I have a puzzle as follows:
Elizabeth Hannah Hargreaves, born ca 1869 in Stacksteads, Bacup, Lancashire had six children:
1. Clara Page Hargreaves, 1888
2. Sarah Page Hargreaves, 1889
3. Joseph Page Hargreaves, 1891
In 1891, they were all residing with Joseph Page, single, in Nelson (Burnley) - Joseph and Elizabeth listed as the parents of the three children.
In 1901, Elizabeth was enumerated as a housekeeper in the household of Walter Johnson, still in Nelson, now with three more children:
4. Fred Hargreaves, 1893
5. Edith Hargreaves, 1897
6. Walter Hargreaves, 1899
In 1911, Walter Johnson, head, married, is living in Nelson with Fred, Edith, and Walter. No Elizabeth - instead a servant by the name of Alice Dawson. The children are all now bearing the surname Johnson.
I did obtain a marriage certificate for Walter Johnson and Elizabeth Hannah Hargreaves, dated 1903, register office Burnley.
Here is where it gets really weird.
According to the marriage certificate, Elizabeth is a widow, and her father's name is Roger Platt.
So, did Elizabeth get married and widowed sometime between 1901 and 1903?
Was her maiden name Platt and did she marry someone named Hargreaves - giving that name to all her children?
Or was it the custom for a previously married woman to put the name of her deceased husband in the spot for her father's name? (I found a marriage for an Elizabeth Hargreaves and a John Thomas Platt in 1903, but this seems to be just a coincidence - Hargreaves is very well represented in the area).
Because her name is common, I have not confirmed her birth and parents. The only reason I have as much information as I do is because, bless her, she named her children in a way to make it easier to trace them.
This is my husband's great-grandmother and I would really like to find her before and after the census records.
Thanks for any ideas that might help.
Kathleen
in