Time wasted looking for someone's birth

[LorraineJ]

Ever since I started tracing my family tree, I decided to put in what I knew and go back looking for the finer details later. One relative giving me a bit of a problem was my mother's what we believe to be deceased sister. All my life I have known and had her referred to as Aunty Betty, I found out yesterday that she was actually registered by another name at birth. It was only through checking under BMD I found out her correct name, which married up with her age; it turns out my Mum knew her sister was called something else, but didn't think it helpful to tell me!!

This has got me thinking about my elusive great grandmother (Elizabeth Eleanor Mulligan), told by the censuses she was born in Caistor, but she doesn't show up on the birth register. What else could she have possibly been called?

[Anne in Carlisle]

Betty???

Anne

[Christine in Herts]

And "Eleanor" is a very variable name...

Ellen, Helen, Nell, Ellenor...

Christine

[WendyPusey]

What year was she born?

[Little Nell]

She might have been registered as just Female without any first names.

[Christine in Herts]

I seem to remember an earlier thread about this family... The birth may be early enough that they didn't get around to registering her?

Christine

[LorraineJ]

My GGM was born in 1867, but what is strange is that her parents have registered all of her brothers and sisters. A distant cousin thought that as Elizabeth seemed to have 'disappeared', she must have died young, he had rather a surprise when I emerged out of nowhere fairly recently and was able to fill gaps in family knowledge. An old aunt of his (she is in her 90s and still very much with us), very vaguely remembered Elizabeth in her teens.

[LorraineJ]

Betty???

Anne

Not being funny, Betty was the name she was known as, she was birth registered as something else. Just incase my Mum is wrong and she is still alive, I won't divulge what she was actually registered as.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Sorry, Lorraine but I was joking. I was suggesting that Elizabeth Eleanor might also have been called Betty - this is a standard short name for Elizabeth.

My apologies for being flippant - it just struck me as a funny coincidence.

On the other hand my late mother in law was always called Betty by everyone. Her real name was Harriet Alma

Anne

[Olde Crone Holden]

It does seem rather odd that there are no Mulligan children registered in Caistor after 1864.

Two things occur to me - she was born elsewhere - there is an Elizabeth Ellen Mulligan born in Salford in 1869. The other idea is that she was in fact a grandchild - was there a Mulligan daughter old enough to be her mother, who went away to have her baby somewhere else?

OC

[LorraineJ]

Sorry, Lorraine but I was joking. I was suggesting that Elizabeth Eleanor might also have been called Betty - this is a standard short name for Elizabeth.

My apologies for being flippant - it just struck me as a funny coincidence.

On the other hand my late mother in law was always called Betty by everyone. Her real name was Harriet Alma

Anne

Thats OK, can't always tell.

Think you could be onto something here, my Mum did say she had always known about Betty's correct name, hadn't told me but did say one of her names was Elizabeth and it wasn't, but this could explain it.

[LorraineJ]

It does seem rather odd that there are no Mulligan children registered in Caistor after 1864.

Two things occur to me - she was born elsewhere - there is an Elizabeth Ellen Mulligan born in Salford in 1869. The other idea is that she was in fact a grandchild - was there a Mulligan daughter old enough to be her mother, who went away to have her baby somewhere else?

OC

I had thought of that, Elizabeth only had one sister and she was three years her senior. There had to be some major family event that caused a lot of the family to move from Caistor to Hull. It may have been the case that the length of time they were hired for (as they were farm workers) lapsed and they went to Hull to get work. Anthony died in Hull and it very much looks as if Ann died while either visiting or went to live with her daughter Mary Anne in Newcastle. As a family they moved around, therefore it is possible that the Elizabeth you found is the right one, but I ask the question, what was Ann doing in Salford?

[Uncle John]

Are there any clues from how the family members described themselves in successive censuses? And perhaps you could revisit the censuses and see if she's hiding with the neighbours as a servant or visitor.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Caistor to Hull was a relatively simple journey - you just nipped on a boat.

I think we sometimes forget just how many vessels travelled up and down the east coast. My Norfolk lot living in coastal villages seemed to be for ever on the move - one child born in Yarmouth, next in Scarborough. Another lot were near Mundesley - 3 children in Norfolk, 3 in Hartlepool, rest born Norfolk, then a gradual migration of the whole family to Northumberland.

There was an agricultural depression in the later part of the nineteenth century and loads of ag labs had to look for other employment. As they lived in tied cottages, they lost their home as well as their job. Migration was better than starvation.

Jay

[LorraineJ]

Part of the answer came in the post this morning. The name Hart came down through the family and it turns out that it was Elizabeth Eleonor's mother's maiden name. I came across an Ann Hart entry born in Ireland in Lancashire, so if I can find that again and her marriage it should provide some proof (particularly if I get hold of the marriage certificate). Also, if I am right, that could explain the possibility of the Elizabeth Eleanor born in Salford being her, as Ann went back for a visit.

[LorraineJ]

I was right, I found the marriage in 1848.

Also on IGI I found the names of who are likely to be Ann's parents but I would like to get confirmation from Irish sources too, but still, its a start

[LorraineJ]

Have now ordered the Hart/Mulligan marriage certificate

[Christine in Herts]

You seem to be on a roll, Lorraine!
Congratulations!

Christine

[POSITIVE Pauline]

Don't you just love it when things just start comimg together :D

Good luck with the ongoing research.