Theresa Jane Sleaper

So far not much more has been found on our lone Nazareth House inmate.  1911 Census (via FindMyPast) does not list her as disabled, but she is in a Nazareth House.  This time in Hammersmith, London. 

Whilst it does not list her with any disability as on the 1939 Register, we are given her birth location of Woolwich.

I find it interesting the Nazareth Houses so far spell her name Teresa, no h. Yet her name as registered at birth spells it as Theresa.  Since it's on the birth record, that's how I've listed her in the Ancestry research tree: Sleaper Theresa Jane. 

To recap from the last post, the 1939 Register has Theresa residing at Nazareth House in Southend-on-Sea.

Birth registration from the General Register Office (GRO) states her mother's maiden name to be Kelly.  

Yay, another name.  I suppose I may need to spend the $ to gain a forename for Kelly and hopefully the father and his profession...  Before that though, I think a death registration might be in order here to bookend her life.  New search parameters through FindMyPast.com and we get:

Darn, smack dab in the middle of the no digital download records from the GRO.  So this be it for now.  Probably still at Nazareth House Southend-on-Sea.  But, now we know she lived until 1974.

Digital copy of the birth record gives us father, Frederick Sleaper, manual labourer; mother, Ellen Kelly Sleaper.  Birth location appears to be 94 Sandy Firth Road, Plumstead, Woolwich.

Now this raises a question or two... Frederick.  We have a Frederick Sleeper in our London Sleepers Tree who is a commercial traveler.  His death report in The Sunday People in 1893 states he has a widow, no children mentioned but that does not mean there were not any.  

Also of interest in 1882 his Britten Workhouse record states he is a Roman Catholic. Nazareth House Asylums were for those of RC faith at the time. 

To confirm we've got the same people, I need a marriage document between Ellen Kelly and Frederick Sleeper/Sleaper.  Roman Catholic...

Sleapers

Many of the various census entries I am looking at are written Sleaper rather than Sleeper.  This lead me to go back to FindMyPast and add this parameter to my search of the 1939 Register.  There are only four, so not a large impact.  

However, given that the first Sleeper I began investigating was Ada down in Faversham whose husband's line ended up in London for generations and all descendants need to be eliminated from a potential YDNA testing pool as they are ultimately Schliepers from Germany, I need to broaden my reach I fear.

Yes, I'm still working down the Schliepers to eliminate from the original pool...  Prolific, but since there are so few Sleepers in the 1939 Register, I wonder how many lines will have daughtered out or are actually connected to this line.  

To give myself a break, I think I'll take a peek at these Sleapers...  Immediately this list gets cut in half.  One, Susanna E is married to Walter, so she is not a Sleaper per se.  

Then Teresa Jane is duplicated - interestingly they are indexed differently, but the images are identical and identified as Southend-On Sea, County Borough, so that will be the location I use.  Next to find information on the institution she was as.  

According to the record, Theresa Jane Sleaper was born 20 April 1892 which means she was 47 when the Register was compiled. She is single, disabled, and residing at Nazareth House in Southend-on-Sea.

A quick search on Nazareth House in S-on-S and we find it has been demolished for new housing.  The Children's Homes website has an article on this site specifically which states it was mostly for boys.  However, looking at the 1939 register, there are pages of single disabled women and other working adults.  A bit confused, but perhaps more will come clear later.  I need to find parents for this lady...

Schlieper not Sleeper

Working back from Ada Mary Coumbe Sleeper's husband William Sleeper, we come to one Christopher Frederick HENRY Sleeper, born, according to the 1841 Census, in 'Foreign Parts'.  I was hesitant to ascribe Foreign Parts to truly foreign, but the census is quite clear in the choices provided for the enumerator as to the Birth Location field: 

His occupation being Pensioner is interesting as it infers having been employed in a profession that actually granted pensions... in the 1840s. Could be military...  Other possibilities? 

Since this was the earliest record I had for this Henry Sleeper (married to Lucy Blandford), It figured it might be the most accurate.  Not a given, but a good lead. 

Next were the baptisms for their first two children listed in the 1841 census, which occurred on the same day.  They clearly record the father's occupation as 'soldier'.

1 Oct1826, St Luke's Parish Church, Sydney Street, Chelsea, Middlesex: both Edward Thomas (13 Oct 9:1823) and William (13 Aug 23:1826) sons of Henry (and Lucy), Pensioner of Little Smith Street.

However, the eldest child appears to be Jane Sleeper, 20.  Her baptism record shows she is baptized Jane Rebbecca the same day, 21 February 1819, as her brother Frederick William.  Again, at the same parish church as the later siblings.  Again Henry and Lucy Sleeper of Little Smith Street as parents.  However, this time Henry's occupation is clearly identified as SOLDIER: 

Marriage document next.  Let's confirm Lucy's maiden name, as well as when...  Hopefully married prior to the birth of Frederick William and Jane Rebecca.  Unfortunately, no clues to their respective birth dates save prior to their baptism dates.

I found this obscure document, well barely a document, on Ancestry which may or may not be our Henry and Lucy.  Chelsea is a common denominator and the 1815 fits. However, while Hy is common abbreviation for Henry, his surname appears to first be Sohiper and then crossed out and rewritten as Schliper or Sohliper, which is how it is transcribed into Ancestry. 

Needing more..finding the parish record, again from St Luke's on Sydney Street, Chelsea, for the marriage, 27 February 1915, of Lucy Blandford we can see how Henry's surname is written and still leaves me unclear as to the actual spelling.  Definitely not Sleeper, but phonetics were the basis of all records during this time, except Henry signed for himself.  This is definitely NOT Sleeper.  It appears to be Schlieper.  In fact, they both signed.  Not an illiterate couple.

Says banns were posted.  I wonder if I can find those and glean more information?

Back to the surname question. 

A quick search on FindMyPast came up with only 7 Henry Schlieper entries using England as the location.  Five are for British Army Service Records, two for incoming passengers.  

Of the incoming passengers, the one in 1899 is for H. Schlieper, age 56, Merchant, who boarded at Rio (de Janeiro) and disembarked in Cherbourg, not Southampton. Birth year estimated to be 1843 - scratch.  The one in 1913 for H. Schlieper, waiter, age 19 citizen of Germany, last residence also Germany, intending England as permanent residence.  That would make his birth about 1894.  Not a candidate, either.

That leaves the army records:

• Hy Schlieper: Royal Hospital Chelsea records of King's German Legion, a rate of 1/3, no date for admission, Residence: 2 West London, dates of pension payments: 31 Mar, 30 Jun, 30 Sep, 31 Dec. Looks like a pencilled death date of 27 Dec (18)48 in (?) lot.  There is an additional notation in the transcript of Hanoverian.
• Hy Schlieper: Pension year 1815 and death as 1849. When evaluating the document itself: Date of admission: 2 February 1815, Residence London (2?); Died 27 January1848. 
• Henry Schlieper: Returns of Payment of Army and Other Pensions, I Legions, Aug 1847, London 1st East. Document Heading: II. Pensioners Transferred to the District. Rank S., from district (?)W London, date to which pensioner was paid previous to transference: Not paid in this Division transfer returned.  There is also a note: Cancelled, see other side. This note refers to the entry immediately below.
• Henry Schlieper: Document Heading: Monthly Return of changes which have take place among the Out-Pensioners of Chelsea Hospital in the 1st Eastern D London 1st to the 31st August, 1847, inclusive. I. Pensioners transferred from District.
• Henry Schlieper: Monthly Return of changes which have take place among the Out-Pensioners of Chelsea Hospital in the 2nd West District London 1st to the 31st August, 1847, inclusive. Pensioner transferred FROM district, Henry is crossed out with notation: Transfer cancelled.

Then the death record, which I am still searching for an official document, but the closest I could find was for Christian F. Sleeper, from Little Smith Street buried 2 Feb 1849 at Brompton. This from the St Luke's Parish register, Chelsea. 

I guess right now I just might be conflating this Henry Schlieper of Little Smith Street married to Lucy Blandford, with my Henry Sleeper of Little Smith Street married to Lucy (?)  Seems like an unlikely coincidence to have both sets of Henry and Lucy's living in the same place and time. I looked through all the 1841 census entries for Smith Street and Little Smith Street, St Luke's Parish, Chelsea.  No Schliepers.  The only other Sleeper family is Henry (20 yrs) and his wife Elizabeth and their children.  Further research confirms this second Henry is the son of Henry and Lucy. 

Add to this all the records I found for Henry give his address as St Luke's Parish, Little Smith Street, Chelsea, Middlesex, London, England.  Or some variation thereof.  Seems he moved in and stayed put. 

But what of this Christian F. Sleeper?  Is that also Henry? Seems so as the England and Wales Civil Registration Death Index for the 1st Quarter of 1849 list Christian Frederick Henry Sleeper, Chelsea.

I think this is a document I should get an image of from the General Register Office...

Oh, how sad.  Lots of clarification though, including that he was a German and a Sergeant in the King's German Legion, lived at 4 Little Smith Street, when found dead: 27 Jan 1849 and was reported to be 61 years of age.  

All in all, I don't know if this is a good find or not.  I will finish all his male descendants through to the 1939 Register for elimination purposes. 

Ada Coumbe's husband

That would be William Andrew Sleeper.  So using the 1939 Register, Ancestry searches, and FindMyPast, I have developed a tree identifying nine Sleepers as listed on the Register - and a still as yet unidentified redacted person who may or may not be a Sleeper. Whoop! Whoop!

The tree is public and searchable on Ancestry as Sleeper Ada Faversham Kent.  Here is a screenshot with the possibly still living persons redacted.  If you click on it, it will come up bigger.  Still a bit fuzzy, but you can read the other names.

Not a deep tree as I've only gone back to William's grandfather George, but I have gone through his son William Benjamin Sleeper to child that could just be a grandson.

There are the other two lines to follow as well, if I can sort them out.  One of what might be a sibling to William (a redacted name on the Register which I have yet to figure out), UPDATE! (19 Dec '25) this is definitely a sibling to William as confirmed by a grandson of William's sister.  Unfortunately, I do not yet know if the eighth child is male or female. 

 and another one who might be a child of his brother Frederick John Sleeper, as hinted at by the redaction tape over several lines of the children of the soldier section.  

The Pauline A Smith (later Sleeper) on the Register in Faversham with Ada, is Frederick's wife in the tree. 

1939 Register

 Or as it is officially titled: The National Registration Act 1939.  Being the only census-like data available after 1921 for England and Wales, this is the closest to today as we can get.  And even that is incomplete as anyone registered with a birth less than 100 years from the date you access it has been redacted.  Good news is as entries age out, they are un-redacted... is that a word?

What about a 1931 Census you say?  Fire ate it.  1941? There was a war... and neither of those would be released until a 100 years after their collection date in any case.  So here we are: 1939.

Redacted entries can sometimes give us a hint at other household members - if adults born in the late 1800's or early 1900's have redactions in the same household, they would have to be younger than the 100 year threshold.  Children? Probably... maybe siblings or other family members like cousins, etc. but I always start with the assumption that those black lines indicate a child.  A good place to start.

What it does NOT contain is any military personnel, even if living at home. Or any military personnel billeted with civilians.  I will need to search else for those possibilities.

Another thing to remember is this is done by household for the purposes of creating a register for food rationing and tracking the population through the war upheavals.  So it was updated as things changed. For example, name changes when someone married and sometimes the dates.  Clarifications on initials.  All sorts of information.

Here is a clip as a rather standard example.  It also contains the first Sleeper in my FindMyPast search results: Ada M. Sleeper.  Thank you FindMyPast!

What you do not see because I do not provide the entire page, is that every residence on this page is listed under Hut Homestall Farm, Faversham, Swale R.D., Kent, England.   All the Sleeper entries on this page also are located at the same address, though not in the same residence.  I cannot determine from other previous page due to the first entry being redacted, if this is the beginning of Hut Homestall Farm or a continuation.  Looking at the visible entries it's alot of people...  a plethora of married domestic servants and children.  But I am only concerned with Sleepers, and only those that might continue the male line down to today.  Who do we have?

Living at address 79: Eleven in total in the Coambe (later Gornall) household we find:

• #6 Ada M Sleeper, female, b. 11 Mar 1911, married, unpaid domestic duties.
• #7 William B Sleeper, male, b 18 May 1935, single, at school. 
• #8 a redacted individual - perhaps another Sleeper?

Then we move on to address 80: Smith household of five.  

• #3 Pauline A Smith, later Sleeper, female, b.21 Sep 1923, single (later married), junior clerk advertising office.

Being curious, I searched for Hut Homestall Farm, but no joy.  Faversham is easily enough found.  Then view the National Library of Scotland maps I was able to search for Homestall in such a way as to actually find it.  I flipped through several overlays but nothing for that location looked densely built enough to house so many different families. Maybe 'hut' is merely referring to the type of abode on the farm?  makes sense to me.

Scrolling down the transcript page on FindMyPast, I find the map viewer, which kindly lets you swap between different historic maps for the area identified in the record you're looking at. 

Homestall 1888-1913 map via FindMyPast

Homestall 1937-1961 map via FindMy Past

Now, one can see the multitude of outbuildings in the later map.  This must surely be where our Faversham Sleepers resided.

Looking at a modern map, this time from Google satellite view:

Not so many 'huts' or cottages now. What is there is obscured by hedging.  In any case, I've scratched that locational itch.

Where to start...

I intend to use this platform as a way of tracking progress in my quest of finding if not the direct lineage of Dudley, son of Dudley Sleeper, then a YDNA haplogroup connexion across the pond.  If other Sleepers find some usefulness on these pages, then I will deem that success.  If I find other YDNA testers along the way, even better!

So, YDNA testers.  Where to find?  Well, whilst FamilyTreeDNA has several Sleeper testers, despite direct invites, to date none have joined the Sleeper YDNA Surname project.  I have one hopeful that is high match with my son, but the other five are non-responsive.  Why test if you do not want to connect?  Ah well... people have different goals.  So moving on... 

If I want to find a YDNA test taker (or two) to give grounding to a British connexion, then I need to connect with modern Sleepers who are in or recently from Britain.  Possible sources for these elusive Sleepers would be to look for:

1) Internet search on the name Sleeper... this ended up with more sleeper sofas no matter what other search terms I added to the mix. I'm stopping here until I can get more specific.

2) Check the dreaded Facebook for Sleeper family groups, Sleeper History groups, etc...  So far this has not been useful.  

3) Sleeper trees on Ancestry, MyHeritage, etc.  

• Ancestry: 502 members with Sleeper a last name.  Scratch that for now.  However, there are only 29 with the research interest being Sleeper.  Tidy.
• My Heritage: 2, 555 members with Sleeper last name. 10+K trees.  I do not know if that's strictly Sleeper trees or trees that include a Sleeper somewhere in there...  Let's leave MH for another day...
• FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe will only show those with whom you have shared DNA.  No joy there.
• FamilySearch: 245 pages of Sleepers.  Again, another day.  If I add England, or U.K.? Again, 245 pages...  Quick several entries look redundant...  One more try.  Genealogies: Sleeper, England, 1950-55 birth. Bingo!  12 entries: Sleeper (2); Slipper (1); Sloper (2); Schleper (7) - some of these have Germany as locations.  Neither the Sleeper, Slipper, or even Sloper had anything to work with.  I will need to revisit.
• Geni: 2,667 Sleepers listed...  I do need to spend some time looking at the discussion board and how to use the site more effectively.
• WikiTree: Does not differentiate between users and names in system. Argh...  However, only five profiles appear if searching Sleeper with birth location England.  Richard and his daughter Sabina (circa 1500's, Goodleigh, Devon); Thomas of New Hampshire fame; Henry, 1881-1956, London; and Susanna (no father listed) 1805-1872, York.  Might do to look more closely at this collection later.  Oh, also says there are 11 Sleeper ''genealogists" which looks to be persons searching for Sleeper information?  No joy there...  HOWEVER, I did search for Dudley and got a hit.  So there is a researcher who has entered Dudley, without his father Dudley.  I will need to log in and add this bit...

4) Research the male descendants of those found in the 1939 Register for England and Wales. FindMyPast.com search for surname Sleeper, location England, record type Census, year 1939: 36.  This includes females. This does NOT include those redacted entries for persons possibly still living as birth indicates less than 100 years.  I will need to create a tree for each family with males to eliminate those through daughtering-out (no male children).

5) Check the Guild of One Name Studies.  Nope. No one working on Sleeper.  Couldn't be that lucky. Lol!  They do have some other results though:

I will need to look into these.  Price to join is rather steep for looking at a single probate record.  I may need to come back to that later, but not today.

The marriage records however might prove useful in the future:

6) Historical/genealogical societies.  Hmmm.  Start with the 1939 and look at locations then contact local historical societies?  I think I have a starting plan!  

And so it begins...

Well, here we are. The USA, or colloquially America, December 2025. Still no idea other than vague references to England, where the 'roots' of our Sleeper line originate.  

Let's back up.  Once upon a time in a land far north of here, I began researching my son's paternal Sleeper lineage.  It was intriguing to me, as while my husband was contemporary in age with me, his father was older than my grandfather.  His father, Harold 'Ray' Sleeper (1896-1972), fought in WWI earning the French Croix de Guerre. Yes, World War ONE.  The Great War. My grandfather was eight..  

Stars and Stripes, France, Friday, May 3, 1918 Vol 1 - No 13

After years of research, brick walls (Dudley 1809-1881, son of Dudley), 

and even YDNA testing, 

FamilyTreeDNA Sleeper YDNA Project

I am still at a loss as how our branch of Sleepers from New Hampshire and Vermont connect to all the documented Sleepers descending from Thomas (+/-1616-1696).  Let alone where they came from. 

My latest idea is to come at the issue from the other side, England.  All research roads seem to point directly to England.  Some say Devon.  Some say Liverpool.  Some say London.  Some say Bristol. Whatever. They are all in England... but where in England really did this line come from?  Thinking that if the American Sleepers emigrated from England, perhaps I could locate some clusters now living in England and work backwards?

A quick search via FindMyPast for the Sleeper surname in the 1939 Register.  Thirty-six entries.  That's three six.  No added zeros.  Wow. That's not households, that's everyone.  Head, spouse, children... 

Well, okay then.  Sleepers left town and country... or did they?  These Sleepers in 1939 are mostly located on the south and east side of England, Kent, London, Surry, Essex, Lincolnshire.  There's an odd Devon, and Lancashire (one each).  Perhaps if I look to connect (or not) these disparate families?  Perhaps if I start with the single entries and build back from there?

Et voila! A surname project...