Hello all,
I'm looking to the experts for help in finding a 3rd Great Aunt of mine.
Her name at birth was Isabell or Isabella Harrison, she was born December 1853 in Leeds and baptised in Potternewton in Leeds. The family are often recorded as being in Chapel Allerton, Leeds (which is walking distance away).
I have records of her on every census from 1861 to 1901 but I can't find her in 1911. As far as I am aware she spent her entire life in the Leeds area.
I believe that in January 1875 she married a Benjamin Newill in Leeds. According to what I have gleaned from census and baptism records between them they had at least 10 children.
- Walter Newill b 1875
- Hannah Newill b 1876
- Mary Elizabeth Newill b 1878
- Percy Newill b 1880 died 4 months later
- Ethel Newill b 1882
- Benjamin Newill b 1886
- William Newill b 1887
- Herbert Newill b 1889
- Mabel Newill b 1895
- Maud Newill b 1897
It seems that at some point before 1901 her Benjamin Newill dies, because on the 1901 census she is listed as a widow.
Now this is the bit were it diversifies off and it could be that I've made a mistake.
I think that on 16 May 1906 she marries again, to a Albert Elliott in Buslingthorpe, Leeds (again walking distance to Potternewton and Chapel Allerton). The age fits and father's name (William Harrison) all fit. The only difference is that they describe him as a builder, when he was at various times described as being a stone mason or stone delver, but I don't think those two things are that dissimilar.
The next time I found a record of her was in 1912, a burial record for Leeds Beckett cemetery where it says an Isabella Elliott wife of Albert was buried in November of that year. Apparently she died in the Union Infirmary.
Try as I might I can't find her on the 1911 census. I've tried under all her possible surnames, but with no luck.
My only clue was when I researched her second husband, Albert Elliott. On the 1911 census there is an Albert Elliott in prison in Armley. The age is about right.
I searched the papers and found mention of 2 Albert Elliotts involved in court cases in November/December 1910. One of these men was involved in a court case accused of assault against a step-daughter, but I can find no further details about what happened, whether it went to trial and what the outcome was. I have no way to prove that was or wasn't him. So that is possibly a factor, but it might be a totally different person and completely unrelated.
I've followed Isabella's children as far as I can. I've found about half of them on the 1911 census but Isabella is not with any of them. Her youngest daughter Maud appears to have ended up at a Barnados in Essex, of all places.
The only children I haven't followed to 1911 are Mabel Newill, Herbert Newill, Mary Elizabeth Newill and Hannah Newill, so it's possible that she is with them, but I'm having trouble determining where they ended up.
Thank you for reading.
