52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 6. Valentine

VALENTINE  

OH VALENTINE!

This blog post is about Valentine Frederic/k William Muller or any combination of those names. He is another of those confusing, enticing, frustrating characters that features in my wider family.

Once again the link is weak being the husband of my G.Grandmother’s, sister’s sister in law. Yes, that is confusing so here it is in tree format.

         Edward Youell                                        Frederick Theobald

       I                            I                                    I                                    I

Edith Youell    Eliza Youell m Frederick Theobald   Rhoda Theobald m Valentine

So, who was Valentine Frederick William Muller? There are numerous birthdates associated with various documents found for him, or other Valentine Mullers, anytime between 1851-1869 is suggested. I believe there are 2 separate Valentine Muller’s living in the London area in the 1890’s but let us find a starting point to try and pinpoint this man, so we will begin with his marriage to Rhoda.

On the 29^{th of} September 1895, Valentine William Muller married Rhoda Alice Theobald at St Martins in the Fields Church Middx. His age is 27, indicating a birthdate of 1863 and gives his occupation as a ‘Railway servant.’ This is the only instance I have found of this occupation and may indicate how he and Rhoda met as her brother, Frederick Theobald, was a ‘fireman shunter’ on the railways. Interestingly his father Charles Muller has been given the occupation of ‘Interpreter’, an occupation I have found more regularly attributed to Valentine himself. Also of interest is the assertion that Valentine was a bachelor, despite a previous marriage and being a widower. Frederick and Eliza Theobald act as witnesses for the marriage.

By 1896, a son, another Valentine Frederick William is born in Greenwich district. He was baptised in Chevening on June 7^th 1896. Chevening was the home of Rhoda’s wider family and the baptism record shows that the Muller’s address was New Cross in the district of Greenwich. Interestingly Valentine senior’s occupation is now identified as an ‘Interpreter.’

Valentine jnr’s birth was quickly followed by the birth of a daughter Rhoda Alice Louisa in 1897. Again, she was baptised in Chevening on the 21^st November.

Valentine’s occupation is once again cited as an ‘Interpreter’ however it now appears that the family may be living in Dover, although Rhoda’s birth registration was also in Greenwich.

So, taking the usual route in researching a family my next search was the 1901 census and things take a strange turn. The daughter, Rhoda is found with her maternal grandparents, in Sevenoaks. A 5-year-old, Valentine, is also found in Sevenoaks boarding with the Colgate family. However, their parents are no-where to be found.

It would appear that Rhoda had made her way to Canada in 1900 but came back to the UK to collect her daughter, as they both appear on the ship, Corinthian’s passenger list, leaving Liverpool for Montreal on the 26^th Sept 1901. Valentine Jr is shown on the passenger manifest of the Ottawa, en-route to Montreal on the 6^th Aug 1908, in the company of the Reynolds family, relations of Rhoda senior.

Meanwhile Valentine senior is elusive in both the 1901 census and Passenger lists.

So, we will look for Valentine on the 1891 census. He is found in Deptford London living with an Alice Ashment, aged 36, a Biblewoman*. Both are cited as single. Valentine’s occupation is once again given as ‘Interpreter’ aged 40 and born in Liverpool.

However, there is a marriage entry for Valentine and Alice Theodora Ashment, their marriage taking place on 4^th December 1890

This document suggests that Valentine is actually 22 years old at the time of his marriage and this would correspond with other documents. However, on this certificate he gives his occupation as a ‘Detective’. Alice continues to assert her occupation as a ‘Biblewoman’.

Unfortunately, Alice died in 1894 and was buried in Lewisham in March of that year, so Valentine would have been a widower when her married Rhoda.

Making a wider search for Valentine there is a Military record, which appears to relate to him.

This gives a description of the man. 5’ 4”, so not particularly tall, dark hair blue eyes and fair complexion.

Both entries show only short periods of service, 6 months from 1889-90 and 4 months from 1905-06. And yet in the remarks it indicates that some form of monetary recompense occurred in 1915.

A member of a family history forum kindly provided me with an explanation of the facts written on this form, although he was unable to help with the 1915 comment. I have found several such forums that are most helpful, one being familytreeforum.com and another rootschat.com.  As with most things related to Valentine it leaves yet another question.

‘From this we can see that Valentine William Muller served on HMS Satellite, Book no 5 ledgers no 165, Domestic 1st Class, 12 Nov 89 to 22 Apr 90, Character Very Good on 31-12-89 and 22-4-90. Discharged shore services not required.

The record from the Iphigenia is much the same.

The rating Domestic 1st class is one I don’t fully understand, it is not used these days, but may refer to an largely untrained recruit.

The last entry is a little puzzling as to where there was an entry of £257 for clothing and bedding as it apparently was entered in 1915,
a long time since he left the navy. Maybe it was just admin catching up with him, the wheels turn slowly in the service.’

This military record, however, shows that Valentine was in the UK at the end of 1905 to early 1906, so it would suggest that for whatever reason Rhoda, his wife decided to go to Canada on her own in 1900, it looks like there was marital breakdown with Valentine. We do know that on the 1911 Canadian census Rhoda cites herself as a widow, but we cannot be sure this is the truth or made up for appearances sake.

Returning to the military record, with Valentine’s occupation as an ‘Interpreter,’ and perhaps making some assumptions about the Germanic name Muller, I did wonder whether Valentine would have been interned during WW1, despite the  assertion on the 1891 census that he had been born in Liverpool and his Naval record. Doing a little background reading it would appear that at the start of the War the UK government were reticent in implementing mass Internment, selecting only those that were a threat to National Security to be Interned, otherwise, ‘foreign nationals’ were required to register with the police and restrictions on movement and whereabouts were implemented. However public opinion shifted after the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7^th 1915 alongside evidence of German atrocities in Belgium. Increased countrywide rioting against German, Hungarian and Austrian’s property and public pressure forced the government to reconsider the implementation of mass Internment for those of Military age, not least for the safety of those Foreign Nationals living in the UK. This decision was made on the 7^thAugust 1915, So, is the monetary sum allocated to Valentine on the 6^thAugust 1915 of any significance?

Just to add to the mix there appears to be another Valentine Muller, with Frederick as a middle name and an umlaut over the ‘u’ in Muller. This Valentine married Jessie Barszt in August 1894 in Tottenham Middx. He cites himself as a ‘Porter’ and his father Valentine Muller, a ‘basket manufacturer.’ This Valentine, however, at the age of 21 at the time of his marriage would have been born in 1873.

By now, clutching at straws and having 3 marriage records, I wondered if it was worth checking the signatures just to see if all may be the same man.

to Jessie

to Alice

to Rhoda

As you can see this is not much help, although the V and t and M, 2^nd l and the r are similar in format in the latter 2 signatures.

Like the other Valentine, I have not been able to pinpoint Valentine, the Porter, in the 1901 census, but there are both a death registration and a probate record for a death of this Valentine in 1907.

As a probate record there are only the names identified to perhaps help in the identification of the Valentine, however £2633 in 1907 is not an inconsequential sum, approx. the equivalent of approx £320,000 in 2020 and would be perhaps more than you would expect to be left by someone who’s profession was a ‘porter’.

Meanwhile,  back in 1893, there is a document a Valentine Muller related to the London Workhouse/Poor Law admissions to Bow St Infirmary.

Despite being admitted to the Infirmary by the Police, diagnosed with insanity, Valentine was released by the Magistrates 9 days later. But which Valentine could this be? The address given is not of any help.

So where to go from here. Over the years I have intermittently corresponded with another lady researching Valentine Muller married to Rhoda, and much like myself found herself going around in circles. In conversations we have both suggested various possibilities as to various scenario's regarding Valentine. But at a more grounded level, she has gone back a little further with researching Valentine, son of Charles Muller, sometime Merchant, sometime Interpreter, discovering a birth of a Frederick William to a Charles Melchior Meuller and Johanna nee Gerber, living in Wallasey, Cheshire, Charles being a Merchant from Prussia, who was given citizenship in 1867. They had another son, Arnold and whilst the family are together in 1871, Frederick William is not with the family in 1881, however there is a possible Frederick Muller born Wallasey, an Agricultural Pupil living with a farming family in Herefordshire.

It was whilst requesting help with the Military record that it was suggested that it may be of benefit in authenticating whether Valentine son of Charles and Frederick William son of Charles Meuller were one and the same by accessing the will of the brother Arnold who died in 1937. Whilst doing so I also accessed the will of Johanna and the Valentine Muller who died in 1907.

As expected the Valentine Muller dying in 1907 is unlikely to be the Valentine married to Rhoda, beneficiaries of his will, being his brother - Joseph Muller, nephew – William Joseph Muller, sister – Amalia Moller of Biebrich, Germany, brother Jacob Muller of Rauenthal by Eltville am Rhein, Germany and sister – Josephine Rathgeben.

I also think that it is unlikely, Frederick William and Valentine are the same man, Johanna’s will in 1919 names Frederick William Muller of Sproat Lake Alberni, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Arnold’s will names, amongst others, Ada Florence Muller widow of Frederick William Muller of Alberni, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I only received this information very recently and as yet I have been unable to research fully, a very quick search however has not been productive in finding a marriage for Frederick William and Ada.

So, at the moment the stories of the 2 London Valentine’s have come to a standstill,  and I probably need a bit of a break from him. Perhaps the release of the UK 1921 census may help, but as he appears to evade census enumerators, I do not have high hopes. Another avenue to pursue is Valentine Muller, a merchant travelling backwards and forwards from the UK and US. There is also an US army enlistment document in 1879, the record indicates a birth date circa 1856, so early for my Valentine, but what is interesting is that his characteristics are blue eyes, colour of hair ? and light complexion. Tenuous but a possibility, especially as this American, Valentine, deserted in 1880. My own view is that Valentine is probably a 'chosen' name and he probably moved to the UK from Germany, possibly landing on British soil in  Liverpool, which why it was chosen as a 'place of birth.'

 I will leave with an updated sentiment of a previous blog relating to my Great Grandfather. Who are you Mr M?

 All documents: crown copyright

Further Reading: The German Community in London during the 19th century:

The German Community in London during the 19th century | The History of London

*Biblewoman

 UCL Bloomsbury Project