Jodi Nelson (JLNelson66 @t att.net) of Boring, Oregon, USA, said: I'm just beginning research on my great grandmother, Emily Sophia PHILLIPS. There are several stories in regards to Emily and her emigration to the U.S. She supposedly immigrated to Canada in 1914, ending up in the states in the state of Montana. She had one child and pregnant with another. She lists the children's father (on the second child's birth certificate in Montana in 1915) as Alfred HORNBUCKLE. Stories are: Alfred stayed in England to fight in the war and promised to meet up with his family and never showed, he got on the ship and was taken off by the military for some reason, he fell over board on the way over.

Emily was born in Ardeley June 4, 1890 to William and Minnie/Minna Sophia Waldock Phillips. (we have a copy of her baptismal certificate info.) I have questions I'd like to find the answers to; Was she really married to Alfred Hornbuckle? Was she running away? Did her parents send her away?

I'm stuck. I realize the ship passenger arrival lists for Canada are not indexed. So I don't think that would be a great place to start. I've done a little searching on the Internet and IGI, AF and other sites, coming up blank on Alfred Hornbuckle, or Hornbuckles in Ardeley. [snip] I'm willing to do the research, I just don't know where to look?

A number of points you raise in you full message suggest you would find it useful to read a guide to English Genealogy (for instance see GENUKI). You could also find it useful to contact your nearest nearest LDS Family History Centre (addresses on familysearch) as many of the indexes and mircofilms you will need can be seen there to order.

I can't find Emily's parents in a quick search of the 1881 census - for instance there are far too many William Phillips - but I found the following households in Wood End, Ardeley, who may be her grandparents and great grandparents.

Emily and her parents should be listed in Ardeley in the 1891 census. This is not indexed but is available on microfilm (to order) at your nearest LDS Family History Centre and I would put this down as your top research priority. It may will give you enough information to get her parents birth and marriage certificates. The 1901 census is not available until next year. Tracing her in England between 1901 and her emigration to Canada will be very difficult, as, for example, there are no records of female domestic servants. You don't say if she called herself Mrs Hornbuckle in Canada, and if so it is worth looking for her marriage certificate in England ( say 1907-1914). However she may not have married and your best bet is to try and get the birth certificate of her eldest child - assuming they were born in England.

Hornbuckle is an uncommon name and the 1881 census shows there were only 196 listed. None were in Hertfordshire, and 125 were on the "Midland East Counties" disc. There was one Alfred Hornbuckle, a 30 year old Goods Guard on the Midland Railway, who had been born at Tilton, Leicestershire, and was boarding at 37 Curzon Street, Leicester. He was a widower, and as given names sometimes run in families he may be a relative of your Alfred Hornbuckle. The name is so uncommon that a search for his birth certificate between say 1875 and 1895 is unlikely to turn up more than one Alfred Hornbuckle. It might also be worth seeing if he was in the Army in the First World War (records in the Public Records Office and elsewhere).

However you should be aware that if Emily came to Canada as Mrs Alfred Hornbuckle this could simply be it legitimise the children in a country where it would be difficult to check up, and it is even possible he did not exist. See What did your Ancestor call himself for an example of what can happen.