This record was all a bit of a puzzle. Although I could find Samuel Joseph Tonkies in the census records, there was no listing for Samuel J Tonkies in the ancestry.co.uk military database, nor in the CWGC database. There was however a G J Tonkies on the CWGC database whose 'other information' showed that he was the son of Mary Jane Tonkies of Liverpool. This matched the census records I had found for Samuel. As he didn't have a brother with the initials G.J. I assumed that the record was in fact for him and had somehow been mis-transcribed as G.
I tried to confirm this with the merchant seaman records on the national archives online but the only record I could find was for John Edward Tonkies (a brother of S.J.)
I then got in touch with an ancestry member whose wife is a descendant of the Tonkies family and they confirmed that the G.J. Tonkies record was Samuel. They didn't know why his name was wrong or why it hadn't been corrected.
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Samuel Joseph Tonkies was born on 25th April 1895. He was bptised on 5th June 1895 in St Gabriel, Toxteth. The baptism record (below) shows that his parents were John Edward and Mary Jane Tonkies. They lived at 21 Guest Street, Toxteth and John Edward's occupation was Engine Driver.
source:ancestry.co.uk
The 1901 census return shows the Tonkies family lived at 24 Guest Street, John Edward (head of the household) was an engine driver (stationary) Samuel J was 5 years old and the 5th of 7 children.
source:ancestry.co.uk
In the 1911 census return the family were living at 10 Rhyl Street, Toxteth. The number of children seems to have been misunderstood as it says 7 born, 2 died and 5 living. However from census returns, birth and baptism records I can identify a total of 10 children, 2 of whom died.
Other details from the census return show that Samuel Joseph Tonkies was 16 and working as a plumber's labourer.
Just to confuse matters further, Ancestry.co.uk has for some reason got this census return listed twice with small differences in transcription (eg John Edward's place of birth is Salford in one, Liverpool in the other)
source:ancestry.co.uk
The CWGC record for Samuel is under the name G.J. Tonkies but I am sure it is the right man as it gives his mother's name as Mary Jane. There is not another Mary Jane Tonkies in the census returns or birth records, there is also no G.J. Tonkies.
click here to see the CWGC entry for G.J. Tonkies
Samuel was in the Mercantile Marine (Merchant Navy) but his death was eligible for CWGC status because he was killed as a direct result of enemy action.
The death at sea index (below) also has the name G.J. Tonkies. These sources show that Samuel was a fireman and trimmer on the SS Artist which was sunk by enemy on 27th Jan 1917. Samuel was 'supposed drowned.'
source: deaths at sea index findmypast.co.uk
CLICK HERE TO GO TO A POST ON THIS BLOG WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE SINKING OF THE SS ARTIST (opens in new window)
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