X00001 - The Conclusion!

I've had a couple of posts so far about trying to find the death date and record for Edwin Ashton. The first post described the issue. The second post was an update when I was able to find Edwin Ashton and Clara Scattergood in the 1939 Register.

The names and dates of birth in the 1939 register [D03865] matched Edwin's known birth date. And the location of Alcester matched the location on the 1950 death certificate. The informant on the death certificate [D00319] was an E.W. Savage who married an Edith Ashton who would have been born about 1920. So all that was left was to link Edith Ashton to Edwin Ashton

It appears that Edith was born in Canada and the 1920 birth registrations aren't available yet. I couldn't find Edwin in the 1921 Canadian census, so he may have been back in England by then. But I managed to find a ship's passenger list [D01427] with Edwin, Clara and Edith. And the ages all match. So we can consider this one closed!

Update on X00001

A month ago, I posted my query about determining Edwin Ashton's date and place of death (X00001). Since then I have made an interesting discovery that is changing my perspective.

I've found an Edwin Ashton in the 1939 register:



But here's the interesting information:

• Edwin Ashton's date of death is listed as 12 Nov 1884, which matches the Edwin Ashton born in Blackburn
• Edwin's wife's name is Clara, which also matches the Edwin Ashton born in Blackburn
• But the most interesting thing is that location in 1939 is Alcester, Warwickshire, which matches the death location of one of the Edwin Ashton death certificates that I found for 1950.

So, this means I need to re-examine my previous conclusion. I had previously ruled out that death certificate because the location and timing of his daughter's birth didn't make sense. But with this latest update, it looks very much as if the Edwin Ashton who was born in Blackburn and the Edwin Ashton who died in Alcester are the same person. Watch this space for more.....

X00001: When/where did Edwin Ashton die?

For X00001, I’m looking for a date of death and place for Edwin Ashton, Lawrence Ashton’s older brother. The one lead I have is from the Ashton family bible:



The year of death is recorded as 1950. Interestingly, the listing for Edwin shows only the year of death, but for all of the other children there is a full date given. This implies to me that whoever was the owner of the bible was not likely in close contact with Edwin.

Here is a roundup of what I know so far:

• Edwin’s date of birth is November 12, 1884 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England [D00373]
• Edwin’s second marriage was in 1923 to Clara Scattergood Butler (b 1884) [D00737]
• Edwin seems to have moved back and forth between England and Canada. He was married in Canada, but he fought for the British Army in WW1.
• I haven’t found much in the way of evidence after 1923, although I have found Edwin and Clara were on a passenger list arriving in Glasgow, Scotland in 1939

So, assuming that the year of death of 1950 is accurate, the options for death location are Canada, Scotland, England or elsewhere.

Scotland Possibility
I checked the Scotland death registrations for 1950 and did not find any Edwin Ashtons.

Ontario Possibility
Death registrations are not yet available for 1950 in Ontario. See next steps below

England Possibility
I’ve found two Edwin Ashtons listed as having died in 1950:

• Ashton, Edwin. Age 85, Hitchin, Hertfordshire vol 4b p153 [D02301]
• Ashton, Edwin. Age 65 Alcester, Warwickshire vol 9c p2 [D00319]

We can rule out the first possibility [D02301] because the age is off by about 20 years.
For the second possibility [D00319], the informant on the registration is a son-in-law named E.W. Savage. I found a marriage record between an E.W. Savage and Edith Ashton [D00004] in 1942. So, the question is, is Edith Ashton the daughter of this Edwin Ashton? According to the marriage record, Edith would have been born about 1921 in Alcester, Warwickshire England and Edwin & Ellen Ashton would have been living in Canada in 1921, so very unlikely.

Elsewhere
Since this is the least likely of the possibilities, I'm going to rule out the others before proceeding with this one.

Next Steps

• Wait for the 1950 Death registrations to be released for Ontario (should be in 2023)
• Continue to monitor Find a grave and other sites for Clara Ashton & Edwin Ashton in Canada/US cemeteries
• Possibly check 1945 register to see if he was living in Ontario then
• Check Ontario newspapers for a death notice
• Check Toronto Directories to see if living in Ontario

Updates:
See Update June 6, 2018