I am encouraged by your response, Ray; thank you!
Yes, we have all the beginning info about Eliza Maria Eveleigh, b. 06 Jul 1854 in or near Manchester, the elder daughter of Samuel Birchall Eveleigh & wife Sarah Maria Fennell. She married George Walker, a wine merchant, who died in 1890 at the age of 42 as the result of influenza. It is the next 42 years following his death that become so difficult to track.
My 90 year old friend who is their granddaughter and I travelled to England in October and checked into what we could given the information we had at that time. The probate record was delayed in coming to us due to a backlog at the Records Office and until we received it and compared her signature on her will with that on the 1911 census we didn't even know if she was the right person as there was another with the same name who died a few years earlier. No mention is made at all of her children so it is only the signature which verifies she is the right person. A visit to the cemetery records office in West Norwood revealed that she is not buried there with her husband nor are any of the Eveleighs. Since her father seems to have died while visiting her we thought he might have been buried there too. We went on to Manchester and Prestwich to see if we could find where they were buried as that is where the Eveleighs had been living but again found nothing new at all. They were Quakers so must have been buried in a Quaker burying ground. A contact there is seeking permission to check into the Quaker records for us.
The irony is that we were in St. Alban's one afternoon, not knowing then that Eliza Maria really had lived in Wheathampstead. In the 1911 census she was living in Chiswick, Greater London. By 1916 she is listed on son William Fennell Walker's military attestation papers as living at 71 Hallam St., Portland Place, London. W. We have NO information about her between 1890 when she reported her husband's death and when she appears on the 1911 census, the one mention of her in 1916 and then her death in 1932. She seems to have been well-provided for by her mother, her husband's uncle by marriage and a few others so was able to live from her "own means". We have learned that by securing copies of their wills which make mention of what she had been left. There does not appear to be much of a relationship with any of her children.
I hope this info helps as it has been a long and very frustrating search!!
Jennifer
Hi
We are obviously keen and eager to help, so to save some duplication of effort, how about a summary of what you do know about her. You say you'd like info regarding the middle and later years implying you know something about her early life.
So...............
Date and place of birth?
ditto Mr W?
ditto children?
Marriage date/place?
Where was she in 1911?
What census refs for where you've found her
What census refs for where you've found her children/mother
What did Mr W do for a living?
Sounds like a good project to get into......
Cheers
Ray
