Uncle Charlie, both of whom died in WW2 and then there was another post on the thread with the next picture and the poster said that this was her Granddad's Dad - making him her great grandad Daniel Seymour



This Daniel Seymour was married to Luisa Braun and had been lost at sea in the early 1920s

I sat for ages in front of the computer, scrolling up and down the thread, not really believing my eyes.

Let me introduce you to the man that began live in December 1878 at 125 London Road, Southwark, London. The name his grandfather registered him under was John Daniel Guilfoyle Seymour. John for his maternal Grandfather, Daniel for his paternal Grandfather and the Guilfoyle-Seymour surname because this was the name that Charles Guilfoyle-Seymour used as his stage name.

This is the man that I have long called "the false Uncle Charlie because he borrowed his brother's name when he "married" for the third time. A bit more searching and I found his Merchant Seaman's record card - with a picture. He lies about his birthplace on there, saying that he was born in a) London Australia and b) Koolgartie W.A.
These records say he was 5'6 1/2" tall with brown eyes and black hair and a dark complexion - so he has inherited the olive skin that I have. It says that he is British and his father is Irish.

There is a third record amongst these MN cards for a Charles Daniel Guilfoyle who was, apparently, born in London Canada in 1881. The photograph tells me that it is the same man.

I sent a message to the person who posted the new picture and eventually modern technology allowed us to talk via Skype, Pamela - Ela I think of her - had her Mum, Patricia, with her and we sat staring into our screens and being amazed at the family likeness. Patricia told me that Daniel and Luisa had five children, one of whom died as an infant. That Daniel had been at sea for most of their marriage and she had either gone with him or had found lodgings in his next port of call and waited for him until the last time when he said "get a house in Liverpool, this is a bad ship I don't want you to come on this one." She got the house and waited and he was "lost at sea". We know that what he actually did was "marry" Fani in 1920 and in 1924 he immigrated into New York and spent the rest of his life being Charles John Daniel Guilfoyle in Nesconset, New York State. He is buried there with Fani

Pamela sent me this picture of her Grandfather John Benjamin Seymour, Son of Daniel and Luisa. Once again that family likeness is plain to see.

Oh how I wish this family had been more communicative, although Daniel would have had to keep his family unaware of the fact that he had married twice more after his Spanish Bride.

Patricia said that Luisa could not speak English, she was born in Germany, and she was afraid to make too much fuss about his disappearance incase she was deported or something


The last picture is of Luisa on her 100th birthday. Isn't that wonderful? She outlived Daniel by about 20 years I think. The gentleman second from the right is John Benjamin and the other gentleman is his brother

I will be adding more information as we get to know each other.

Edith Gibbon, Daughter of James and Mary

Edith is the one less talked about. I remember Dad talking about Aunty Lil and Uncle Jim, oh and Aunty Beat who was the mother of Mai Jones, but Edith was never talked about.

I decided to make a concerted effort to find more about her. I looked on the 1911 census and found James and Mary Gibbon with Lily but no -one else. Edith was at home with her parents in 1901 so I looked for a marriage and found one!
On the 18th June 1903 Edith married Thomas Cooper at St Matthew's Church Maindee. Her address is given as 22 Llanwern St, (this is the address for James and Mary on the 1901 census) Thomas Cooper's address is 1 Rose Street.
This is very exciting because we live just around the corner from Rose street!

I then looked for Edith Cooper on the 1911 census and found her and Thomas living at Station House, Abercarn with their daughter Doris Mary Frances Cooper age 8.

I then went back to the indexes and looked for a birth record for Doris and got the bonus of an image of the page of the Baptisms register for St Matthew's Church Maindee where she was baptised on 6 May 1903. I then searched for a marriage for Doris and found one in the Gloucestershire, Bristol Marriage Index 1644-1939. She was married to Reginald Munro at St Nathanael, Redland Bristol on 19 September 1931. I have not yet found any children or a definite death date for Doris. Munro is a surprisingly common name.

The hunt continues.