I am always on the lookout for information on Billinghay, my ancestral village, and a recent purchase from eBay took me on a journey to find Miss Curtis of Woodall, Lincolnshire.

A postcard dated Oct 29 1905 was sent from Billinghay, Lincolnshire to Miss Curtis, of Grange Farm, Kirkby on Bain, Woodhall. My curiosity raised the question of who sent the postcard, and who was Miss Curtis?.

I was initially drawn to the front of the card, which is the nave of St Michael’s Church, Billinghay, where my family and ancestors worshipped and where family members were baptised, married, and over the years said final goodbyes. I too was baptised there in 1959.

This used postcard is where the story begins!

The card dated 29 October 1905 was addressed to Miss Curtis at Grange Farm, Kirkby on Bain, Woodhall, Lincolnshire. The sender, identified as E French, was expecting Miss Curtis and her brother now known to be Michael to visit along with her own unnamed Auntie on Tuesday, October 31, 1905.

The postcard does not reveal a great deal of information, but it is enough for a search for Miss Curtis. However, whilst it was sent from Billinghay this did not necessarily mean E French actually lived in the village.

The card read: “Dear Miss Curtis. We are expecting you & your brother tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday. Hope it will be fine so that you will be able to come. I think Auntie is coming. Hope you had a nice time at the Chapel opening. With love E French“

With this limited information, I started my search for the Curtis family in the 1901 census, living in Kirby on Bain, Woodhall. I soon found the family living at Grange farm, Kirby on Bain, Woodhall, as stated on the postcard in 1905. The census named the parents John William Curtis a farmer, his wife Mary – her maiden name established to be Lill, a daughter Elizabeth Sarah Curtis and son Micheal Lill Curtis. The search confirms that only these two children were born to John and Elizabeth, so it can be safely assumed the unmarried Miss Elizabeth Sarah Curtis was the recipient of the postcard.

The photo below, discovered on Ancestry, shows the family at home at Grange farm, Kirkby On Bain, Woodhall.

A search of the marriage registers established Elizabeth’s mother Mary Elizabeth Lill married John William Curtis in 1877. Mary was the daughter of Elizabeth Lill née Haughton of Sibsey, Lincolnshire.

Elizabeth Sarah Curtis was born in 1880 in Bardsley, in the parish of Kirkby-on-Bain, Lincolnshire. She did not marry until 1916 when she married John Thomas Chapman.

This is another photo found on Ancestry, a Family portrait with Miss Curtis the recipient of the postcard standing far left at the back.

Establishing Miss Curtis was Elizabeth Sarah and the recipient of the card, a search for E French was conducted. The card was sent from Billinghay, so a random search of the 1901 census returns for Billinghay and surrounding villages was carried out and did not provide any leads. However, a newspaper article was found recorded in the Lincoln Leader and County Advertiser – 11th Oct 1913, recording the attendees at the Primitive Methodists harvest tea meeting were Miss French and Miss Houghton.

Research had already established the Houghton surname was Sarah Elizabeth Curtis’s maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Providing a possible link!

This now posed the question was Miss French who wrote the postcard and Miss Houghton the aunt who was also visiting on Tuesday. What it did suggest was that the families were chapel folk.

The newspaper article below records Miss French and Miss Houghton.

Despite in-depth research, it is not possible to establish a link between the most likely French family and the Curtis family, although it is highly likely the Houghton name does link to Sarah Elizabeth Curtis as this was her maternal grandmother’s maiden name.

Acknowledging the likelihood this family were chapel folk, a search of the newspapers revealed many articles of the Curtis family being heavily involved in the Wesleyan chapel in Kirkby-on-Bain, and the article below confirms Sarah’s parent’s Mrs Curtis and Mr J W Curtis were definitely part of the congregation.

On this thinking I returned to the postcard and recalled the message asking Miss Curtis if she had a nice time at the chapel opening, assuming this was a recent event and the fact Miss French and Houghton had attended the Donington Primitive Methodist chapel. A search for recently opened chapels in the area was carried out, and the date of the postcard was worked on.

The hunch paid off as recorded in the Stamford Mercury Friday 13 October 1905 was the opening of the Chapel on 11th October 1905 at Waddington, Lincolnshire. Whilst there are no clues to the attendees to this opening, the fact the dates do tie in offers a possible connection.

So was this the chapel Sarah Elizabeth attended the opening of?

During this research, time has been spent building a family tree for Sarah Elizabeth Curtis. One significant link was between Sarah’s mother Elizabeth Sarah Lill, and her brother William Haughton Lill who married Sarah Emma Paulger who was the daughter of Rev. John Wright Paulger. He was a Methodist chapel minister.

Who was Miss E French? Was she a friend or a relative? and where did she live?

Who was Miss Houghton? Was she the Aunt due to visit on the Tuesday with Sarah and her brother Michael?

Finally, Sarah Elizabeth Chapman nee Curtis died in 1969, and was known as Aunt Lizzie, was she your aunt?

I would love to solve the mystery, if you are a descendant of this family please get in touch, I would love to hear from you! Contact me at jackocats2@gmail.com

This postcard needs to make its final journey to the family of Sarah Elizabeth Curtis!

Contact me at jackocats2@gmail.com