More information about the old photos of two smart chaps shared with you all recently, Mr David Dunnon in April and Mr Samuel Joseph Chick in May.

As always thanks so much to all followers who offered suggestions and help to identify these two young men, especially Tina and Pamela! Great research, both of you.

The first old photo was rather large, about 20 x 16 inches and I found it at the Matford Centre Fleamarket in Exeter, Devon.

Tina Louise from my Facebook page found a match for David here:

“Lynn I think the surname is Dunnon. I found a David Dunnon at this address in the 1924 electoral roll for Teignmouth. He’s not there in 1921 though“.

“But if you look again at the 1921 census for 22 Willow Street, there is a lady called Elizabeth E Neill (b. 1873) as head of household. I think she married David Dunnon. I found a marriage for Elizabeth E Neil = David Dunnon March qtr 1923 Newton Abbot (Teignmough comes under NA) 5b 275. Also found a death for David which I will post in a mo!“

Tina Louise said: “So he would have been born circa 1872 but I can’t find a birth or baptism“.

So looking for a birth I came across this record dated 1907 which states that David was born in 1870 in Donaghadee, Down, Northern Ireland. He had signed on for this ship in Cork and when he left after they had arrived in Portland, Dorset he had a good record. So I assume he signed on to another ship when he left this one, he would have been given a good reference.

David’s wife Elizabeth E Dunnon (O’Neill) stayed in the Newton Abbot area and died in the first quarter of 1945, she was 72, so born around 1873, I wondered if she was Irish like David? But then I found a possible birth match with her in Lancashire, this would need more research to confirm or deny. : Name: Elizabeth Margaret E O’Neill
Registration Date: 1873
3rd Quarter : Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration Place: Salford, Lancashire, England

The second mystery old photo is a cabinet card of another young man, Mr S Chick plus the photographer’s notes on the back.

On this occasion, Pamela Riddet from my Facebook Page made all the discoveries about Samuel:

“Samuel Joseph Chick b abt 1870? Baptism in Westminster with birth as 20 Sept 1869. He married Rose Garrett in 1892. Occupation on marriage certificate Hosier. 1901 he is in Streatham with his own business as a Draper. There is a death registered in 1955, which ties in with a Samuel Joseph Chick resident in Earl’s Court in the 1940s and early 50s. 1881 census living with parents in Hammersmith. 1891 he is a Hosier assistant living in Westminster“. “He was a very handsome chap. Sadly I have found that Rose died in 1913 and their only child, Reginald, died at sea in 1918“.

This chap interested me from what Pamela had found out, so I started a family tree for him on Ancestry. Link here: Chick Family Tree Adding the information above and filling out the family a bit more and going back a couple of generations, I couldn’t believe it, Samuel Joseph Chick’s father, also Samuel, and his two brother’s William and Joseph were all baptised in Burstock, Dorset, just a few miles from where I live in Beaminster. So that set me off on a bit more digging. Samuel Joseph Chick‘s Grandmother Mary Paul was born in Burstock and she married William Chick on 26 June 1838 at the same Church in Burstock, St Andrew’s. Mary had also been Baptised in the Church. Her father Joseph Paul, a Farmer, and his wife Mary lived at Grange Farm, Burstock, he was a Farmer, I believe it is the same Farm as ‘Burstock Grange Farm’ its present name. Here below are two family group sheet’s from their small family tree on Ancestry that I have compiled, plus some of the records I have found.

Reginald was aboard the HMS Sarnia when it was sank.

The Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-65 sank HMS Sarnia in the Mediterranean Sea off Alexandria, Egypt, (31°58′N 30°55′E) on 12 September 1918 with the loss of 53 crew.

How devastating for Samuel to have lost his wife and son within just a few years. I have found a possible second marriage for Samuel Joseph to Martha Susan Baker, but I would need to send for a Marriage cert to be able to confirm this. Here are some of my notes from the Family tree:

Follow up on Samuel by Pamela: 1. “I’ve been checking that odd reference to his widow in the probate records as Susanne Louise. Checked the Electoral roll for 1945 and there are two Samuel J Chicks. One in Kensington living on his own. The other is in Deptford with Martha. Later Susanne appears with the one in Kensington, but I cannot find a marriage for them. So which one is our Samuel? More research is needed! “

2. “Ok, Samuel in Deptford was born in 1902 according to the 1939 register. His occupation is difficult to read but has something to do with glass.”

3. “Samuel Joseph Chick married Susannah Louisa Shannon in Larne, Ireland in 1916. Susanne Louise died in Surrey in 1965 aged 67, listed as Susanne or Suzanne. I have only found Suzanne Chich (sic) in 1939 (b 24 Feb 1898) living in the City of Westminster, describing herself as single and of private means.”

4. “If you go to Irish Genealogy.ie you can see a copy of the certificate under Civil Registrations. It is free! Samuel’s address is the same as that recorded when his son died in 1918. How he met a girl who appears to have been 18 when he married her, goodness only knows! “

5. “Not so sure she was this age and I may have gone down a bit more of this rabbit hole this morning. On the marriage certificate, it describes Susannah as of ‘full age’ and her father Stewart. Her age at the death I found yesterday suggested she was born in 1898 but I cannot find a birth for her. I found a Stewart Shannon in the 1901 Irish census with his wife Susanna Louise and daughter Anna Louise, but she is 16. No sign of Susanna who would have been 3. In 1910 Stewart dies. In the 1911 census, Susanna is living with her daughter Louise (presumably Anna) who is age 26. Haven’t yet found a birth for this daughter”.

I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to visit the Church of St Andrew’s on a sunny day to take some photos and finish this blog. The Church is just down a small lane and it’s surrounded by fields, a lovely Church and I managed to take a photo through the window as it was closed! Couldn’t see the Font though.

Burstock, St Andrew’s Church. Information from ‘A Church near you’: “The parish church, although considerably altered during the 19th century, maintains its harmonious relationship with the village and the surrounding countryside, much as it did in medieval times. The font is of late 12th or 13th-century date, indicating that a church has stood here since at least that time, but various parts have been partially or completely rebuilt at different periods. Would love to have gone inside, they do have services here, so might try and pop back sometime.

So glad I waited for a nice sunny day to take photos here, was beautiful💒and the photo through the back window came out good!

Huge huge thanks to my two fantastic researchers on these two super old photos, Tina and Pamela.

Till next time then…….