Who's My Father? - Clara Williams

Birmingham Workhouse c1852

One of my longstanding brick walls has been my 2 x great grandmother, Clara Williams.  

It took many years of research to find her birth, only to discover that she was illegitimate and born in the workhouse.

But who is her father? 

I am hopeful that DNA will help answer that question...

Clara was born 18 Jul 1856 in the Birmingham Workhouse, Warwickshire, the illegitimate daughter of Isabella Williams. 

Birth Certificate - Clara Williams - 18 Jul 1856

At the time of the 1861 census, she is living at 117 Pope St, Birmingham, with her grandparents, Henry Williams a boot and shoemaker and his wife, Mary nee Plimmer, and their daughters, Hannah, aged 19, Elizabeth aged 16, Mary aged 12, Ann aged 8 and Ada aged 6.   Clara's mother, Isabella was living some 3 miles away at Mount St lodging with the Birch family.

Census Returns of England and Wales - 117 Pope St, Birmingham - 7 Apr 1861

Clara's mother, Isabella married John Spencer on 24 Jun 1867 in the Parish Church at Bishops Ryder, Birmingham, one of the witnesses included her married sister, Elizabeth Dugmore.  Isabella and John went on to have four children together, Henry born 1869, Jane born 1871, Ada Elizabeth born 1873 and Eliza born 1879.

It does not seem likely that Clara ever lived with her mother and step family, as she was still living with her grandparents at 117 Pope St at the time of the 1871 census. 

Census Returns of England and Wales - 117 Pope St, Birmingham - 2 Apr 1871

Clara married William Charles Phibbs, a tortoiseshell worker on 20 July 1879 at the Parish Church of St. John, Ladywood. The witnesses to their marriage were John Gilbert, William's brother in law and Mary Sharratt.  Note that Clara gave her father's name as Henry Williams, shoemaker.  This is as we now know, her grandfather's name, giving little doubt that Clara was raised as one of their daughters and may not have known at this time that Isabella was her mother.   

Marriage Certificate - William Charles Phibbs and Clara Williams - 20 Jul 1879

Of course, when I purchased this certificate in 1988, it led me on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to locate Clara's birth certificate.  After several wrong certificates, it was 20 years later before I finally found the correct one!  Remember this was long before many of the census records and other documents were indexed, let alone available online.

Clara with daughter, Florence c1882

Clara and William went on to have a family of 7 children, including: 

* Florence Louisa (1880-1865)

* William Charles (1882-1948)

* Alice Maud (1884-1968)

* Albert Harold (1886-1959)

* May (1887-1942)

* Clara (1889-1966) - my great grandmother

* Stephen Paul (1892-1900) 

At the time of the 1881 census, Clara and William were living at 9 Court 5 House New Summer St, with their young daughter Florence and Clara's aunt, Ann Williams and her three children, Harry aged 12, Rose aged 9 and Gertrude aged 3. 

Census Returns of England and Wales - 9 Ct 5 House New Summer St - 3 Apr 1881

William was described as a Pear Ivory and Tortoiseshell Turner and may have been involved in the manufacture of a wide variety of items such as combs, small boxes and frames, inlays in furniture, frames for spectacles, guitar picks and knitting needles.

As William has also been described as Pearl Worker on other documents it is possible that he worked in the button trade. The Birmingham button trade was diverse including pearl, shell, metal, cloth-covered, and later plastic, buttons. Shell and pearl were imported for the production of buttons, with so much waste shell produced by the process that pits were dug in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter to bury it.

When the 1891 census was taken, Clara's family were living at 95 Emily St, Bordesley, a suburb of Birmingham.  William was employed as a tortoiseshell worker and Clara was a jeweller's polisher and the older children recorded as scholars.

Census Returns of England and Wales - 95 Emily St, Bordesley, Birmingham - 5 Apr 1891

On 14 Jun 1894, Clara's husband, William died of phthisis (now known as tuberculosis) and exhaustion when he was just 36 years old. Clara was the informant and was also present when he died.

Death Certificate - William Charles Phibbs - 14 Jun 1894

How hard would life have been for Clara with 7 children to raise on her own? 

Further tragedy occurred when her youngest son, Stephen died of Hodgkins Disease and exhaustion on 20 Feb 1900. 

Death Certificate - Stephen Paul Phibbs - 20 Feb 1900

At the time of the 1901 census, the family were living nearby at 3 Melbourne Place, off Rea St, South.  Clara and her daughters, Florence and Alice were working as Press Workers in the bicycle industry and her sons, William and Albert were both carters on the railway. Her 13 year old daughter, May was an Errand Girl. 

Census Returns of England and Wales - 3 Melbourne Place - 1 Apr 1901

In 1903, Clara's eldest daughter, Florence married James Titus Floyd and they went on to have a family of 7 children. Five years later, in 1908 her son, Albert Harold married Florence Hancock, they had two children.

Further misfortune stuck as Clara's mother, Isabella died on 21 Nov 1909 of chronic bronchitis and cerebral hemorrhage. 

Death Certificate - Isabella Spencer - 21 Nov 1909

The informant was her daughter in law, Elizabeth Spencer, who resided at 31 Bissell St, which is the same address that Isabella had died. Elizabeth and her husband Henry were still at this address at the time of the 1911 census. Isabella's other daughters, Jane, Ada and Eliza had all immigrated to the USA during the 1890s. 

Isabella is buried at Witton Cemetery, Birmingham.

Funeral Card - Isabella Spencer

By 1911, now aged 54 years, Clara was living in Sherlock St, with her children, William, Alice and Clara. Clara has no occupation recorded, her son William was working in a Plumbers warehouse, Alice was still a Press Worker and daughter Clara was a guillotine worker in the tinplate works.  Her granddaughter, Florence Floyd, was also residing in the family home that evening. 

Census Returns of England and Wales - 25C 5h Sherlock St - 2 Apr 1911

Tragically, on 15 July 1912, Clara took her own life. The cause of death was "suffocation by coal gas a result of suicide whilst of unsound mind". 

Birmingham Daily Gazette - 17 Jul 1912

Of Clara's other children, William married Lillian May Gogzell in 1923, they had no children and remained in England. Her daughters, Clara and May immigrated to Australia in 1915 and Clara married Arthur Samuel Rake whom she met on the voyage. Alice Maude in immigrated to Australia in 1925 and married divorcee, Walter Coppock.  Son, Albert and his family immigrated to Australia in 1926.

Family Tree and DNA Analysis

I've been able to confirm our genetic connection to Clara Williams through 9 DNA matches at Ancestry to my father, Colin, through her son, Albert Harold Phibbs and daughter, Clara Lillian Phibbs. 

Clara's grand-daughter, Esther Rose Lillian Rake is my grandmother and I've been able to research many of her family lines back to my 5 x great grandparents - mid/late 1700's.  Esther's maternal lines are all based in and around the present day Midlands including Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Many of these lines I've also been able to confirm our genetic connection through multiple DNA matches and triangulation (which is where three descendants through different lines share the same segment of DNA).

Genetic Pedigree Chart for Esther Rose Lillian Rake showing DNA confirmed lines

We do have several clusters of "unknown" matches, whose trees I have been able to build, however to date, I've been unable to connect their trees with our tree!  I believe they could be connected through either Clara's unknown father's family and/or the family of her maternal grandfather, Henry Williams. 

One of my goals is to use our DNA results to identify Clara's father's family, so stay tuned as I hopefully narrow these down further!