Hi Daisy,
Thanks for your post!
Yes, indeed, my grandmother Minnie Margaret Harding nee Allsop's parents were James Allsop and Elizabeth Harding.
They were married on 19 October 1856 in Croydon, Surrey.
Minnie Margaret was born in Wimbledon, Surrey, in 1867 and married Arthur Harding (b. Ballincollig Ireland in 1866) in Dartford, Kent, on 7 March 1896. My mother, Margaret Elizabeth Harding, was born in Wilmington, Dartford, on 21 April 1897. She married my father, Joseph William Adams, on 6 November 1920, in Hendon, Middlesex. (I was born in Hendon in 1942). My mother had one sister, Edith, but I haven't established her birth year yet (it was after 1901). I also have an unconfirmed report that Minnie and Arthur adopted a boy named Ronald Coleman, but whether this was an 'official' adoption or whether they just fostered him for a while, I don't know. Although I remember my Aunt Edith well, I do not have any recollection of a 'Robert Coleman' in the family.
As far as I can determine, Minnie's mother, Elizabeth Harding, died in 1868 and I think that James Allsop later marrried his housekeeper, Sarah Brand, in Wandsworth in 1876. James was born in Waltham Abbey, Essex, in 1832 and I think his father's name was Daniel, also born in Waltham Abbey about 1795/6. Daniel's wife's name was Ann, b. about 1807 in Cheshunt, Herefordshire, but I haven't been able to get back further than that.
I have been trying to trace Elizabeth Harding's ancestors, as I think they must have also come from Ireland and that is where the family connection must lie for Arthur and Minnie to have been first cousins. Unfortunately, the limited amount of information available from Irish records (especially from the other side of the world!) makes this a very difficult task.
Regards
Mike
