Page 17 - Christina Louisa Pettard

Chapter 4         Christina.

Christina Louisa Pettard.

Recent records posted on anscestry.co.uk include the registered death of Christina Louisa Pettard January 1996 Lewisham London, this record also quotes date of birth 25 December 1896, her death registered January 1995 would indicate that she probably died December 1994 making her exactly 98 years of age as stated on the death record.

I am still somewhat fascinated by Christina and what sort of life she lead, for sure she lived well into her 90’s, born Christmas day 1896 and deceased December 1994 just a few years short of a grand age of 100, she lived through almost the entire 20 Century. A young lady of about 19 with the beginning of WWI, a young woman during the roaring 20’s and in her middle years with the outbreak of WWII, approaching 60 with the coronation of Elizabeth II and deceased the year that both Clinton and Yeltsin would be elected.

We know she was a spinster with a connection to the theatrical world, or do we! and maybe it’s the combination of both that sparks one’s imagination, where did she live throughout her long life born Southwark to death registered Lewisham London is about all we know. It would appear that she did not travel far over the course for some 98 years and lived south of the river maybe never wandering much away from her birth place. That’s until you review some of the passenger ship lists and arrival records on-line, but before that it’s well to realize that her full name, i.e. Christina Louisa Pettard is a fairly unique name, and within the time frame we are interested in I have not come across any other Christina Pettard let alone another Christina Louisa. So with this in mind the following information taken from incoming passenger shipping lists is interesting to say the least.

 UK incoming passengers Liverpool, England a Christina L Pettard is listed, UK incoming passengers Southampton, England a Christina Pettard listed, New York, New York incoming passengers Christina Louisa Pettard is listed and finally Quebec Canada a Christina Louisa Pettard appears on the incoming list. It would seem our Christina was well travelled with at least two Atlantic boat voyages to her name; this of course just throws up more questions. Where else did she travel and what was the purpose of her USA and Canadian trips, maybe she was indeed an actress, did she travel alone or was she part of a group, a troop or a play. I had best stop at this point before I get completely carried away, other then matching the name to the arrival ports I have at this point in time no other information not even dates, but clearly Christina Louisa just grows in interest with every meager piece of information uncovered.

Before we go further or deeper let’s just recap for a moment on what we know and, to some extent what we have either assumed or accepted about Christina. Christina Louisa Pettard was the second daughter of Alfred Pettard and Elizabeth Pettard whose maiden name we now know was Waton.  Her father Alfred was the brother of William, William being our great grandfather such that Christina and our grandfather William Francis Pettard known as Frank were cousins, see attached family tree showing just the two lines of Alfred and William.

 Christian was born Christmas day 1896 her mother appears to have died some three years later leaving her husband Alfred with two young daughters; Agnes Elizabeth aged 4 and Christian Louisa aged 3. Subsequent census show that Agnes and her father are living with Alfred parents Joseph and Annie Pettard, however no reference is made of Christina being part of the Pettard abode, instead we see Christina listed under the Marsh abode and bring the nice of Eliza Marsh. To this point we are not sure about much in the life of Christina other then her birth and death we only know for sure her whereabouts at about the age of six from the 1901 census. This leaves some 90 years of unknown history, was she close to her father or was she brought up by her aunt, did she stay around her birth area, we know she never married but what did she do all her life, was she really connected to the theater in some way.

		1884		1945	1954	1906	1917	1955
1866	Marriage	1866	1868	1870	1872	1875	1878	1882
Joseph	Annie
Henry	(Holland)
Pettard	Pettard	Emma	Henry	Fredrick	Alfred	William	Joseph	Louisa
		Eliza	Joseph				Thomas	Maud
1891	Marriage	1894		1994	1899
Alfred	Elizabeth	1892	1895	1896	1899
Pettard	(Waton)
	Pettard	Alfred	Agnes	Christina	William
		Joseph	Elizabeth	Louisa
abt 1895	Partners	1968		1902	1903
William	Annie	1895	1900	1902	1903	1906
Pettard	(Dillion)
	Pettard
		William	Annie	Emily	Elizabeth	Margaret