My mysterious American aunt

[alhal]

Can anyone shed any light on my mysterious American aunt

She was born in 1887/88 in Ashcroft,USA.

In the 1891 census returns (RG12/3119/3/50a/33) she was shown as ELIZABETH A (3) living at 4 Back Rose St., Bolton (Holy Trinity Parish) along with my grandfather JAMES HALSTEAD (25), his wife MARY H HALSTEAD (25), another child ALBERT (1) and a boarder ALICE SMITH (27).

I can find no trace of her in the 1901 census, nor can I find her amongst the 1891/1901 deaths and she would surely have been to young to have married in time for the 1901 census.

All I can find out about Ashcroft, USA is that it was near Aspen in Colorado. It was incorporated in 1882 and was originally called Castle Forks and then Chloride. It was a silver mining boom town but had had its day by 1900 at which time there were only 2 redidents left. It is now on the tourist trail as a ghost town.

Any clues or advice. 

Regards,

alhal

[DS]

Hello there

I suspect that it is a mistake on the 1891 census and that Elizabeth is the daughter of Alice Smith, the boarder.

On the 1901 census Alice and Elizabeth Smith (born 1888 in United States) are boarders with a Vickers family at 51 Division Street in Bolton at RG13/3631 Folio 46 Page 26.

DS

[alhal]

Thanks DS for your post.

The 1881 census entries read:
James HALSTEAD         - Head     - M - 25 - Labourer        - Lancaster, Bolton
Mary H      Do               - Wife      - M - 25 -                       - Do             Little Lever
Albert       Do               -  Son       -    -   1 -                       - Do             Bolton
Alice SMITH                  - Boarder - M - 27 - Darby Tenter -                  Birkenhead
Elizabeth A HALSTEAD - Daur       -    -  3 -                       - America, Ashcroft (BS)

You're probably right, it looks like she's the boarder's daughter - especially with her being found on the 1901 census boarding with Alice SMITH in a different household.

My problem though is that in 1881 she is a HALSTEAD - and this is not just a slip of a pen by the enumerator. If she had been a SMITH at that time then the enumerator would surely either have written her surname as "Do" to match the name of her mother whose entry just precedes her own – or would have written SMITH.

So ..... was Elizabeth the daughter of an unmarried Alice HALSTEAD who then married in the intervening 3 years and became a SMITH?

Or was she the result of a liason between a HALSTEAD male and a married Alice SMITH?

Or between a HALSTEAD male and an Alice “Something else” who subsequently married a SMITH?

Or even some other scenario?

The thick plottens.