{"id":2356,"date":"2017-08-18T16:46:25","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T15:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hibbittbarnes.uk\/blog\/?p=2356"},"modified":"2025-08-13T22:43:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T21:43:45","slug":"when-you-think-you-know-something-look-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hibbittbarnes.uk\/blog\/when-you-think-you-know-something-look-again","title":{"rendered":"When You Think You Know Something, Look Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My

My Great-great-Aunt Lil on the left and
my Great-grandmother, Sarah Geake, on the right<\/p><\/div>\n

Today’s genealogical tip is to keep revising your information and checking sources.<\/p>\n

My 2 x great-grandparents, John and Mary Ann Hellier\/Hellyer<\/a><\/strong>, lived in the Devonport area of Plymouth for much of their married life and had, what I believed to be, ten children. Twins, Lily Elizabeth and May Amelia, were born on 13th August 1880 and, for a long time, I had thought the lady my mum referred to as her Great-aunt Lil was one of these twins. Not so!<\/p>\n

Whilst undertaking a little more research into the life of my Aunt Lil I discovered a marriage in 1930 in the Willesden District of Middlesex. Her husband was recorded as Frederick W Thompson which I knew was the correct name so this had to be my Aunt Lil but her middle initial appeared as ‘S’ and not ‘E’.<\/p>\n

Poking around in the 1939 Register, I found the couple living at 16 Trelawny Road, Tavistock, Devon, an address I was familiar with. There was no middle name recorded but Lily’s date of birth was noted as 19th November 1881. It was now obvious that she wasn’t one of the twins.<\/p>\n

Further investigation led to the discovery of the burial of baby Lily Elizabeth in Tavistock on 12th June 1881. I already knew they lost May Amelia in March 1882. Throughout this time it seems the family were living at Bannawell Street, Tavistock, quite possibly with John’s parents who lived in this street throughout the second half of the 19th century. They subsequently returned to Devonport but this sojourn in Tavistock had originally thrown me.<\/p>\n

Finally, I found a baptism for Lily Sarah Hellyer on 23rd December 1881. The family were living at Bannawell Street, her parents were John and Mary Ann Hellyer and her father was a stoker in the Royal Navy. At last I had found my Great-great-aunt Lil<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong><\/span> The house in Bannawell Street where the twins died was the residence of Charles and Elizabeth Gill. Charles had previously been married to John Hellier’s aunt, Jane Sillick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s genealogical tip is to keep revising your information and checking sources. My 2 x great-grandparents, John and Mary Ann Hellier\/Hellyer, lived in the Devonport area of Plymouth for much of their married life and had, what I believed to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[53,52],"class_list":["post-2356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ancestors-corner","tag-hellier","tag-hellyer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t