Focus on the female line

In the year we mark 100 years of suffrage, and in which equality and women's rights are forefront in the media it seems appropriate to think a little about matrilineal genealogy.

Matrilineal (or uterinal) genealogy is a genealogy traced through the female line, whereas most published genealogies are patrilineal, that is they are traced through the male line. Matrilineal genealogy has significance in the world of genetics because almost every cell in the body has a small blob called a mitchondria in it, which contains mitochondrial DNA which is always passed from mother to child, and almost always unchanged by mutation, so all the people in a matriline have a very real connection because they share this genetic material with each other, and may therefore have similar traits as a result. A matrilineal line is usually also the line with which genealogists can claim most certainty, despite the surname usually changing with every generation, becuase although biological paternity can often differ from the man named on the birth certifcate, who may differ again from the man who actually brought the child up, it is very rare for someone's maternity to be in doubt due to the fact that the woman gives birth to the child.

This blog is focused on the genealogy of my nephew, but since I'm his maternal uncle we share a matrilineal genealogy, and it's this genealogy I will now detail.

We start, unless I ever identify her parents, with one Elizabeth Emmeney (or Emmeney, Emony or even Emery) who married Robert Godbold in Dennington, Suffolk on 10th October 1814.

A '>' at the end of a line indicates a man in the matriline who is known to have descendants (such descendants not being of the matriline because they descend from Elizabeth Emmeney via the man in question).
Most places are in fact the registration district in which the birth, marriage or death was registered.
Elizabeth Emmney = 10/10/1814 Robert Godbold (d by 1837)
     George Godbold (abt 1815-?)
     Charles Godbold (abt 1817-?)
     Jacob Godbold, twin (abt 1819-March Q 1891 Hoxne) >
     Esau Godbold, twin (abt 1819-June Q 1903 Hoxne) >
     Mary Godbold (abt 1822-?) = 01/11/1845 Hoxne, John Wythe (abt 1815-1884)
          Sarah Wythe (21/03/1846 Hoxne-12/01/1931 Edmonton) = 31/05/1881 Poplar, James Backhouse
               Mary Jane Wythe (17/01/1874 Worlingworth-March Q 1951 Essex SW) = September Q 1903 West Ham, Charles Henry Deards
                    Pte Alfred Charles Wythe (02/04/1897 Poplar-28/03/1918 France & Flanders)
               Frederick George Bloomfield Wythe [later Backhouse] (18/11/1879 Plomesgate-09/03/1961 Saffron Walden)
               Ellen Mary Ann Backhouse (11/07/1881 Poplar-15/01/1958 Bishop Stortford) = December Q 1902 Saffron Walden, William George Burn
                    [Ellen and William also adopted a baby girl in the 1910s]
                    Kenneth William Leslie Burn (March Q 1924 Edmonton-June Q 1926 Edmonton)
               Rose Mary Rebecca Backhouse (November 1883 Poplar-December Q 1956 Bishop Stortford) = June Q 1906 West Ham, Ernest William Burn
                    Leslie Nellie Mary Burn (March Q 1908 West Ham-March Q 1915 Edmonton)
               Ada Jane Backhouse (11/07/1886 Poplar-September Q 1972 Haringey) = 08/12/1912 Edmonton, Frederick Burn
                    Harley Frederick James Burn (15/09/1914 Edmonton-January 1991 Poole) >
                    Freda Mary Burn (30/04/1918-December 1991 Poole) = June Q 1941 Edmonton, Frank William Horsnell
                         *The matriline continues through Freda's three children, all still living
                    Jean Margaret Sarah Burn (13/08/1925 Edmonton-27/03/1999 Enfield) = 24/06/1950 Edmonton, Ronald Knibb
                         *The matriline continues through Jean's two daughters, both still living
          George Wythe (December Q 1848 Hoxne-?)
          Elizabeth Wythe (June Q 1853 Hoxne-June Q 1908 Blything) = December Q 1874 Hoxne, Anthony Freeman
               Rosa Freeman (December Q 1874 Hoxne-December Q 1934) [Rosa must have married at some point a man surnamed Snowling, as she appears at her parent's house on the 1911 census as a widow of this surname, but I have no marriage details, and do not know if she had any children]
               Thomas Freeman (10/08/1876 Hoxne-?)
               Arthur Freeman (30/11/1883 Hoxne-June Q 1968 Samford)
          Thomas Wythe (Bap 1855 Tannington-?)
          William Wythe (04/06/1856 Hoxne-December Q 1943 Hartismere) >[one son who died in 1993]
     Rachael Godbold (abt 1827-June Q 1876 Plomesgate) = March Q 1861 Hoxne, Robert Read
          Jane Godbold (abt 1851-?) [I do not know if Jane married or had children]
          Anna Read (abt 1863-?) [I do not know if Anna married or had children]
          Mary Read (March Q 1866 Plomesgate-?) = December Q 1887 Hoxne, James Holden
               Emily Jane Holden (September Q 1888 Hoxne-June Q 1916 Hartisemere) = September Q 1910 Hartisemere, Frederick E C Sore
                    Jack Holden Sore (10/10/1911 Hartisemere-December 2001 Ipswich) >
                    Frank Henry Holden Sore (June Q 1915 Hartismere-March Q 1916 Hartisemere)

The only known living members of the matriline are thus the children, and female-line descendants, of my grand aunt, Freda, and of my grandmother, Jean. Of the 18 living members of the matriline 10 are female, but only 2 of those 10 will be under 40 by the end of 2018, so probably only two females could realistically further the line beyond the current members. One of those two is my sister, who may yet have one or more daughters, the other is the secondary school aged daughter of one of my second cousins, whose future daughters and female-line descendants (if indeed they ever exist) may in fact turn out to be the only living members of the matrline within the next century or so.

Alternatively there may be other living members I do not yet know about, if Rosa Freeman who married a Snowling did in fact have issue, or less likely if either of the untracable daughters of Rachael Godbold, Jane Godbold or Anne Read, did in fact have issue.