The Emily Lane Mystery

[Dugless]

Emily Lane was born in 1849 in Stroud, Glos, the daughter of William and Martha Lane who also had Harriett in 1853. Emily can be readily traced in the censuses from 1861 to 1891 where she is listed with her parents. In 1891, however, she is ‘living on her own means’. Where did those means come from? No, that’s not the problem!

Attempts to find her in 1901 and 1911 proved fruitless, at least on FMP. I then went on to follow her sister Harriett through the censuses and with no problems. The surprise came in 1911 when it shows Harriett living in Stroud with her sister Emily. Emily now has the surname Fawkes and is listed as a widow. Alas a search for Emily Fawkes in 1901 proved fruitless.

Try as I might, I have been unable to trace a Fawkes/Lane marriage. Could it have been before the 1891 census so that the death of Mr Fawkes resulted in Emily having her own means? Any thoughts, ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

[Christine in Herts]

I see that Emily has shed a few years for the benefit of the 1911 census, and appears to have been born about 1855, father than 1849! And her sister was unmarried at that time, and is given her correct age, thereby appearing to be the elder sister, though not the Head of the household.

It's one of those times that you wish she'd misunderstood, as many seem to have done, and had written in the years of marriage, and numbers of children, even though a widow.

Christine

[Elaine ..Spain]

1901 census
Emily Fawkes has been mistranscribed as Fawhes on Ancestry.
The household is:
Emily Fawhes age 46
Louis E Fawhes age 24 - stepson
Hedley Fawhes age 22 - stepson
Lois Webb age 17 - servant

RG13; Piece: 2438; Folio: 162; Page: 18.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Going back to the 1891 for the Fawkes family - again mistransribed on Ancestry with the household shown as


Silvanns Fankes 44
Ellen Fankes 54
Henry Verencter 27
Josephine E M Lankes 18
F W E Lankes 17
Louis Lankes 14
Hedley V Lankes 12
Emma Crumes 61

Ref: RG12; Piece: 2025; Folio: 69; Page: 11;


So if Silvanns and Emily did marry, it looks as if it was between 1891 and 1901

[Christine in Herts]

Emily is in the 1901. I found her on FMP.com - once I realised that she was flexible about her age!

She's in Stroud and aged 46 - as you'd expect for someone "born 1855"! She's with stepsons, Louis 24 and Hedley 22, both b Stroud and both grocers.

Christine

Beaten by Elaine..Spain, as I should have expected!

[Christine in Herts]

I suspect that that name is not "Silvanns" but "Silvanus"... especially as there's a Cheltenham marriage ref in 1872 which includes both Silvanus FAWKES and Ellen VERENDER... So Henry "VERENCTER" in 1891 is probably Henry "VERENDER".

[Christine in Herts]

Interestingly, there's a Kingston (2a-651) marriage, in Dec 1892, which includes both Silvanus FAWKES (2a-?51, where the appearance of the iffy digit is not incompatible with a 6) and EMILY LANE.

Christine

SEE EDIT OF FIRST NAME!

[Elaine ..Spain]

Yes, there does seem to be a few mistranscriptions here! There is a probate calendar entry on Ancestry for Silvanus Fawkes, showing a death date of 10 March 1900, probate date of 18 April 1900.

[Dugless]

That is distinctly odd. Searching by Elaine's reference, FMP comes up with the goods. So I tried a new search for Emily Fawkes and, unlike all previous attempts, it came up with the same result. Why didn't it before? The Fawkes/Lane marriage therefore appears to have been between 1891 and 1901 but there's no trace on either FMP or FreeBMD.

[Christine in Herts]

At the moment, FMP.com has the 1892q4 marriages for FAWKES transcribed as FAWESS!

I found the marriage only because I played around on FreeBMD.

Christine