The alphabet girl

In your latest newsletter Peter regarding the article about Ann Bertha Cecilia Diana Emily F G H I J K L M N O Q R S T U V W X Y Z Pepper, very interesting. I have found mention of her on Ancestry, there is a picture of a grave and a certificate, but there is a problem on Ancestry at the moment and I cannot access these images. She is supposed to be born on the 19th Dec 1883 and died on 14th Apr 1945.

 

I can now access the images which suggest that she went to America and married an Arthur von der donk Wait.

 

According to one site:

Also known as Alpha Pepper, short for Alphabet Pepper, Anna Bertha Cecilia Diana Emily Fanny Gertrude Hypatia Inez jane Kate Louise Maude Nora Ophelia Prudence Quince Rebecca Sarah Teresa Ulysis Venus Winifred Xenophon Yetty Zeno Pepperwas born to Aruthur Pepper and Sarah Jane in West Derby, Lancashire, in the first quarter of 1883. Her name occupying three lines of the index. Other sources have her birth on December 19 of 1882 in Liverpool, Lancashire. Her father is recorded as a cab driver, and widower in 1901. In 1908 he left Alpha with 95 pounds. Alpha would go on to marry Arthur Von Der Donk Wait, a man of Dutch decent in the United States in 1910. Her son, Gale Pepper Wait, was born 9 years latter. By 1943 she was going by the name Nan Pepper Waitand had a US Social Security number. She passed away under the name Nan Wait in 1945 and was burried in Sparkill, Rockland County, New York, United States of America.

 

Her baptism can be found under the name Ann Starkie Pepper, 2nd Jan 1883 in West Derby, Lancashire. The name when she was married in New York has been transcribed by Ancestry as Nan Shackey Pepper (but the rest of the details parents names, DOB etc tally).

 

If you search for her burial on the Ancestry website and the link to the US Find a Grave site, you will find her name as Nan Wait on the headstone. But the US Find a Grave site also has a copy of her birth certificate. I suppose with 26 names to choose from there are plenty of variations to choose.

 

I agree the woman who married Arthur Von der Donk Wait in Manhattan, New York, 16 Feb 1910 is the alphabet girl. The marriage record transcription at familysearch.org gives her name as Nan Stakay Pepper, age 27, born England, parents Arthur Pepper and Sarah Creighton. This all fits, and the middle name agrees with her baptismal middle name as noted by Jean999.

She is also listed in the 1920-30 censuses in Orangetown, New York State, then in 1940 in Manhattan, with her husband and only son Gale (their surname always spelt as Waite with an e, and in 1920 she is Nan S Waite).

The death record (again transcribed on familysearch) for Nan Wait who died in Manhattan 14 Apr 1945 gives her birthplace as London and her mother as Elizabeth Wilson, rather strangely. However, the other info on the death record all fits: father Arthur Pepper, husband Arthur Wait, DoB 19 Dec 1882, and the same address (33 Washington Square, Manhattan) where the family were living in 1940. So clearly the right person.

So it seems she dropped all those middle names. It also seems she emigrated to the US in 1906 (aged 23) as plain Nan Pepper, to join her cousin, a Mrs Aldrich, in New York. Her last address in England is given as Liscard (in Wallasey on the Wirral). This is from the New York Passenger Arrival Lists at familysearch.

 

If you replace Nora with Nan and Sarah with Starkey, I agree with your summary. Interestingly there is no name starting with P on the copy of the birth certificate on the internet.

 

The P is covered by the surname.

 

So where did Prudence come from (see list of names above)?

 

No idea, I don't know where the name quoted by HeyerFan comes from. As there is no middle name with initial P on the birth certificate, the GRO birth registration or the probate record for her father shown in the newsletter, it seems Prudence has been added later by someone for 'completeness'.

 

Perhaps HeyerFan can explain her source. With Nan changed to Nora, Starkey changed to Sarah and Prudence added from nowhere, this is a good example of how mis-information can be spread.

 

I have now discovered how Elizabeth Wilson fits in. She was the alphabet girl's aunt, the sister of Arthur Pepper. The Percy George Wilson mentioned in the 1908 probate was Elizabeth's son.

I found the following on GRO:

PEPPER, ELIZABETH LOUISA STARKEY
GRO Reference: 1846 J Quarter in WEST DERBY Volume 20 Page 1084

PEPPER, ARTHUR STARKEY
GRO Reference: 1853 M Quarter in LIVERPOOL Volume 08B Page 144

WILSON, PERCY GEORGE PEPPER
GRO Reference: 1876 D Quarter in WEST DERBY AND TOXTETH PARK Volume 08B Page 554

And from FreeBMD:
Marriages Jun 1869
PEPPER Elizabeth Louisa Liverpool 8b 311
WILSON Christopher Liverpool 8b 311

The above also explains the middle name Starkey as it was the maiden name of the alphabet girl's grandmother. She was also called Ann and in 1891 is staying in Liscard with her daughter and son-in-law and their children - the youngest being Percy G mentioned above. I wonder if young Ann went back to Liscard to live with her aunt when her mother died, whilst her father stayed in London? Although Christopher and Elizabeth Wilson don't have anyone staying with them in the 1901 census, they are still in Liscard which was given as their niece's last residence in England when she went to the US in 1906.

 

Nothing much to add, except that Creighton was not her mother's maiden name. This is a case where a remarried widow has given her former spousal name on her child's birth certificate, rather than her original surname. And what makes that even more interesting is that she seems to have had two children before her marriage to Arthur, giving, naturally, her maiden name (Hughes) as her "formerly..." on their birth registrations. At her marriage to Arthur Pepper at St Peter's Church, Liverpool on 15th May 1882, Sarah Jane Creighton was described as a 29-year-old widow, daughter of Robert HUGHES. On the 1881 census day she was enumerated at 33 Vine Street, Liverpool, already a widow and apparently living alone. She was probably the Sarah Jane Hughes who married Hugh Creighton 2nd Q 1872 LIVERPOOL (8b/196). The couple probably had a son Hugh Creighton (birth and death registered 1st Q 1878 WEST DERBY). Sarah's birth registration may be Sarah Jane Hughes 3rd Q 1852 WEST DERBY (8b/268)(Payne). This could correspond to the age of 46 given on her death certificate (3rd Q 1899 FULHAM), assuming that she passed away shortly before her (47th) birthday. Sarah may also have had a daughter Margaret Mary Martin Creighton (birth 3rd Q 1881 LIVERPOOL, death 4th Q 1881 WEST DERBY). Although I have not tracked down the death record of Hugh Creighton senior, the naming of the daughter suggests that the father might have been a Mr Martin... I am frustrated at not finding the "alphabet girl" on the 1901 census. She would then have been 18 and likely working somewhere. In view of her subsequent emigration to New York, perhaps she was working on a ship in 1901? What a fascinating case!

 

I came across this article, which summarises the case nicely (and confirms the lack of a 1901 census entry).