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A pretty kettle of fish.

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  • A pretty kettle of fish.

    Apologies for dragging you all into my nightmare world, but on the other hand, why should I suffer alone?

    It's the Fishes again. The family who drove the enumerator to shakespearean quotes.

    In 1861, one of their married daughters is living with them, but the enumerator has clearly marked her "STEP daughter".

    Lettice Fish baptised 8 May 1828, Pole Lane chapel, Darwen,Lancs, parents Thurston Briggs Fish and Ann Jepson. Married Eli Beckett in 1850..and we never see him again, either! One known child, Christopher James born 53 (earlier one born 1851, died).

    Thurston and Ann were married in 1818 and stayed married, so no way can Lettice be a stepdaughter to either of them, in the true meaning of the word.

    However, there is already a mystery about an earlier child, George, born c 1820, but never baptised, although the other twelve children of this marriage were.

    My contact has suggested that George was "taken in" by the family. He appears in 1841 as a son, then disappears. But a George JEPSON Fish appears, right age etc, in 1851. I cant find a George Jepson Fish in 1841, so cautiously assume he is one and the same.

    Can anyone suggest why Lettice might be described as a step daughter, or did the enumerator just have a funny five minutes (again!)

    OC

  • #2
    I can only thing the enumerator got confused and somehow thought she was a dau-in-law (I said he was confused!) and so wrote step-daughter!

    I looked for Eli Beckett in the papers, but the only notice is for his marriage:

    The Preston Guardian etc (Preston, England), Saturday, September 21, 1850

    On Thursday last at the Independent Meeting House, Belgrave Square, Darwen, by the Rev. G. B. Johnson, Mr Eli Beckett, printer, of Chorley, late of Darwen, to Miss Lettice Fish, of Over Darwen.


    Did they get extra money for a lot of commas?? lol

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    • #3
      Lettice Fish!!!!

      Poor child! I just hope she didn't have a lisp.
      ~ with love from Little Nell~
      Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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      • #4
        I'm not going to be any help to you at all, but just had to say - love the name Lettice Fish..

        Jxx

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        • #5
          Jules

          Lettice Fish? You think that's odd?

          This is the family that has not one, but SEVEN men called Fish Fish. Along with Holden Fish, Shepherd Fish, Squire Fish, Doctor Fish and Fish Holden Fish.

          Merry

          Oooh, thankyou for that, I didn't have a definite date for the marriage. Hmm, that makes the death of a Lettice Beckett that I found in Preston, more likely than I thought it was!

          OC

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          • #6
            OC, 'Step daughter' can be an archaic term for 'daughter in law' - dunno if that muddies the fishy waters still further?

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            • #7
              Penelope

              Always thought it was the other way around - Daughter in law could also mean step-daughter!

              This family is a complete and utter pain. There are several Lettice Fishes AND several Lettice Becketts, married and unmarried. "Lettice Beckett" is staying with her sister (who married her own dead sister's husband) in 1871, but described as a visitor! That's twice she's been denied.

              OC

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              • #8
                OC
                Do you know anything about Eli ?
                Age, Occupation etc ?
                I found something but I don't know if he is your Eli
                L

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                • #9
                  L

                  I don't know a single thing about him! They are never together (Lettice died in 1878 I THINK).

                  I'll be interested though, in anything!

                  OC

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                  • #10
                    OC

                    What I found as follows
                    Burial Record for High St Independant Chapel Lancaster
                    RG4/Piece 967/ Folio 20
                    Eli Beckett Date of burial Dec 1853
                    Aged 27 a Grocer of Lancaster

                    What made me think of this was the annoucment in the Preston paper what Merry found

                    L

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                    • #11
                      L

                      Thankyou! I wonder if a printer would turn into a grocer? I'll check that one out and see where it takes me.

                      OC

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                      • #12
                        Hello OC
                        I presume you have checked in the LDS site
                        Neil
                        Neil passed away in April 2019

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                        • #13
                          You said Eli and Lettice were never together, but I think they were in 1851 - I'm sure I saw them yesterday - He was a printer (matching the marriage notice) and his first name was transcribed as Elis rather than Eli. Sorry, I can't get in to Ancestry to look up the numbers at the mo.

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                          • #14
                            Merry

                            is this the one you were thinking of

                            H0107/2261/124/52

                            L

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                            • #15
                              Aaargh! That'll teach me to put my census finds in order! I've got 51 first, followed by 41 and didn't look at the year.

                              Thank you both. I will assume that "married" on the 1861 is yet another slip of the pen, unless Eli the grocer isn't her husband. If you see what I mean.

                              OC

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                              • #16
                                Gottem! They were second cousins - I already had him in my tree but didn't know who he married or what happened to him, but had a son for him, who is with my Lettice in 61.

                                Still doesn't explain the stepdaughter remark though. Enumerators ought to keep their thoughts to themselves I reckon.

                                OC

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                                • #17
                                  The Eli Beckett death which Leclerc found is not my Eli.

                                  I found Eli the grocer in lodgings in 1851 - and my Eli was with his wife, being a printer!

                                  I have abandoned Lettice to her fate and moved on to her next sibling, who true to form, is being exceedingly awkward to find.

                                  I followed him up and down the census (tipped off by a contact) and was a bit puzzled that his children's ages were all out by ten years.

                                  No they weren't. It was a parallel family, no relation to this one!

                                  OC

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