Person:John Benson (46)

My great-grandfather seems to hold some large mysteries or ambiguities to say the least! By 1874 at latest he is known as John Adams and that he remains until his death of Tuberculosis in 1890. Prior to that he would appear to have been known as John Benson! Did he change his name to Adams or had he assumed the name of Benson for some other reasons unknown to us?

The facts I do know come from the muster records of the British Army in which he was a Sergeant acting as a tailor. He would appear to have enlisted (possibly in the 37th Foot Regiment) on 25th September 1860 and finally left (from the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Foot (King's) Regiment between November 1870 and January 1871 having bought himself out for £7 after being demoted from Sergeant to Private very shortly after having re-signed on for 12 more years on 28/5/1870, presumably as they no longer wanted his services as a master tailor - he was still getting good conduct pay so there seems to have been no misdemeanour as the reason for his demotion.

That appears to be the most we know of him as civil records basically don't amount to a great deal. The military records though would seem to have always had him down as Benson and it isn't till the birth of my grandmother in 1874 that we first see the surname as Adams. Which was his real name - Benson or Adams? It's quite possible that he enlisted under a false name - the Army wouldn't have cared and it's quite possible that he gave a false age as well since he is given as being 28 years and 8 months in May 1870 (so about Sept 1841) when he re-enlisted whereas on all subsequent records such as the census records he is down as about 3 years younger. Did he run away from home and enlist at a very young age? That might explain the different age and name. It might, afterward, have been easier to have gone back to his true name as well as age. Even his wedding certificate shows his age as 21 in 1865 - but that, of course, was not an army record. Mysterious and unexplained anyway...

His wife, Sarah Ann Kemp died at a young age, only about 34, in 1883 and in 1888 he re-married a Julia Gibson (nee Reeve!) who was 5 years his senior, if his birthdate really was 1844. He didn't live long after this though and would appear to have died in 1890 of TB in an institution that was part of a workhouse.

Further civil sources discovered by User:Goldenoldie who was simply curious, especially after tracing the eldest daughter, Margaret Adams!

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Ancestry.com. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.Original data - Church of England Parish Registers, 1754-1921. London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts, London.Images produced by permission of the City of London).

   Birth date: abt 1844
   Birth place: Marriage date: 5 Mar 1888
   Marriage place: Southwark, Middlesex, England
   Residence date: Residence place: England
   _APID: 1623::1811408

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915. (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.Original data - General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. © Crown copyright. Published by permission of the Cont).

   Birth date: abt 1844
   Birth place:
   Death date: Jun 1890
   Death place: Greater London, London, Surrey, United Kingdom
   _APID: 8914::120297

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class: RG11; Piece: 559; Folio: 51; Page: 41; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341127.

   Name: John Adams
   Birth: abt 1844
   Femanagh Co., Ireland
   Residence: 1881
   Bermondsey, London, England
   _APID: 7572::20486978

4.  
   Ancestry Family Trees.

   http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=986645&pid=-1987176685 _APID: 1030::0

5.   Full listing of 1871 and 1881 censuses given on family page.
   Marriage to Julia Reeve Gibson on their page.