John TAPLIN and Caroline HOLTON

[Greaves]

John TAPLIN (1826-1873) and Caroline HOLTON (1827-1873) are my Great Great Grandparents. John was born in Hampshire, but Caroline was born in Tingewick in Buckinghamshire. They married in October 1848 in Tingewick. Tragically they both died, together with two of their daughters, in January 1873, when the Northfleet sank in the English Channel following a collision.

I know for certain that they had five daughters: Emma (b 1849), Mary Ann (b1854), Sarah (b 1860), Caroline (b 1862) and Maria (b 1862). However, the 1851 census shows the family living in Railroad Cottages, Whatlington, Chichester, Sussex. There would appear to be two other daughters: Jemina (b c1840) and Mary (b c1845) in Tingewick, Buckinghamshire. If these dates are to be trusted, they were both born before John and Caroline's marriage in 1848 and Caroline would have been only 13 when Jemina was born. I'm wondering if they could be other relatives rather than daughters.

I'm wondering if someone with access to the Tingewick parish records could help me discover the truth and clarify the relationships. Caroline's parents were James Holton and Maria Bale/Bales/Beal/Beale.

Many thanks

[avm228]

Hi

Both Jemima's and Mary's ages are heavily crossed through on the original 1851 census summary form so I wouldn't rely on the transcription of their ages. Jemima's birthplace seems to be Letchworth* Herts rather than Tingewick Bucks.

*Added: or maybe there was a Datchworth (not Letchworth) connection? See

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J9QB-3P8

[avm228]

Perhaps the enumerator had a bad day and "Jemima", transcribed as 11 in 1851, is really Emma, 1? (Bear in mind that the enumerator has had to interpret and transcribe the household schedule which doesn't survive and may have been very unclear).

And maybe in turn Emma's 1849 Datchworth baptism has been mistranscribed as "Anna"?

[avm228]

Here's Mary's baptism in 1850:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NKBW-FPP

(Her age in 1851 may be a smudged "0").

[allibaker]

the cencus return on the 1851 cencus that is showing on thegeneologist.co.uk has their ages as 1yr for both girls 
says jemima born handsworth herefordshire and mary born kingwich buckinghamshire
but i agree the original is not very clear at all

[Greaves]

I have now resolved the problem with John and Caroline's daughters. There were six: Emma (1849-1920), Mary (1850-1853), Mary Ann (1854-1931), Sarah (1860-1873), Maria (1862-1879) and Caroline (1862-1873). The Jemina on the census was indeed Emma.

My two outstanding problems now relate to the marriages of Emma and Mary Ann. I know that Emma married Joseph DAY and that Mary Ann married George Thomas DANIELS, but can find no marriage certificates. Reports of the Northfleet disaster of Jan 1873, in which John, Caroline, Sarah and Caroline died, state that Emma and Mary Ann were living in Holloway and describe them as married. So evidently they were married by Jan 1873. Moreover, George Thomas Daniels' first wife, Catherine, only died in Jan 1872. So the marriage of George and Mary Ann must have been between Jan 1872 and Jan 1873.

Any suggestions on how track these elusive marriages down? I am assuming that they did formally marry, but have no proof. They certainly took the names of their "husbands".

P.S. I should add that according to the 1871 census, both Emma and Mary Ann were unmarried and living at home with their parents, John and Caroline.

[avm228]

I can see a Geo Thos Daniels, 32, fishmonger in Hornsey in 1881 whose wife Mary Ann is said to be 25 b Staffordshire.  Am I looking at the right people?

[Greaves]

Yes that is the right family.

Mary Ann eventually died in 1931 having spent most of her adult life in North London, especially Tottenham, Edmonton and Wood Green.

[thetowers]

Did she continue claiming to have been born in Staffordshire ?