William-Tivey-Royal-Marine

William Tivey was born in Portsea, Portsmouth,Hampshire to parents William Tivey and Amy Annie Onion who married 1817 at St Mary's Church Portsea. He was baptized at St Thomas' Church, Portsmouth on 7th October 1831. The family moved to Derby after William Tivey Senior retired from active duty. He was a native of Melbourne, Derbyshire and after service resided in Derby where his sister Ann Tivey (Stenson) and brother George Tivey (group 5) were residing in the 1840's.

William was unmarried when he attested in Derby in 1854  noted as aged 19 1/2 though he was more than likeley a few years older in truth, the census in 1861 has him listed as 28 which is closer to his actual age. In the 1861 census he can be found on the ship "H M S Hydra". His naval record states that he was "D D" 27 December 1861 on the Hydra. The Term "D D" means Discharged Dead - I have been unable to find anything to establish how he "died". A newspaper report in the Newcastle Journal dated 27th  December states that the sloop HMS Hydra arrived in Nova Scotia a few days earlier.

The HMS Hydra was a 6 gun paddle sloop, mainly used for surveying  and the years that William spent on the ship were touring North America and the West Indies.  Although he was "Discharged Dead" William was actually alive and well in Bermuda, where he married Mary Jane McEwing.  Families connected with Mary's children from a previous marriage suggest that William was found washed up on the shore of St George in Bermuda, barely alive and Mary Jane nursed him back to health, they had married in 1867 and there is documented evidence of the marriage taking place.  A family rumour states that William and Mary Jane migrated to the USA in the late 1860's. Whilst on the journey the party was attacked by American Native Indians and they were taken hostage, William reportedly eventually killed by them and Mary Jane to have returned to her native Bermuda, where she married again for the third time, and died  in 1908. I have yet to find documented evidence of his death.

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