My great aunt !!!

[Kathlyn Maudesley]

I never met this great aunt of mine, in fact I do not think any of the family met her. Granddad came from Liverpool but came to London about 1896 and never returned to the town of his birth.

All the info I have found to date has been very hard work. I eventually found great aunt Mary Ellen in the 1901 census living with her son John, her mother and stepfather.

Mary Ellen was born a Roberts, married a Peter Carney in 1892, and he died prior to 1901, then she married a Robert Croston in 1905.

I have both marriage certs for Mary Ellen but have been unable to find any other information about her. She was only 34 at the time of this 2nd marriage so i am sure she went on to have other children.

Any thoughts as to what I can try next please.

Kathlyn

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

Not easy......you could look for her death, but there's probably going to be more than one to choose from. I would think it would be very difficult to pick out any children before 1911 as there are so many Crostons and you presumably don't know where they were living. There don't seem to be any births for them after the mmn started being included in the birth indexes. You presumably can't look for baptisms of any children if you don't know where they lived either.

Erm....................*thinks*

[KiteRunner]

Have you tried looking to see if anybody has them in their tree on Genes Reunited (or ancestry etc), Kathlyn? Failing that, I suppose you might have to wait for the 1911 census.

[Kathlyn Maudesley]

Hi MMM,

You are so right. All I know is that they were living in the Liverpool/Bootle area at the time of the 1901 census.

Granddad never told anyone any details about his mother/father/sister, and in fact sinces doing research I have found a brother that no one knew existed.

I was searching for the wrong family name and could find nothing.......the one piece of information I did have was that great grandmother (and I did not even know her Christian name) married a 2nd time, but I did know the 2nd husbands name and occupation. I found the marriage info and sent for the certificate.....bingo....granddad had taken his mothers maiden name when he ran away from home because he did not get on with his step-father. The silly old so and so told no one this bit of info. He married with his mothers maiden name and we all now carry that name.

Granddad has given me a lot of headaches but I have gradually broken down the barriers. The fact that I go to sleep at night chanting......"They will not beat me...They will not beat me".....must say something.

Kathlyn

[Kathlyn Maudesley]

Hello Kite runner,

I did contact someone who had the Crostons in their tree and thought I had a hit. Sadly they could not give me any info even though they thought we had a match.

I will carry on rewardless.

Kathlyn

[Christine in Herts]

Lancashire Births Marriages & Deaths is gradually adding MMN - even for pre-1911 births. Unfortunately, yours don't seem to figure yet.

Christine