Whooo Hoo...I found Malvina!!!

I just can't express the utter joy that I am feeling at the moment...only other passionate researchers would have any chance of sharing the exhilaration that I am experiencing after finding a piece of information that I have been seeking for years.

My great-great grandmother's eldest sister, Malvina Hughan, was an incredible woman who was deeply religious. She was also very intelligent, and could speak several languages. I knew that she married John Octavus Lord in late 1845 somewhere near Beirut, had two children who died, and died herself in the latter part of the 1840s. I could never find the details of her death, no matter what avenue I tried, and have always hated the fact that Malvina's story could not be finished until I discovered when and where she died.

Well....just minutes ago the big breakthrough was made, and all thanks to the brilliant British Newspaper Archive website. I have spent the weekend working on lookups for other lines of my family, and using the very last of my credits I decided to search for "John Octavus Lord" as I had not looked for him or Malvina since last year.

Only two hits came up...the Reading Mercury from March 25, 1848, carried the following report:

" DIED: On the 23rd of February, 1848, at Salonica, Turkey, in Europe, of consumption, Maloina (sic), the beloved wife of Mr John Octavus Lord. Her end was perfect peace."

Whoooo hooo!!!! That's my girl!!! Incorrect spelling, but my ggg Aunt, never the less. And not only did I discover that the gentle soul died just after her 26th birthday, but that it was consumption that claimed her young life, not typhoid fever as was the family story.

The death notice from the Berkshire Chronicle spelled her name correctly:-

 

My sense of relief is enormous...I feel as though the last piece of the vast Hughan puzzle has finally dropped into place. There are plenty more mysteries to be solved with this complicated bunch - enough to keep this researcher rolling along for years- but it was the last piece of crucial 'birth, death and marriage' information that I had to find for the nine Hughan siblings.

Aahhhhh (sigh of complete contentment) Although...I really wish that I could find out what happened to Malvina's paternal grandparents, Alexander Hughan and Agnes Herries.....it never ends!!!!