Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, in public records: BMD

I have been tracking Bram Stoker in the public record. I'm actually doing it for another project but the genealogy part is interesting in and of itself.

My links will probably not work unless you have yourself signed in to Ancestry, but if not, don't despair. I will tell you what I've found so far.

I'm not an Ancestry tout, though I should be. I use them a lot!

BRAM STOKER

His name was Abraham, but in the records I've seen, he's Bram in almost every place.

I am not looking at official biographies, and of course, there is much written about him, since he essentially created our version of what a vampire should be, Count Dracula himself. This is a look at a few of the easily-seen public records, some primary sources if you will.

There are some family trees online that other people have done. I'm glancing at them for hints but most things I am looking for are not in family trees.

The first thing to look at is BMD, or what some family historians refer to as "Hatched, Matched, Dispatched" – records of Birth, Marriage, and Death.

BIRTH: Family trees say November 8, 1847. This is supported by a ship's passenger list saying he was 55 years and 11 months old on October 20, 1903, and is consistent with his age as reported in the census of 1881, 1891, and 1901.

I don't have a birth registration record, and probably won't ever find one, because he was born in Ireland and Irish records are out of my reach.

MARRIAGE: Same, I gather from one or two family trees online that although Bram's wife, Florence Anne Lemon Balcombe, was from Falmouth, Cornwall, England, they were married in Ireland.

DEATH: April 20, 1912.

The information comes from the grant of probate. Link to England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Adminstrations), 1912, S-St, p. 28.

Stoker, Abraham otherwise Bram

of 26 St George's-square, Pimlico, Middlesex

died 20 April 1912.

Probate London 15 May to

Florence Ann Lemon Stoker, widow.

Effects 4723/5/11.

Resworn 5269/12/7.

I have also seen Florence's middle name spelled Anne with an e on the end.

Next: Bram Stoker and family in the 1881 English census