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My sister and I are searching for information in our family line who may have died from progressive muscular atrophy/motor neurone disease/creeping paralysis or similar.

My name is Carol Anne Godfrey and my father William James Godfrey passed away from MND aged 48 in New Zealand in 1983.

His father, Victor Charles Godfrey (born in Stow on the Wold in 1893 or 1894) also died of this disease in 1963 aged 70. He immigrated to New Zealand in 1929.

His sister, Mabel Olive Godfrey (wife of Edwin Karel Amico Martin), born 1895 died from MND as well, in 1944 in the sub district Uxbridge in the county Middlesex.

My sister and I have found a lot of information about many of our ancestors, but very little about Victor Charlie (our grandfather) when he lived in England.

If anyone has any information on either relatives named Godfrey with MND or Victor Charles Godfrey, I would be forever grateful....

...which could be short lived if I too have the mutated MND gene of course :-P

Child Surname Child Forename Father Surname Mother Surname Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
GODFREY Victor C GODFREY GODFREY WILLICOTT 1893 North Cotswolds Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 16 471


siblings
GODFREY Arthur J GODFREY GODFREY WILLICOTT 1888 North Cotswolds Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 15 414
GODFREY Ethel M GODFREY GODFREY WILLICOTT 1886 North Cotswolds Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 15 71
GODFREY Mabel O GODFREY GODFREY WILLICOTT 1895 North Cotswolds Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 17 275
GODFREY Rhoda V GODFREY GODFREY WILLICOTT 1891 North Cotswolds Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 16 208
GODFREY Viti E GODFREY GODFREY WILLICOTT 1897 North Cotswolds Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 18

Hi Carol

Here is Victor in 1901 with his family



Name:Charles Godfrey

Age:8

Estimated birth year:abt 1893

Relation to Head:Son

Gender:Male

Father:Benjamin Godfrey

Mother:Bessie Godfrey

Birth Place:Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire, England

Civil Parish:Great Missenden

Ecclesiastical parish:Great Missenden St Peter and St Paul

Town:Missenden

County/Island:Buckinghamshire

Registration district:Amersham

Sub-registration district:Missenden

ED, institution, or vessel:1

Piece:1332
Folio:9
Page Number:9

Household schedule number:63

Household Members:


Benjamin Godfrey 43
Bessie Godfrey 38
Arthur Godfrey 12
Charles Godfrey 8
Mary Godfrey 14
Mabel Godfrey 5
Vita Godfrey 3

Thanks Jaqueline, I got that far and my sister is researching the Willicott line, and should have the death certificate for John Hunter Willicott soon.

William Willicott was the father of Bessie Wilicott who married Benjamin Godfrey who is the father of Victor.

I appreciate your help, I am going to add Willicott to my search regarding Victor.

Caz :-)

1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Gardeners Cottage Quar Wood, Cemetery Road, Lower Swell, Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire, England

First name(s) Last name Relationship Marital status Gender Age Birth year Occupation Birth place
Benjamin Godfrey Head Married Male 35 1856 Gardener Domestic Loughton, Essex, England Transcription
Bessie Godfrey Wife Married Female 29 1862 - Topsham, Devon, England Transcription
William G Godfrey Son - Male 6 1885 - Blackheath, Kent, England Transcription
Ethel N Godfrey Daughter - Female 4 1887 - Lower Swell, Gloucestershire, England Transcription
Arthur J Godfrey Son - Male 2 1889 - Lower Swell, Gloucestershire, England Transcription
Rhoda V Godfrey Daughter - Female 0 1891 - Lower Swell, Gloucestershire, England Transcription
Walter Tooley Boarder - Male 15 1876 Stable Boy Domestic Buckingham Transcription

You are all amazing.

Has anyone found anything of Victor after the 1901 census?

I could not find him on the 1911 and there is a gap of 18 years before he arrived in New Zealand.

1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Church St Great Missenden, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England


First name(s) Last name Relationship to household head Marital condition Gender Age Birth year Birth place Occupation
Ben Godfrey Head Married Male 52 1859 Loughton Essex Gardener Domestic Transcription
Bessie Godfrey Wife Married Female 49 1862 Topsham Devon - Transcription
Mabel Godfrey Daughter - Female 14 1897 Stow on Wold Glos Helps At Home Transcription
Vite Godfrey Daughter - Female 12 1899 Stow on Wold Glos School Transcription
Bessie Godfrey Daughter - Female 5 1906 Grt Missenden Bucks School Transcription

No sign of his emigration on FMP

Do you have details of his arrival? Ship's name for instance?

This 1911 census has Victor missing from the household, and only has Ben and Bessie's last three daughters on it.

This is where the trail goes cold with Victor.

I agree Jacqueline, I am stumped.
He seems to have disappeared, so I am wondering if he changed his name to avoid the law.

He called himself Vincent Charles in Hastings New Zealand (a tiny, tiny place so far away from England that was about 20 years behind the world) so often that that is the name on my father's death certificate,

GODFREY RHODA VITI 1891 1893 1893 Deaths & burials Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire, England

In 1911, Bessie says two of her children have died

I am waiting to find out the name of his ship. Unfortunately, all the immediate family in New Zealand are dead - my only possible chance is my Uncle Tim who is a Godfrey on paper, but not really a Godfrey. My Grandmother was married before she married Victor, and had two daughters.

One of them had a child out of wedlock, and my grandmother and Victor brought him up as their own.

He may have some of the old paperwork.

I have to head to bed in a moment, It is almost 10:30pm and I have work in the morning.
I find I am popping on here every second I can at work, it is so addictive.

Thank you so much for the help, and for any who may post after this.
Caz :-)

Rhoda V died aged 2 and Arthur died aged 16 from diabetes.

Date: 9 January 1926 Subject: Maintenance Order against Victor Charles Godfrey ORDER DETAILS »
1926 1926 Governor [record group] Wgtn

(not sure if above relating)

http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/

Chris :)

http://tinyurl.com/km7gwyk

(if relating)

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast

Supplementing Jacqueline's local index lookups on:
http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/

Surname Given Names Age Year Died District Register Entry
GODFREY Rhoda Viti 2 1893 Stow-on-the-Wold, Stow-on-the-Wold 11 395

Here's the FreeBMD entries (and fuller names) matching Jacqueline's Births
1886q4 Godfrey Ethel May Stow on W. 6a 374
1889q1 Godfrey Arthur James Stow on W. 6a 381
1891q1 Godfrey Rhoda Viti Stow on W. 6a 407
1893q1 Godfrey Victor Charles Stow on W. 6a 388
1895q3 Godfrey Mabel Olive Stow on W. 6a 395
1897q3 Godfrey Viti Elizabeth Stow on W. 6a 393
[Note GlosBMD indexes by actual y.o.b - not quarter of rego, so Art was b 1888, probly Dec, but not rego'ed until the following quarter - one has 6 w to rego a birth in England]

I have to thank you all for the help. I am now suspecting Victor stowed away on a ship or killed his first wife - not sure what is harder to trace.

I made an error in the year he arrived in New Zealand, it was 1924.

There is a huge gap missing for him - and considering I almost know what some of his relatives ate for breakfast before they died back in 1712 it is very, very odd not to have the more recent Victor all over the place.

I have one small slim lead that he may have used an alias at one point.
Caz :-)