The following texts are transcribed from Steve's messages on Messenger after he made contact with Nancy Jackson, née Wood
One of Harry & Sarah Wood's sons (William Winberg) had a daughter (Nancy) who was born in 1922. It turns out she is still alive and living in an old people's home in Wakefield. Bearing in mind she would have been 10 at the time of Thomas & Gladys's divorce, I thought she might remember something about Gladys if, as we assume, Harry & Sarah had effectively taken over as Gladys's parents on the death of Florence. I've been in touch with one of Nancy's relatives and she's spoken to Nancy.
Unfortunately William Winberg abandoned his wife and children to go live in Leicester when Nancy was young so she had more to do with her mother's family. She doesn't seem to remember Gladys although does remember Harry & Sarah and also Damaris (if you don't understand the significance of Damaris, just say). I suspect this means that Gladys didn't maintain contact with Harry & Sarah after the divorce and that she wasn't close to that side of the family. If you remember, the story was the Gladys didn't have any relatives at the wedding. That's always seems strange to me as Harry was witness and he had 3 grown up children who should have know Gladys well if she lived with the Woods for 6 years; one of whom (Beatrice) was nearly the same age. There's something missing from this story and not sure what.
It's not completely dead this line as Nancy has a lot of photos from the 1900's and used to write the names on the back. She also keep a 'log' (whatever that means). One of the relatives is going through them and will let me know if they find anything.
Damaris Swift was the niece of Harry & Sarah Wood and they took her in when she was orphaned at 12. That's why she appears living with them on the 1911 census. Harry Wood was a witness at her wedding in 1931 when she was 35. On the 1939 census, she and her husband were living just 2 doors away from the Woods. So the Woods had history of acting at de facto parents for orphaned family members and in the case of Damaris, remained close. That doesn't seem to be the case for Gladys however, who was about the same age as Damaris when she was orphaned.
I get the feeling Nancy, who is 98 now, is failing so maybe it's her memory going. However I'm getting the feeling that the idea that Gladys went to live with the Woods when her mother died, where she remained till she married Thomas, isn't quite that as simple. We'll find out more when the 1921 census is released in 1922 but I dont really want to wait...
