Emily and James Short

First of all before I start this piece it contains a new look into the history of the ‘Short’ side of our family and an insight into something I was unaware of. The detail that has come to light is regarding, ‘Emily Strutt Short’ and ‘James Albert Short’ her son. Here are a few dates to begin with.

Nathaniel Edward Short, born 1860.

Martha Sarah Strutt, born 1863.

Nathaniel and Martha married 1886.

Emily Finley (Florence) Strutt (Short) born 1885.

Emily’s birth certificate shows Martha Strutt as mother, there is no father listed on the birth certificate. Emily was listed as ‘Emily Finley Strutt’ dated March 1885. Nathaniel and Martha married in 1886 and then Emily became ‘Emily Finley Strutt Short’.

Nathaniel obviously accepted Emily as his daughter, whether he was the biological father will never be known, it is most probable that he was and that the baby was born whilst Nat was at sea, he often sailed to Australia and New Zealand on the Alastor.

Nat was serving at the time on the merchant vessel (Alastor) trading between the Thames and Sidney. One trip took 150 days, or about 5 months, to make the homeward journey. There is a link in his obituary that he was involved with the attempt to relieve General Gordon, who was besieged in Khartoum. This was because his ship was capable of being a water carrier and the ship was sent up the Nile to deliver water. This five month homeward trip was in 1885, therefore it seems Nat was at sea during Martha’s pregnancy and Emily’s birth.

Nathaniel and Martha were married on 20^th October 1886 and Emily is shown within the family, but born out of wedlock in 1885. Their first child in wedlock was ‘Eva L Short’ born in 1888. Alas Eva died in 1891. Somewhere along the line Emily has disappeared from within the family history, but what is known so far of her history is that she gave birth to a baby boy out of wedlock in 1906.

James Albert Edward Short (1906-1976) was born at 9 Ham Road, this is believed to be the address of the old workhouse in Shoreham.

Emily went on to marry ‘Martin Frederick Budgen’ (1890-1935) in 1909. James’s birth certificate only shows one parent, (Emily) so what happened to James, he was apparently accepted into the Budgen family as he remained there with them up to at least the 1911 census.

So that is what I now know about Emily Finley (Florence) Strutt Short (1885 death date unknown)

However James’s story is not done, he is picked up again when he departed Liverpool for Canada in 1921, he then moved to The United States and settled in Texas where he met Bessie Cheek and married. This marriage produced three daughters, Evelyn Jeane, Margaret and Jo Anne.

He received naturalization in 1941 after moving to Louisiana. There is nothing to find so far about what happened to Bessie, but records show she died in 1975. It can be assumed a divorce must have taken place at some time because James married again in 1944 to ‘Fannie Howard Mills’

James joined the USAAC/USAF during WW2 and continued to serve through the Korean war leaving the service in 1953. His final address is given as in Oklahoma and he extended his family by having more children, a boy, Jerome Talmadge Short 1942-2009, a girl Jimmie Lawanda Short and another boy Freddie Gus Short 1948-1998.

James died 1^st March 1976 and is buried in The National Military Cemetery in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, USA. I have made a request to the American National Archives for James’s service records, we will see how I get on with that, as some people know I am particularly keen on ancestral military history.

I want to credit and thank Maria Merrell for this new insight into the family history. Maria is related to our Short family via Emma Strutt who was Martha Strutt’s sister.