Hi. We have a family mystery and I would love to solve it! Maybe you can help?
Charlotte Stewart (my great, great grandmother), daughter of Mary Ann and Thomas Stewart of County Antrim, was born in 1859. Her sweetheart was Samuel Johnston Blackwood, also of Antrim, and they made their way to the USA -- separately, I believe, in the early 1880s. They were married, settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and started a family: one son, William Renwick Blackwood (my great grandfather b 1884), and 5 daughters: Elizabeth, Emily, Mary, Charlotte, and Annie.
My great grandfather wrote an autobiography, and said he recalls nothing but fighting. They were extremely poor. Annie Avis May Blackwood was born in May of 1897, and died in July of 1897. My great grandfather wrote that his mother was devastated, morose, and one day, shortly after they buried the baby, his mother, Charlotte left home, and no one heard from her again.
The thought was that she went back to Antrim, but no one knows for sure, and her name is common, so it's been hard to follow the clues. The autobiography said she was a silk weaver, in the working (but proud!) class in Ireland, and the Blackwoods were not terribly supportive of the relationship, as they were a higher class. My handwritten records say Charlotte hails from "Ballyminy," which I haven't been able to find on a map - though I have found several other towns with similar names.
There was even one theory that Charlotte ran off with her husband's younger brother, George, but given that she was only 2 months postpartum, and lost the baby, I find the affair unlikely. Not impossible, I suppose. But not likely.
Some other helpful information, is that Charlotte's father, Thomas Stewart, must have died before 1893; and likely much, much earlier. Mary Ann Stewart remarried John Milliken (I have no dates, but have found several likely John Millikens on FamilySearch). Charlotte named her own daughter after him: Charlotte Milliken Blackwood, born in Philadelphia in 1893.
I never knew my great-grandfather, William Renwick Blackwood, but I was deeply touched by his autobiography. He wasn't an educated man, and endured so much hardship, starting at such a young age, but he wrote so well, from the heart. I can only imagine what drove Charlotte to leave home (I'm hoping it was her choice), and I would love to solve this family mystery. Any direction or hints would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!