About thirty years ago, my husband and I embarked on researching his ancestors, and we anticipated some challenges due to the common surname “Cross”. We assumed we would be ok since we knew they were from Cornwall. That was our first mistake – never assume you know where your ancestors lived!
At the time, online resources such as the birth, marriage and death indexes, the 1911 census, and the 1939 register were not available. So, we started by finding the marriage of the grandparents, Alfred Cross and Bertha Pearce. The certificate provided lots of great clues about Alfred and his family: Alfred was a widower, and his father was John Cross, a deceased slate quarrier.
Based on the death index, which listed Alfred’s birth year as 1878/1879, which tallied with his age on the marriage certificate, we searched for a birth record for an Alfred Cross in Cornwall. We only found one. The birth certificate revealed that Alfred was the son of John Cross and Susannah Horah. With these details, we looked up the 1881 and 1891 censuses to find them. To our surprise, John was actually born in Devon, in a small village called Bere Ferrers (often misspelt as Beer Ferris or Bere Ferris). We also discovered that John had died before the 1891 census, leaving his widow with four children – two of whom appear to have been born after his death! Are they children of the ‘boarder’ who was living with Susannah in 1891? Probably – but only DNA research could reveal the answer.
We continued our search for a John Cross born around 1851/1852, anticipating his appearance in the 1861 census. Eventually, we found him living with his parents, George and Jane. Though several John Crosses were born in Devon during this period, only one was registered in the Tavistock district, which included Berre Ferrers, in the April quarter of 1851. This meant it was unlikely John would appear on the 1851 census. When searching for George and Jane, we found their entry mis-transcribed as “Gross”. George was listed as an agricultural labourer (ag lab) and was born in North Looe, which is actually Northlew – often misspelt in records as North Looe, or North Lew, or even Lew, North.
Going back 10 years to 1851, we found George and Jane living in Bere Ferrers, where George was now a lead miner. What was more exciting was that he appeared to have a son born in Guernsey. This led us to search the 1841 census, where George was listed with Maria Cross and three children who were not born in Devon. One of the great many things about family history research is that it can give you an excuse to visit different places, so armed with the names and ages of the children, Thomas, George, Edmund/Edward, we hopped over to Guernsey. We found the marriage of George Cross, a lead/silver miner, and Maria Vivian/Vyvian in 1826 in St Peter Port, Guernsey, along with the baptisms of their children. It seems they came back to Devon sometime after 1834, settling in Bere Ferrers, where Maria died in 1849 during a severe cholera outbreak.
Family history research is both addictive and very interesting! It encourages you to explore the wider social history and background of your family, even if it isn’t what you expect. Happy hunting!
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