Frederick Woolfall (1865-1949) Frederick Woolfall (1865-1949) was my great grandfather. He was born and brought up in the Huyton area of Liverpool, Lancashire and was raised by 2 "aunts", Elizabeth and Alice Woolfall, while all were living in his grandparents' house (William Woolfall and Alice Hulme). He was born "out of wedlock" and one of his supposed aunts, Elizabeth Woolfall (1834-1911), was actually his mother. Elizabeth was 30 years old when Frederick was born. She never married and didn't have any other children. Her occupation on the various censuses (1861-1901) is shown as a charwoman or a laundress.
Fred was born on 11 Mar 1865 in Tarbock, a sub-district of Huyton, Liverpool, and his birth certificate shows his mother was Elizabeth Woolfall and his father is left blank. Ancestry.com has as a tentative baptism record (the British Isles Vital Records Index, taken from the Bishop's Transcripts) in Huyton on 23 Apr 1865 for a "Frederich Woolfall" (link only available with an Ancestry subscription), with his father shown as "James Woolfall" and mother as Elizabeth, but the Parish records don't seem to exist for me to check for any other information (e.g., an address or godparents). Since there were no other individuals named anything similar to Frederick Woolfall in the Liverpool area at that time, and based on the timing (6 weeks after his birth), it seems likely that this was Fred's baptism record. Was "James Woolfall" a euphemism, or was someone named "James" the supposed father? At that time, effective contraception was not available and it was shameful to have an illegitimate child, so I can easily see why Elizabeth and her father, William Woolfall (1814-1893), may have "invented" a supposed father for Fred (maybe based on a hint of truth).
Fred was born on 11 Mar 1865 in Tarbock, a sub-district of Huyton, Liverpool, and his birth certificate shows his mother was Elizabeth Woolfall and his father is left blank. Ancestry.com has as a tentative baptism record (the British Isles Vital Records Index, taken from the Bishop's Transcripts) in Huyton on 23 Apr 1865 for a "Frederich Woolfall" (link only available with an Ancestry subscription), with his father shown as "James Woolfall" and mother as Elizabeth, but the Parish records don't seem to exist for me to check for any other information (e.g., an address or godparents). Since there were no other individuals named anything similar to Frederick Woolfall in the Liverpool area at that time, and based on the timing (6 weeks after his birth), it seems likely that this was Fred's baptism record. Was "James Woolfall" a euphemism, or was someone named "James" the supposed father? At that time, effective contraception was not available and it was shameful to have an illegitimate child, so I can easily see why Elizabeth and her father, William Woolfall (1814-1893), may have "invented" a supposed father for Fred (maybe based on a hint of truth).
Signature on 1911 Census From his humble beginnings, Fred did pretty well for himself. Between 1881 and 1889 (census, marriage certificate, birth of children), Fred is shown as having a variety of occupations: agricultural labourer, carter, gardener, and milk dealer. In 1887, he married Emily Boulton (1861-1918), who was born in Newport, Monmouthshire (although her family was from Whitchurch, Shropshire) – like his birth certificate, the section for his father on the marriage certificate is blank. Somewhere between their marriage, when they were both living in Liverpool, and the 1891 Census, Fred became a victualler (wine merchant and publican) of a pub called the "Manor Arms", Chester Street, Birkenhead, on the Wirral, Cheshire, which was close to the busy Cammell Lairds shipyard, so the shipyard workers would have patronized the pub.
Meadows Hotel, Birkenhead (2013) By 1900, Fred was manager of the Meadows Hotel and public house on Conway Street, Birkenhead and he and his family lived on the premises. He continued at the Meadows for almost 30 years. Recently the Meadows building has been converted into flats and sits by itself as the only building on that block – if it weren't a listed building, it probably would have been demolished with all the other buildings around it.
While at the Meadows, Fred turned a blind eye to illegal gambling (betting on horses) that was going on in the pub, and as a form of "hush money" for this, he was given a ring with three large diamonds. The diamonds were subsequently split into 2 rings, which two of his grand-daughters now have. Thanks to Fred doing this, our family has some additional, beautiful jewellery.
While at the Meadows, Fred turned a blind eye to illegal gambling (betting on horses) that was going on in the pub, and as a form of "hush money" for this, he was given a ring with three large diamonds. The diamonds were subsequently split into 2 rings, which two of his grand-daughters now have. Thanks to Fred doing this, our family has some additional, beautiful jewellery.
Fred's wife, Emily, died in 1918. Three of their daughters, Elizabeth ("Beth"), Alice ("Lal"), and Emily, never married and they helped in the running of the hotel and pub. Fred was active in the Birkenhead Freemason Lodge. After retirement, he, Beth, Lal, and Emily lived in a rather splendid house (at least in its day) in Grosvenor Road, Birkenhead.
Probate Information for Frederick Woolfall (1865-1949) Fred died in 1949 and left over £26,000. Using Measuring Worth, this is estimated to be worth about £790,000 in 2012 using the retail price index or £2,130,000 using average earnings, so Fred and Emily's spinster daughters (my great aunts), were able to live quite comfortably. The executors of his will were his 2 surviving sons, Henry Woolfall (a.k.a. "Harry"; 1887-1963) and my grandfather, William Woolfall (a.k.a. "Bill" or "Billy"; 1897-1965).
Woolfall Grave, Flaybrick Cemetery Fred and Emily Woolfall and 4 of their children (James, Alice, Elizabeth, and Emily Woolfall) are buried in Flaybrick Cemetery, Birkenhead in CE 2 (Church of England Section 2), Row 5, Grave 19 (the gravestone faces east towards Tollemache Road). I really must get around to uploading this image and other details of the family to FindaGrave.com. According to my mother, the original grave-marker was a wooden cross, which was made by son Harry (who was a joiner – he made coffins), but this was eventually replaced by a headstone. Note that Fred's age is incorrect on the gravestone (he was 84 when he died, not 83).
Incidentally, for those who live on the Wirral, the Flaybrick website has a really nice section entitled Great Trees of the Wirral. Although only a few trees have been covered, I recognize the old Stone Pine.
Incidentally, for those who live on the Wirral, the Flaybrick website has a really nice section entitled Great Trees of the Wirral. Although only a few trees have been covered, I recognize the old Stone Pine.
Could DNA Testing Give a Clue to Fred's Father?
The father of Frederick Woolfall is one of My Brick Walls on my family tree and there doesn't seem to be a way from normal genealogical sources to be able to identify who he may have been. Unfortunately for my "Y-DNA hunt", the majority of Fred's descendants were girls rather than boys and there are no living direct-paternal descendants. So autosomal DNA is really my only hope of ever identifying this branch of my tree (see Genetic Genealogy), which may link me to other distant cousins from Fred Woolfall's father's line. Descendants of Fred's father would be my 3rd cousins (maybe one or more times "removed") and identifying shared segments of DNA with 3rd and 4th cousins is a definite possibility with autosomal DNA testing. Adoptees use a similar approach when they have their DNA tested, and often they have far less information than me.
Now I've had my DNA tested at all the main DNA testing companies, Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and the Genographic Project (Geno 2.0), I'm receiving a lot of DNA matches, so hopefully I may be able to find out something about this branch, which is the most recent of my brick walls. Odds are that I never will, but at least there's a chance!
I encourage everyone to have their DNA tested – especially anyone related to me (even if you don't yet know it). In order to identify which line you inherited all your key segments of DNA from (at least those used for genetic genealogy), we all have to rely on each other in order to create our "chromosome maps". See Do You Have the Right DNA?, as I'm even offering to pay for the testing costs for a few people, depending on the DNA you have inherited.
Now I've had my DNA tested at all the main DNA testing companies, Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and the Genographic Project (Geno 2.0), I'm receiving a lot of DNA matches, so hopefully I may be able to find out something about this branch, which is the most recent of my brick walls. Odds are that I never will, but at least there's a chance!
I encourage everyone to have their DNA tested – especially anyone related to me (even if you don't yet know it). In order to identify which line you inherited all your key segments of DNA from (at least those used for genetic genealogy), we all have to rely on each other in order to create our "chromosome maps". See Do You Have the Right DNA?, as I'm even offering to pay for the testing costs for a few people, depending on the DNA you have inherited.
What's New on www.GenealogyJunkie.net?
- More Technical Aspects of My DNA Results – just started (added 19 Aug 2013)
- How Long Does it Take to Receive DNA Results? – NEW (added 19 August 2013)
- My DNA Results from 4 Companies – ongoing (last updated 19 August 2013)
- Non-Genealogical Information – NEW (added 16 August 2013)
- My Genealogy Statistics – NEW (updated 16 August 2013)
- Hard-to-Find FamilySearch.org URLs – NEW (added 28 July 2013)
- Skinny Branches – Completed 25 July 2013
