I more or less had the same thought as I was posting the probate details for Mary Ann, in that Mary Ann's death happened around the time of Charles' emigration to Canada. From a brief exchange with their Granddaughter Andrea the other day I don't believe either Charles or Winnie ever came back to the UK - and having searched I don't see any travel records, at the time of the funeral or otherwise.
Its fascinating pinning the pieces together here as we learn more and more, unravelling the layers and complexities, the highs and lows, with more and more long lost memories resurfacing, its all making that family photograph more and more important - this is the type of thing I always wanted the website to be, in a small way helping these family stories to be shared and live on into future generations.
Will be interesting to see how you proceed with that medal, I think that's a great idea.
HELLO SHANE. IVE BEEN LOOKING AT THE CHRONOLOGY OF HAPPENINGS IN HARTLEPOOL IN 1953\54,AND IT NOW SEEMS TO ME THAT THE POSTED PHOTO OF GRANNY OLIVER WITH ALL 8 OF HER CHILDREN TAKEN IN 1951 ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY GRANDAD OLIVERS DEATH WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST TIME THEY HAD ALL BEEN TOGETHER FOR MANY MANY YEARS DUE TO THE GREAT RANGE IN THEIR AGES.RATHER SADDER IT WAS CERTAINLY THE LAST TIME THEY WERE TOGETHER. IF I AM CORRECT CHARLES LEFT FOR CANADA A FEW MONTHS BEFORE HIS MOTHER DIED, AND CERTAINLY WOULD NOT HAVE GOT HOME FOR HER FUNERAL.INDEED I THINK HE NEVER DID COME BACK.STAND TO BE CORRECTED ON THAT.THEN HIS FAMILY FOLLOWED HIM.THEN FREDDIE MARRIED.ITS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT MOLLIE NEVER SAW ANY OF HER BROTHERS AGAIN AFTER THE MID TO LATE 1950S.FOR EVENTS LIKE GRANNY OLIVERS FUNERAL MY BROTHERS AND I WERE LEFT AT HOME TO LET MAM AND DAD TAKE GLADYS AND ERNEST BROTHERTON WITH THEM AS THEY NEVER HAD A CAR.MOLLIE MAYBE DIDNT GET TO HARTLEPOOL TO SEE CHARLES BEFORE HE EMIGRATED,SO THAT 20YR ANNIVERSARY MAY HAVE BEEN THE LAST TIME SHE SAW HIM.I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED THAT IT IS STILL POSSIBLE FOR DESCENDENTS TO CLAIM A PARENTS CAMPAIGN MEDALS FROM WW2 AND AM NOW CONSIDERING DOING SO. IHAVE DISCOVERED THAT SOME TIME DURING THE WAR SHE WAS IN THE ATS.WHILE WORKING AT THE AVRO PLANT SHE LIVED CLOSE BY AT YEADON.IM ASSUMING SHE THEN SEPERATED FROM HER HUSBAND WENT HOME TO W HARTLEPOOL AND THEN JOINED THE ATS.JUST AS GRANNY OLIVER GOT OLGA OUT OF UNIFORM FOR THE FIRST TIME AGAINST OLGAS WISHES REASONING THAT SHE WAS NEEDED AT HOME, IM TOLD SHE TRIED TO STOP MABEL ENLISTING.OLGA RE ENLISTED THEN IN I BELIEVE WRAC.I FEEL THEY WERE AGROUP OF DAUGHTERS DETERMINED TO ASSERT THEIR INDEPENDENCE.COUSIN CHRIS 'S MOTHER HAS WONDERED WHY THERE WERE NO OTHER OLIVERS AT HER WEDDING TO FREDDIE. PERHAPS ICAN REAWAKEN SOME MORE MEMORIES IN MY 2 BROTHERS MINDS ON THIS.TALKING TO MY BROTHER GEORGE OLIVER HUME ON THE PHONE TODAY HE REMARKED THAT SOME OF MY QUESTIONS TO HIM BROUGHT ALMOST INSTANT ANSWERS FROM HIM ON THINGS HE HADNT EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT FOR OVER 50 YRS.SIGNING OFF NOW TO TRY AND RECHARGE THE OLD MEMORY BANK BATTERIES.....BEST WISHES PHIL
Another family member in touch from the Hartlepools, Phil has sent me some pictures of the family that I have not seen before so I shall be putting them up shortly.
Christine. (Daughter of Frederick Emmanuel Oliver, who was son of George William Oliver and Mary Ann King. )
Its a pleasure to welcome you here to the website, thanks for joining the messageboard and posting - I hope you've enjoyed looking around the site, together we've all amassed a wonderful set of information about the Oliver Family, and it's particularly nice that you still carry the family name that we know goes back for more than 300 years in Oxfordshire, and of course still continues forward through your son Ian.
It was nice to see Phil introducing himself, you're both quite close in the overall tree, and there are others who are equally close relatives that we know of, I hope you'll all come to make contact in time and you'll get a real sense of connection with your Oliver roots.
It was fascinating to read about your long journey to visit Fred when you were a young boy. I do know that Fred and his wife Elizabeth had 4 children, Frederick (born about 1911), Elizabeth (born about 1913), Ellen Ruth (born about 1917), Dorothy (born about 1924) and I had some brief contact with a descendant a couple of years back (still in the Wilkes Barre area) and I know that Dorothy was then still alive.
A daughter of Emma Nina (daughter of your Dads brother Stephen) shared the photograph below with me - we wondered if this might be Fred and his wife (Emma Nina is to the right), you were young of course but I wonder if you can remember if Fred looked like this or if perhaps you have some photographs from that trip that you can match up?
Well, I hope we talk and share more on here Tom, yes a shame that we've only just had the reunion, I'm sure we'll have more.
Thomas I forgot to mention Emma Nina was the daughter of Steven Oliver another brother of both our granddads who emigrated in the 1920s to WILKES BARRE on your side of the pond... phil.
Hello Thomas.My grandfather was George William Oliver, who was,I believe your granddad's eldest brother who lived in W.Hartlepool until his death in about 1931. My mother was the second child of eight.The only older sibling was also called George.You can find much about him on this site as he was the only survivor of submarineH49 lost early in ww2.Also posted is a photo of all 8 grown up children with their mother on the 20th anniversary of his death. The youngest of the five girls,auntie Olga only passed away about 3 yrs ago.I have faint memories of childhood visits to Bower Street,but my cousin Christine Frahm, who I met on this site, has more recent memories of growing up there. She is the daughter of Frederick William the youngest of the 8.My mum Mary Anne [molly] lived all her married life in west Yorkshire as idid till I moved to the Lake District in 1968..My mum bore more than a passing resemblance to her cousin Emma Nina who she would not have known as she left WH before Emma was born..more later. Nice to meet you here. Kindest regards. Phil Hume
Hello, my name is Thomas Oliver and firstly I would like to commend Mr. Bywaters for this website. I live in Rhode Island, USA and am the grandson of Tom and Ellen Oliver who emigrated here along with my father Thomas and aunt Helen from West Hartlepool in the 1920's. As depicted in the family tree my grandfather was the brother of George, Walter, Fred, Stephen, Albert, Margaret and Arthur. I am the only son of Thomas and Blanche Oliver, my wife's name is Carol and our son's name is Ian - hopefully this helps put more leaves on the tree.
I read in one of the previous postings the mention of Fred Oliver from Wilkes Barre, PA. As a young boy I still remember taking a long drive along with my parents and grandmother to visit Fred. Except for my aunt Helen's side that has been the extent of communication with any Olivers', although I was able to bring my dad back to Hartlepool some years back!
Too bad I found out about the reunion on such short notice, it would have been a good opportunity to meet family members, perhaps some other time. If anyone might have any updates on my grandfathers immediate family it would be a pleasure to hear from you.
