Thanks Lin and Val - let's hope the registrar asked the right question then. The informant would have answered appropriately if asked, but wouldn't have volunteered any additional unrequested information.
I'm hoping, after 30 years of trying, to discover the name of a great-great grandfather.
Jay
JanetinYorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree
If she was, or had been,a married woman then it should say "Wife of .... " or " Widow of ...." in the occupation column - so long as the informant knew the correct details (as noted above).
Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR
Thank you Antony. I'm anticipating the informant would have been her son - if not, then that could be equally enlightening!
No Val, I didn't post about her on here. In the 1871 census return, she was at the home of her son in Folly Road, Blyth, recorded as Catherine McDonough, mother, widowed and 60 yrs old. I have never found her before or after 1871 and the "nearest" death reg I could find in that area was 1880, Kate McDonna, 60 yrs old, still!!
Today on familysearch.org I browsed through ALL the online images for an RC church (they are not yet all transcribed)and found an entry in the burial register - December 1880 Kate McDonna aged 60 of Folly, Blyth - the priest has added "(sic) after the Donna part of the surname and written above this "Donough", and in his annotation under the entry he has recorded "Donna or Donough." God Bless Father Pearson
As this find seemed to link together the info from the 1871 census return and the GRO 1880 death registration, I sent off for the death cert and had a glass of wine to toast the LDS website, Father Pearson and of course my dear old gt gt grandmother Kate.:D
As yet, I've never found a will for any member of this family, but will now do a check - thank you for reminding me, Val.
Jay
JanetinYorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree
Yes , Yes, YES! The cert arrived this morning. The witness was my great-grandfather and she is correctly recorded as widow of John.
I can't tell you how excited I am - a brickwall of 30 years standing has just been demolished.
Once again I can't emphasise enough how important it is to keep an eye out for new online resources and to investigate them. So, this afternoon I will be cancelling my planned activities and searching for information about my great-great grandfather John.
Jay
JanetinYorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree
I broke through a brick wall with my gt grandmother last week, thanks to some new records ....... only to hit a block with her father who appears to have died before 1841. I can't find his marriage or the baptisms for the 2 daughters before then, but am suspecting might be non-conforming.
The intriguing thing is that the 2 sisters were baptised in 1863, under their maiden names, along with the illegitimate child (b.1849) of the sister. My gt grandmother had been married since 1850, but was baptised same day as 4 of her younger children
I'm not quite ready to post a question on here ........ yet!!
My grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)
Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.
The baptisms may have been something to do with establishing rights to future parish relief, if needed, for the mother and child. (A way of showing "belonging to.")
I have a similar scenario with one of my Norfolk gt-gt-grandmothers. She and her twin sister were baptised as babies, before the family moved on to another parish. Eventually G-G-G had an illegitimate child whilst she was living in the same parish as her married twin and both mother and child were then baptised in that village, which I always found a bit odd.
Then a couple of years ago, whilst doing some local history, I came across another "interesting" incident. A family had moved into the village and then the father was arrested for stealing a horse, was tried and sentenced to transportation. Whilst all this was going on, the youngest two girls (aged about 5 & 7 yrs) were suddenly bp in the village church - but not the older half-siblings, nor the mother, who may have originated in the village. It struck me as odd, because although census & PR show that there was much coming and going in the village, it was not usual for incomers to suddenly be baptised after arrival. (It was the same incumbent for 40 years, and so it wasn't at the whim of some new evangelical clergyman.) As it was done at the same time as the father was being tried (and probably under the threat of transportation) I wondered if it was to do with settlement rights. (As an aside, father was transported, mother brought up her children and eventually settled in a local town, where she ran a lodging house.)
Would be interested to hear of the theories of others.
Jay
Jay
JanetinYorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree
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