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Flora Jane Askwith (b. May 06, 1871, d. Bet. 1929 - 1931)

Flora Jane Askwith (daughter of Mary Ann Askwith) was born May 06, 1871 in Bishop Wilton 10 miles from York, England, certificate signed by John Askwith, and died Bet. 1929 - 1931. She married George Wells on November 23, 1892 in Naburn, York registration district at the parish church, son of George Wells.

Notes for Flora Jane Askwith:
May 2000: Flora Jane did not know her parents....an "aunt" took care of her. This aunt was paid to do so. Speculation in the family was that she was born out of wedlock and at least one of the parents was from a well-to-do family. She went to Canada with her husband, George Wells and homesteaded and lived in a "soddy". She got very homesick for Yorkshire. George would sing "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" to her. He played a violin, he also had one arm that was withered. The other arm was okay. He raised wheat, vegetables, horses (matched carriage horses) and cows and pigeons. They ate squab. They move to Victoria and bought a farm in Victoria on Seymour Road. She got a big growth in her stomach and they thought it might be cancer. They didn't operate and it killed her anyway. It was benign.
possible note:
John Wells/Ripon Wells (8/01: 1881 Census:
Dwelling: Census Place: Bishop Wilton Cum Belthorpe, York, England
Source: FHL Film 1342143 PRO Ref RG11 Piece > > 4731 Folio 10 Page 13
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
William LAZENBY M 53 M Acklam, York, England
Rel: Head
Occ: Builder Clark Labr
Sarah LAZENBY M 47 F Huggate, York, England
Rel: Wife
Flora Jane ASKWITH U 9 F Bishop Wilton, York, England
Rel: Boarder
Occ: Scholar
Possible: Grandfather Edward D'Askquith (Askwith in the old family bible we've been told) was born in Brighton England, Apr. 23rd, 1851.He was not the oldest son, so was sent to Canada to manage their holdings there. He meet and married Elizabeth Glenn, who as the story goes was a commoner. He returned to England with his wife,who was not accepted by his family. He returned to Canada, changed the spelling of the name and did not go back to England. He came to the states in 1892, from Torento. His father's name was Edward and mothers was Mary Clark or Clars.He died May 27, 1927 in Oakland Ca.
from Yvonne 7.13.00: Hey!That was really interesting about the name of my grandmother maybe something will come of it.and maybe not.She had no idea who her parents were. sometimes welloff people who had an illegitimate child on there hands (Usually a daughter) would hire a woman to raise the child.They wanted their daughter to make a good marriage,without a child. 7.12.00 Thank you for responding so quickly to my response to you - I have not yet had a chance to look through the records we hold here, but promise that I will do so within the next few days. Indeed, we are spending another day in our local library on Saturday to continue our births, marriages and deaths listings, so it will give me greater scope when I do come to look. At present we are relatively few in number as an Askwith interest group, but when I think that, just a few months ago, my contacts with others were virtually non-existent, the interest which has been generated in just that short space of time via the internet is quite amazing. The newsletter idea came out of two single thoughts - one when I deciced to "string together" some of my thoughts on the distribution of the spellings of the name (which had not really struck me as significant until I started to gather together the databank which we now hold); and the second to advise some of our recent correspondents of up-to-date developments. It struck me at that point that, if one person was interested, then there was a chance that everyone else might be also! I have edited family newsletters before - in the good old days when everything had to be typed, duplicated and sent out by ordinary mail, all of which meant that a money subscription was essential. With modern technology, though, it is nothing to deal with the production and e-mailing costs such a tiny amount anyway that I am quite prepared to act as "liaison officer" or editor of the various strands of information and to issue newsheets as and when there is a need. Doing it this way also means that it is not necessary to wait until there is sufficient information or articles to fill a pre-determined number of pages - which was essential previously when everything had to be properly budgeted so that funds didn't run out! As I've said to others, it is great to be in contact with new-found friends in distant parts of the world, even if we never ever get to actually meet - though, having said that, we have previously had visitors from New Zealand and Canada when researching my father's mother's family, so I never rule out anything as impossible! I will write to you again shortly. In the meantime, enjoy finding out something of the background to the family.
ASKWITH NEWSLETTER No 1 Dear Friend, This email is going out to all of you who have at some time in the past written to me concerning the Askwith family. It is basically a Newsletter to inform you of current progress, and includes a short article on the Askwith / Asquith variants of the surname. Anything you would care to add or amend will be very gratefully received! I have worked on similar projects in the past for two of my families (Askwith being my wife's surname at birth) and hope, at sometime in the future, to work on a third. However, it is definitely time that my wife has a look-in, as she has very patiently helped me over the past 25 years. We now have a working database of some 1500 entries, principally pre-1837, which includes all Askwith entries wherever they are found and Asquith entries for parishes lying roughly north of Leeds (see the article for the reason for this). Variant spellings are included, wherever they are found. Working forward from this, we have the births, marriages and deaths extracted from the Registrar General's Indexes from 1837 to approximately 1900. The immediate project is to continue these lists through to the 1990s and then to begin building up family trees with as much detail as possible. This should be done by the end of this month, with any luck. It is then necessary to start the search for wills and administrations - not an easy task prior to 1858 when they were dealt with via a large number of ecclesiastical courts, and time-consuming 1858 onwards, as it is necessary to consult huge annual calendars, the nearest set of which is at Cardiff, 12 miles away from here. However, contrasted with wills pre-1858, which will be in York or Leeds (200 miles distant!) this particular task will be relatively easy! To assist, if you have not already done so, could you please forward any information you have about any relations in the Askwith family. Between us, we should be able to progress most lines back some way -already some very distinctive groups are beginning to emerge at Lincoln, Bishop Wilton, York, Coxwold, Hutton Sessay and in the Ripon area. That is the news for the present - now for the article. Askwith or Asquith? The North - South Divide These two variants of the same surname are now quite distinct from each other, and have, in the main, been so for at least the last two hundred years. There appear not to be any other variants still in use, and, indeed, it is apparent from the reasonably large accumulation of data from the mid-1500s onwards that there has never been any other established variant in this period. Where variants have occurred, they are either isolated and due to imperfect spelling by a parish clerk who did his best to enter in a register what he considered to be a phonetic rendering of what he heard, or appear established for a small period of time and within a particular parish because the clerk used a consistent, if incorrect, spelling of the name, usually within just one family and one generation. Reaney, in his Dictionary of British Surnames, gives only the two principal spellings, which suggested to him that other variants were obsolete. Though not completely accurate in all respects, this book is a fund of excellent information and sources of examples and certainly, so far as this study is concerned, there is no reason to suspect the truth of what Reaney says. The main problem is that, essentially, he says very little!
Generally, this implies that the case is relatively clear-cut and that he does not need to cite strings of examples to prove the connection between diverse (and often, at first sight, unconnected) surnames. This, I think, is the case here. He cites an early example from the records of the Yorkshire assizes and then (quite correctly in my view) states that the name comes from "Askwith", a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Thus, the surname (in either variant spelling) comes as a result in the first instance of being attached to someone who originated in this village and probably moved out from it at a time when surnames were in their infancy. At this period of history, surnames began to be adopted on a fairly "ad-hoc" basis as the need arose - for instance, when a village acquired a number of Johns, some distinguishing surname would be added to identify each individually. There are a number of distinct groups of surnames, categorised according to why they were given. The most obvious are occupational - eg Baker, Butcher; physical characteristic - eg Long, Short; possessive -eg Robertson, literally Robert's son; and place of origin as with Askwith. The supposition must be that names in this group
would be attached to those who had moved away from their native village, since there would be no need to attach these names to people
still living in the village - they would all end up with the same surname! The spelling of place names has, in the main, remained fairly
constant. This is due to a number of factors, not the least being that places do not move about and place names are recorded primarily in their own locality, such as in charters, parish registers and other administrative documents. Much of the variation in the spelling of surnames has arisen particularly because their owners (people) do move around, and often over quite large distances. There is considerable evidence of quite large-distance movement even in those periods of history before the development of fast and
efficient means of public transport. It must also be remembered that, for the majority of people before the advent of education for all
(some 130 years ago), the English language was primarily a spoken language rather than a written one. This is important, since regional dialects and accents would have meant that names could be pronounced slightly differently in different regions, and those people responsible for recording names on documents and in parish registers would simply have been doing their best to spell what
they heard (or thought they heard!), the actual person not knowing any better since comparatively few of the labouring classes were
sufficiently well educated to write even their own names. This explains the basic theory behind the concept of changing spellings in
surnames. It answers the points about the short-term variants which crop up from time to time and also explains why the same family may be registered over a period of years even within the same parish with different spellings. What it does not explain, though, is a broad peculiarity which is found in the Askwith / Asquith family, namely that the Askwith spelling normally occurs more frequently in those family groups which moved to the north and east of Leeds, while Asquith is more concentrated to the south of that city. There are, of course, exceptions to this, but in percentage of occurrence terms the general principle holds good. It must also be remembered that it
is really only possible to view the last 200 years as relevant in this process of evaluation, since variance within a family group was
far more common prior to around 1800. In the main, variants became very scarce through the nineteenth century and are now almost completely dead. I have recently come across one lingerer - Askquith - and one example in south Northumberland. This spelling did
linger in the area around Bedale and Richmond (Yorkshire) after everywhere else had standardised, so I shall be particularly interested to
trace this family through when the post 1900 records are obtained. I will be very pleased to hear from you all again - even if you
have nothing further to contribute in the way of onformation, please keep in touch. I will be glad to send you further news as and when it becomes available. Best wishes, Stephen and Gill Berry Newport, South Wales, UK
other: Your great grandmother Flora Jane was born in the early summer of 1871 in the village of Bishop Wilton, about 14 miles east of the city of York. she was most certainly brought up by someone else, since on the Census for 1881 she is resident in the household of William Lazenby in that village. Although I have quickly sketched out a family tree for the Bishop Wilton family, there are still a few uncertainties, Flora Jane being one of them. From a not-too-thorough look at evidence we have so far, I would think it highly likely that she was the illegitimate daughter of a Jane Askwith - but even this is the cause of some confusion at present as there are two possible candidates! We have a Jane born in 1840 and one born in 1854, both possibles; however, a Jane did marry in 1880. It is at this point that I need to obtain further information, and possibly what I get on Saturday may help us to be more positive. On the credit side, we know that Flora Jane did descend from the Bishop Wilton branch of the family, and, as a last resort, could obtain a copy of her birth and marriage certificates - at a price, which I always try, as a matter of course, to avoid!!! Having established the branch to which she belongs, we have their ancestry back as far as Thomas Askwith and Jane Wilson, who married at Bishop Wilton on 22 November 1764. Beyond that I cannot go at present as there are a few possible baptisms of Thomases which will need thorough investigation before we can pronounce one way or the other! I am so glad that we have managed to get this far in such a short space of time - indeed, at present our track record for other branches far exceeds our own, as we presently only have our line back to 1828! However, I'm sure we'll get back further in the near future, particularly as I have found out this evening that it is possible to obtain all of the Ripon parish register entries from around 1570 to 1850 on a microfiche for �6 (around $9). A worthwhile investment, I think, since there are so many entries that it would take us days to go through them all. I hope that this excites you - it has certainly excited me! I'm just waiting for the next batch of information to surface at the
weekend so that I can have another look at it for you. I'll be in touch again early next week.
July 14, 2000 - Yvonne Ferguson : Flora ,my grandmother was dead about a yr after i was born. Allus toades!!!!!! She died of a big tumor.they thought it might be cancer and didn't operate but it wasn't and it grew so big it just killed her. Big mistake!!!!back then they didn't know too much about cancer. July 19 - Sorry I've been a little longer than anticipated in communicating with you again - we have had a fairly busy few days helping our one daughter with a move - Dad was commandeered to drive the van!!! I have traced Flora Jane's marriage in the indexes - it took place in the December quarter of 1892 in the York registration district, a relatively small district in area since it principally covered the city and also included a few parishes which bordered the city. Unfortunately nothing else positive emerged from our last extraction programme, which has brought births up to 1950, marriages to 1945 and deaths to 1949. We will complete the task (to about 1992) this coming Saturday and I am also hoping to have sufficient time to do some more work on the 1881 Census to see if I can pick up a Jane from that. I think, on the whole, it will be necessary to obtain the birth certificate for Flora Jane, and, if you would like it, her marriage certificate. The birth certificate will show father (if her parents were married), mother, date and place of birth, while the marriage certificate will again show date and place of the event, together with father's name (if known). It has been known, even in cases of illegitimacy, for father's name to be absent from the birth certificate but present on the marriage certificate, though this cannot, of course, be guaranteed. If you would like me to get them for you I can do so - check with your bank to see whether you can transfer funds to a UK bank account. If so, the dollar equivalent of say �15 sterling would adequately cover both and postage - it may be necessary for me to try a couple of different Registrars for the marriage as some registers have moved around over the years and we don't know precisely where the marriage took place. However, it is both cheaper and quicker to go to the local registrars than it is to go through the central system and I have always found the local people to be far more willing to search until they find the right certificate. The central system is so impersonal that unless you can give the full reference number from the indexes they charge you a search fee anyway and don't provide a certificate unless every detail matches! The answer to your other enquiry is that the Askwiths in Bishop Wilton were mainly farmers, certainly through to the late 1800s, so Flora Jane would have been very used to living on a farm in one of the delightful villages that are to be found throughout this area, known as the Yorkshire Wolds. Even now, in the year 2000, many of these villages are still relatively isolated, certainly from main traffic flows, and have a sleepy appearance to the casual observer. Of course, farming is still the main means of livelihood in these areas, though other smaller industries are creeping in as well, particularly in the former market towns which were the local "capitals", coming to life once a week for a day when the livestock and produce market would be held, drawing in crowds from all the surrounding villages. I don't doubt that she found Canada very different from Yorkshire in all sorts of ways. Our present assistant curate is a Canadian, and my mother has a cousin who emigrated to Canada some 25 years ago, and all we have heard about it suggest that it is a wonderful country - but probably not for a country lass from Yorkshire! We have reached the point of having to take smallish steps to establish the precise line of descent, but I have no doubt that we will soon find out the whole story. I am working on a number of lines at present, all of which are fairly close to each other in terms of distance, which is very helpful as this sort of scenario usually means fairly close kinship as well. This is very useful when a batch of information does come through, since it is then often possible to draw together all of the separate strands on to one large tree. I have sent for the Ripon parish register microfiche and hope that this will be through soon - unfortunately I don't have a reader, so will have to go into the reference library again to use theirs!
July 20, Stephen Berry There is, in fact, only one registered birth of a Flora Jane in the indexes between 1837 and 1950; but, what your mom says does fit in with what we have already found anyway. Firstly, bear in mind that I do have the 1881 census record showing Flora Jane, aged 9, living in another household ("auntie's" home, no doubt). Now, in this period of history compulsory education was in its infancy and it was quite usual for girls particularly to be sent "into service" (usually as scullery-maids to start with, until they progressed up the ladder to "between-maid" and then "housemaid") at the age of 12. Since Flora was born and spent at least her first 9 years in Bishop Wilton, some 12 miles out of York, it is highly likely that at that young age or shortly afterwards she was sent into service, York being the nearest place to offer a range of jobs of this sort. It is also significant that she married somewhat earlier than would be usual - just after reaching the age of 21 - and this suggests that she may well have been unhappy in employment and decided to "settle down" earlier than normal. Naburn, though, is a tiny village - even smaller than Bishop Wilton! - some 3 miles south of York. It is very useful to know where she actually lived in the York Registration District, since this will make tracing the marriage certificate so much easier.
I bank with Halifax plc, 25 Commercial Street, Newport. Sort code 11-05-58 Account number 00032317 Account name S.J & G.K. Berry
I will try to see whether any Wells family members still live in or near Naburn, though it is a fairly common name in England. However,
as I said, Naburn is a tiny place! Yvonne: She wasn't miserable the whole time she was in canada. they had to live in a leaky soddy house for awhile. but as they did better, grandpa built her a nice upstairs, downstairs house. he was a very good farmer.he diversified his crops, so if one failed, he had something else going.he had a dairy farm,and he raised matched horses. Aug 2000 from Stephen Berry: Yes, these sorts of entries are of great assistance, because they tend to supplement the other information which we have already. Virtually all of my pre-1837 information comes from the LDS, but from their parish register filming programme which has been going on for many years now. It is this bank of material which is freely available on the internet (even though it is a fairly cumbersome job to retrieve all of the detail) and I have had to do quite a bit of editing out of information which appears anything up to six times! Any other source you can tap, though, is worth a try - you just never know what will turn up. Now for some exciting news! I have today received your great grandparents' marriage certificate from York. It is a good job that your mum was able to tell us about their having lived at Naburn, as I was able to include this information when I wrote to the Registrar and this doubtless meant that we had a speedier return of the certificate! They were married at the parish church in Naburn on 23rd November 1892. George Wells was aged 22, a labourer, the son of George Wells, a market gardener. Interestingly, the witnesses to the marriage were George Wells (probably father) and Frances Jane Wells (probably mother or sister). George and Flora Jane, and George and Frances Jane all signed their names - which was by no means a common occurrence at that time. Because of the technological advances of the past few years, marriage certificates obtained from the local Registrar (as this one is) are now far more interesting - they are actual copies of the original duplicate register which was prepared at the time of the wedding and subsequently sent in to the Registrar. This means that you will have a document bearing your great grandparents' signatures - and, of course, if the witnesses are George's father and mother, you also have your great great grandparents' signatures! I've deliberately kept the best till last - but, having been a teacher, I have developed the ability to tell a story with due suspense! I am referring, of course, to Flora Jane's particulars. To start with, as we supposed from the available evidence, she was illegitimate. This is usually (at least in 95% of such cases) frustrating as it immediately stops research on one particular line of ancestry, unless you are lucky enough to pick up the father's name from other sources such as church Poor Rate correspondence. However, Flora Jane not only knew the name of her father, but she also had it entered on to the marriage certificate! We know that he was Edward Mitchel and that he was a farmer. There are a few lines of approach now to chase up Edward - I think in the first place that another look at the 1881 Census might be a good idea. I would like to find out when and where he was born, and possibly to get his birth certificate if possible. I've had a quick look in the LDS entries, but unfortunately there are rather too many Edward Mitchel(l)s for any sort of choice to be made! It is a coincidence that I too have Mitchell ancestry - they are from Devon, though, rather than from the north of England, but, you never know ...... I am still waiting for the birth certificate, though this is almost bound to take a little longer to appear as Pocklington district registry is only open three days a week and has a part-time visiting registrar rather than a permanent resident staff. It should be here soon, though, and we can then see just who Flora's mother was. I will email the particulars as soon as I have them and then send both certificates to you by air mail.
8/3/00 - thank you for the lovely compliment - I am flattered and will live up to your expectations.....I think. Sorry it took me so long to
respond but suddenly we've had a spurt of business (how dare Disney interrupt a peaceful summer). I just received your e-mail from Stephen ( who is Stephen - it looks like he has a Disney address?). This is no surprise as I always knew this. My understanding was that that was why our grandfather left England to begin with - not socially acceptable, you know. Of course, in the story I heard he (the wayward father) was not a farmer (but sometimes wishful thinking gets a stronghold on these stories) but a man of means. You know, if you've got to be a bastard.....be a royal bastard. I would have told you this but discounted it as people over-romantizing their past. Grandfather Wells had a sister named Cecille (Aunt Sis) who married to a man named Fred Mitchell (an architect and a wonderful man - she was a spoiled). They had a son named Kenneth who was City Manager of Toronto at one time. They lived in Toronto - isn't it strange she would marry a Mitchell (he was from England too). Of course, Mitchell in England is like Jones and Williams in Wales. Along with the picture of Pa your mom forwarded to me (she is getting good at this - you really gave her a wonderful gift) - which was entitled "Ted Lindores" - and the information you sent - I think maybe I was adopted. Aunt Sandy 8/4/00 S.Berry It is certainly not commonplace for our register offices to open only a few days a week, but there are still a few around like Pocklington which do. Most have now become centralised and up-to-date places, but unfortunately the English system at present is, to say the least, archaic. You are allowed free access to the indexes in London (these are the ones which are on microfiche and which we have used to extract births, marriages and deaths from 1837 to 1992). However, beyond that you have to pay for every bit of information - at �6.50 per certificate. I am currently working for National Statistics, which is responsible for the Registration service in England and Wales, and, though I get no privileges whatever because of this, it is nevertheless a handy place to be, as I have access to all of the current thinking on the Registration service. It is at present under review, with a tentative proposal having been made to release into the public domain all registers over 75 years old, though possibly still maintaining a small charge for a search and a copy of the record rather than a formal certificate. There is also a strength of opinion behind making comprehensive indexes available via the internet, and if this could be done it would be extremely useful. Of course, this is likely to take quite a long time, so in the meantime we must "grin and bear it", I suppose! Though you would find it restrictive in terms of research, you must try to get over here to visit. We would be delighted to see you and you would find York and its surrounding areas delightful. We always enjoy visiting the city - indeed, our elder grandchild was born there, by accident as you might say, since our eldest daughter and son-in-law were having a holiday there a month before the baby was due. A problem occurred, Angela was rushed into the York General Hospital and Emma was delivered by caesarean the following day! If you are able to spend the time to email the Askwith entries, I should be very grateful. I will write again when the birth certificate turns up (hopefully tomorrow, as Friday is a working day at Pocklington!). I will also be doing another newsletter shortly, so I will send that on to you when it is ready.
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My grandfather was John Wilson Askwith, I do have some more names and dates that I will send you. All my Askwith relatives were from this area and were farmers at Bishop Wilton, the name Wilson comes from another local farming family and was (I believe) the nee name of my Great Grandmother and as there were no boys left in her family he was given that name. My grandfather had three daughters, one being my mother, there names were Irene Mary Askwith, Kathleen Joan and Jean, only Joan remains. I also knew my Grandfather sisters
well, Marion & Mable, Marion has a daughter, who is still alive (94). Most of the Askwith's, as far as I can tell, moved to Hull as the end of the 1800s. There is a village in West Yorkshire called Askwith, which I have never visited but if you went to the grave yard if the church in Bishop Wilton the Askwith's there are all my relatives.I will try and dig out a few more names and dates for you and you must let me
have the history that you have, as it seems like our paths must have crossed in our ancestry with the rare spelling of the name and the common place of origin. I live in Dallas, TX. But I was born in Cottingham, England. E. York's. I have a brother in Harrogate and one in Hull. Are you in England? Thank you for the exciting news! John Murphy. Cixipuyi@aol.com

More About Flora Jane Askwith:
Adoption: York, England.
Burial: Unknown, Section E: Royal Oak Burial Park, Victoria, Falaise Dr., Vancouver ref: VGS-ROBP-MRK.

More About Flora Jane Askwith and George Wells:
Single: November 23, 1892, Naburn, York registration district at the parish church.

Children of Flora Jane Askwith and George Wells are:

+Ida Wells, b. December 31, 1903, York, Yorkshire, England, d. February 01, 1997, Glendale, California.
+George Wells, b. August 27, 1907, Meota, Sask, Canada, d. April 16, 1965.
+Eva Wells, d. date unknown.
+Fred Wells, b., England, d. date unknown.
Minnie Wells, b., England, d. date unknown.
Annie Wells, d. Infant.