Simon Vobes (simon.vobes @t oracle.com) of Kolbotn, Norway, writes: I am having trouble with my grandfather's (Charles Turner) side of the family. His mother's maiden name was Eliza Mardell (popular in Herts!!) b. 1863 in Wallington. In the 1881 census she is listed as a Servant for the NASH family, Warner Road, Great Amwell, Herts. However all records of her birth, marriage records to her husband John Turner, cannot be found. I tried the 1871 census but couldn't find any information. It seems I have met a brick wall. Do you have any tips or information with regards to this. I tried researching through my grandfather and his twin sister Ethel but they were born in 1904. The only other member of the family is Bertram Turner b. 1896 but even his records are missing from the 1901 census. Could this be due to bad indexing?? Any help would be much appreciated.

In cases like this lateral thinking helps! If you can't find Eliza - did she have any siblings who were also born in Wallington at about the same time. A search of the 1881 census shows that two people called Mardell were born in Wallington and were living in Hertfordshire. Eliza you know about - but there was also an Emily living at Red Hill, Sandon, Herts. The family is given as:

This could well be Eliza's family , and the information about John suggests the family had been living at Sandon for at least 12 years - and so could well be at Red Hill at the time of the 1871 census. A quick check of the cottages at Red Hill produced the following family.

This shows that George and Maria are Eliza's parents and gives you more names, places and dates to research. In particular you may find George, Maria, Ann and other older siblings in either Clothall or Wallington in the 1861 census.

January, 2006

Jan Brown (jan__brown @t hotmail.com) wrote: Don't know if any of the following will help, but here it is.  My mother's name was Mary Mardell, the daughter of Percival Charles Mardell who was born at Little Heath, Hertfordshire in about 1897.  He worked as a mechanic for Lord Salisbury at Hatfield House and married Enid Maude Hancock.  They raised their family in Hatfield and members of our branch of the Mardell family live in Hatfield still.  Nice to touch base with another Mardell - had no idea we were so Hertfordshire-centric!  Have sometimes wondered if Mardell is a corruption of something rather more Frenchly glamorous - do you know?

I have forwarded your information to Simon, but I doubt there is a close link from the information I have, and the name is common in Hertfordshire, with 284 Mardell & variant entries listed in the 1881 census.

There are web pages for Sandon and Wallington.

If you can add to the information given above tell me.

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