Five years later I received a most welcome letter from Margaret Doreen (Choice) Roake Lane, which reads in part:

I was given your name and address by a Miss Elisabeth Choice of London...she told me you were compiling a family history... I would be very interested to know if we do have any other relations or long lost cousins.

Elisabeth Choice, a professional actress in London, England. is included in the chapter for GEORGE CHOICE, FRAMEWORK KNITTER, OF HINCKLEY AND LEICESTER.

Margaret, bolstered with information from her older sister, Pauline Therese (Choice) Frizzle, told me enough to conclude that their father, John Hubert Choice, was brother to Albert Lionel Choice. We then entered into a fruitful correspondence.

Margaret's next letter contained a genealogist's treasure of family documents and photographs. She explained her windfall in that letter, dated 11 Apr 1984:

I have managed to get hold of some interesting information regarding my grandparents. I contacted the Solicitors who handled the estate of my cousin, Alexander John Bentley (Alec)...and asked if there were any papers or certificates in his personal effects, ... I have had copies run off for you.

You will see on the marriage certificate of John Choice and Sarah Anne Fowler, the name of my great grandfather was Samuel Choice, and he was a butcher by trade. Regarding Albert Lionel "Jim"... my sister and I both remembered...one of my nieces and Uncle Jim's grand daughter, Denise, corresponded years ago....

I am enclosing my own family history, also copies of birth, death, and marriage certificates, also photographs.

Margaret's enclosures greatly expand the genealogical content of this chapter. Her information also helped me to construct the family of Mary Elizabeth and Samuel Daniel Choice and their nine children, as presented here, with speculation.

This chapter has been renamed for JOHN CHOICE, INTERIOR DECORATOR, OF LONDON, because he is a common ancestor for both the English and the Australian Choices in this family. Although I am relatively sure that he is the son of Mary Elizabeth and Samuel Daniel, I cannot yet offer any proof.

SC refers to St. Catherine's House Indexes. V is volume number. P is page number. IGI refers to Mormon church records.

VAC is Violet (Bentley) Choice and MCL is Margaret (Choice) Lane.

MARY ELIZABETH AND SAMUEL DANIEL CHOICE, BUTCHER, OF LONDON

One could probably follow this family back several generations through information collected in the IGI. Each step would have to be proved with primary records.

For instance, there is an IGI record of a christening for Daniel Choice, 19 Apr 1791, at St. Anne's Church, Soho, West minster, along with several other children. They were the children of Isabella and Samuel Choice. The IGI also shows a marriage between a Daniel Choice and Mary Ann Hales in St. Pancras in 1812. Perhaps these two records refer to the father of Samuel Daniel Choice, earliest progenitor for this family.

Samuel Daniel Choice, married at Marylebone, London, England, in 1840 (SC V1,P195). His wife's name was Mary Elizabeth (IGI). I am speculating that he is the progenitor of this family. Mary Elizabeth and Samuel Daniel Choice had nine children, for whom we can account. Their names and dates of baptism at Old Church, St. Pancras, London, were supplied by the IGI. Births recorded in St. Catherine's House Indexes, are in parenthesis. If you should write for a copy of a record, be sure to specify that you want the "long form."

Children were: Mary Ann, M 1841 (V1,P252); Louisa Maria, 23 Jun 1844 (J 1844, V1,P314); Elizabeth, 22 Feb 1846 (M l846, V1b,P1);
Matilda, 27 Nov 1847 (birth not recorded at SC); Samuel Thomas 31 Mar 1850 (J 1850, V1, P311); Ann, 21 Jun 1851 (S 1851, V1, P327); William John, 29 Jan 1854 (M 1854, V1b, P15); Daniel, 10 Feb 1857 (M1857, V1b, P2); and John Choice (S 1860, V1b,P18).

There is a record of death for Samuel Thomas Choice (J 1850, V1, P233) at St. Pancras.

There is a record of marriage at St. Catherine's for Matilda Choice (J 1869, V1c, P89),but she is not listed in the IGI.

There is a record of marriage for Ann Choice at St. Pancras (J 1868, V1b,P7), but I cannot be sure that she was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth and Samuel Daniel Choice. She's not on the IGI.

Violet Alice (Bentley) Choice, widow of Albert Lionel "Jim" Choice, said her husband had an uncle named either William, or John, who emigrated to Australia. She said that he married and had a family. She thought he lived in Inverell, New South Wales, and that he lived into his nineties. She said her husband wrote to him one time but never received a response, so they did not attempt to contact him again. I believe that Jim's uncle is the William John Choice, born in 1854, and presented above.