Missing daughter

[MarkD]

Hi Roy - yes, I can fill in both sides of the Martyn/Elliot family back to about the 1760s ..

Are you directly related to her ?

I stumbled across this by accident yesterday and have not used the site before ... how do we exchange email addresses ?

Mark.

[Galium]

Apologies for asking - since it isn't my family after all - but last night I was puzzling over whether Marie Louise Martyn's father was perhaps actually Francis Mountjoy's brother, Charles Cecil, who married Maria Georgiana Eliot in 1832, and baptised a daughter, Maria Louisa in Brighton in 1833 (and again in Marylebone in 1835)?

I wasn't at all sure, and I'd love to know.

[MarkD]

Yes - Maria Louisa Martyn bn 15 Oct 1833 ... for some reason she was baptised twice. 
Father was Charles Cecil Martyn bn 18 Feb 1803.  GF was Charles Fuller Martyn bn 1758 in Charleston Carolina.  Charles Fuller was Sherriff of Calcutta in 1790 - had a long standing affair with an Indian lady called Marie - so Charles Cecil and Francis Mountjoy were Anglo Indian.  Have you come across Francis Mountjoys involvement with a Miss Howard and Napolean III ?  The Martyn family line traces back to Nicholas Martiau bn France 1591 ... he's also the oldest known direct relative of George Washington.

Her mother was Maria Georgiana Elliot (the christian names echo back up the family tree for about 4 generations) bn 1811 London.  Maria Georgiana's Grandfather was John Coakley Lettsom (Google him).

I've got a lot more and am happy to send over any info I have if you want it.

Regards

Mark

[Galium]

Thanks for that, Mark (It's always nice to know when one is right!).

I came across the fascinating Miss Howard, and the lovely picture of her, last night while I was trying to sort out whose daughter Maria Louisa was.  The little rhyme about John Lettsom is one I've read before, but didn't have any idea about the person behind it.  What a wonderfully colourful family to have to research!  It would be a great WDYTYA subject.

[Roy G]

Hi Mark  Sending you a personal message to exchange addresses.  Watch out for it.  

For other interested eves-droppers, I am no relation, I am ironing out certain falsehoods within the life of Harriet Howard, one of Francis Mountjoy Martyn's mistresses (see Wikipedia) who went on to become the mistress of Napoleon III.  Until now, the references I had found told me one of Harriet's children, sired by Mountjoy Martin, was your Marie's half brother, but I now see there is a discrepancy somewhere, for your research has Marie as the daughter of Charles Cecil and and not his brother Francis Mountjoy.  You are correct, for SFHG baptism registry confirms her baptism as the daughter of Charles Martyn Esquire of Brunswick Terrace in 1833 

I was led astray by Marie being recorded as the daughter of Francis on page 54 of a PDF file on the following website: 
http://natalia.org.za/Files/27/Natalia%20v27%20article%20p42-68%20C.pdf 
It stated she was the daughter of Lt-Col Francis Mountjoy Martyn, 2nd Life Guards, who married in Windsor on 5 January 1857.   The FreeBMD entry clarified this, exchanging Windsor for Easthampsted, but it is now clear her father was Cecil and not his brother Francis Mountjoy Martyn.  Do you know if Charles was abroad or dead by 1857, and if in his absence, his daughter Maria had become the ward of her uncle Francis?

The reason she ran is clear for I have since found she was pregnant with Georgiana by then, but whilst the IGI has Georgiana's baptism, FreeBMD seems to have no supporting entry for Georgiana's birth registration.  Perhaps its best therefore to discuss this further between ourselves.   Roy G

[Roy G]

Just correcting my last paragraph.  It read
The reason she ran is clear for I have since found she was pregnant with Georgiana by then, but whilst the IGI has Georgiana's baptism, FreeBMD seems to have no supporting entry for Georgiana's birth registration.

Further research shows that the pregnancy did not coincide with Georgina's birth year.  It did however coincide with the birth of a Jeanne Martyn in Paris.  I know what happened to Jeanne after she returned to England and that she always claimed Francis Mountjoy Martyn to be her father, but I still need to verify who her mother was.   I am reasonably sure it was Maria Martyn born 1833 who was the daughter if F M Martyn's brother Charles.   If I am correct, that would have made their relationship uncle and niece.

Roy G