Hi everyone,
I know I shouldn't just "assume" family relations without hard proof, but since the UK records are very incomplete (no information, no maiden names, missing registers, people not being registered etc) it is not always possible to find that much needed proof...
Could you please have a look at this, and tell me what you think?
My 4th great-grandmother Mary Ann Gibson was born (according to every single census about her) in 1804 in St James Westminster. This would mean she married a first time in 1819 to Edward Francis, at the age of 15. Though this does seem very young, they didn't have children until she was 20 so it *might* possibly be correct. When her husband died, she married a second time to James Henderson in 1831.
The first marriage was in Lambeth, the second in St Martin in the Fields.
I have found several Mary Ann Gibson's, but none of them fit the bill completely. The best matches are:
- b1798 @Bermondsey, d of William and Elizabeth: this would make sense regarding the place of her marriage to Edward and also of a better age than 15 (as is mentioned in the census)
- b1799 @St James Westminster, d of George and Margaret: age still acceptable for her marriage to Edward, correct parish according to the census, but she was baptised "Mary" and not "Mary Ann"...
- b1804 @St Martin in the Fields, d of Thomas and Sarah: same birth year as in the census, close enough to St James (maybe she was born in St James, but baptised in St Martin?)
Now, when I was looking for other possible Mary Anns, I noticed the following, a 4th option:
I already had a Gibson in my tree. Her second husband, James Henderson, had a younger brother: Thomas Henderson. He married a Margaret Anne Donaldson in 1834. This Margaret Ann was the daughter of William Donaldson and
Charlotte Elizabeth Gibson.
At her wedding, one of the witnesses was a certain Stuart Gibson. I found him quite easily and reconstructed his family. Two of his daughters were called
Charlotte Donaldson Gibson and
Mary Ann Francis Gibson. Their first names are the married names of two woman, for one of whom he was a witness at her marriage.
My assumption is that Charlotte and Mary Ann were actually Stuart's sisters.There are many more links between the families... To give you a few:
- another daughter of Stuart was called Eleanor Eliza; so was Mary Ann Francis' daughter
- the daughter Stuart named Charlotte Donaldson was his first born child after the other Charlotte, whom I suspect being his sister, had died
- Stuart Gibson married a second time in 1837; witness to the marriage? George Henderson, brother to the aforementioned James and Thomas, and - if I am correct about Mary Ann being his sister - his brother-in-law
- they all were tailors and dress makers, living within a one mile range of each other
- when Charlotte Gibson/Donaldson died, her widower William Donaldson remarried Christian Carlyle; witness to the marriage: Stuart Gibson
- I haven't found a link yet, but Eleanor Eliza Francis, daughter of Mary Ann Gibson, also married a Carlyle
So, is this enough "coincidence" to think Mary Ann Gibson/Francis/Henderson and Charlotte Elizabeth Gibson/Donaldson were Stuart Gibson's sisters, even if I can't find any baptism records?
Stuart was born in Scotland though, but his parents came to Westminster when he was quite young. There are two possibilities:
- Mary Ann and Charlotte were born in Scotland but couldn't remember because they were too young
- they (or one of them) were born after their parents moved to London
About the birth/baptism certificates missing: Stuart Gibson is also impossible to find, but we do have his parents' names since he moved to Australia and there the parents' names are mentioned on the death certificate. I did find the couple (David Gibson and Margaret Keith) and 2 other children, but not Stuart, Charlotte or Mary Ann.
Thank you for any insight you might offer!
Regards,
Tom