Susannah Fletcher born c 1838 in Horsley Woodhouse - where do I go from here?

[LizTJ]

Trying to find the above lady's parents, I can find her on the 1851 and 1861 census as Susannah Fletcher.  She has a father William and several siblings.  On the 1851 census (ref H.O.107/2144 Horsley Woodhouse) mum's name is illegible.  William is a widower on 1861 census. Can't find them on the 1841 census at all.
Looking on the GRO index for Susannah and subsequent children, the mother's maiden name is given as OLDKNOW  but try as I might I can't find a Fletcher/Oldknow marriage. Fletcher is a fairly common name and even if I search deaths in the Belper area only between 1853 (the date her last child was born) and 1861 without a christian name there are too many to be sure which is her.
I have Susanah's remaining history, she marries and moves to Chesterfield where she dies in 1914.  As I said, where do I go from here?

[rosie99]

I wonder if it is Selina
Deaths Jun 1855 
Fletcher    Selina   AGE 43     Belper    7b   264

On the 1851 it looks like Sleaer

[rosie99]

Online trees have her as Selina Brown, marriage in 1832 

From freereg
Derbyshire- Morley -   St Matthew
Marriage   8 Jul 1832
William FLETCHER
Bachelor
Groom parish   Horsley
Selina BROWN
Spinster
Bride parish   Morley

She gives her maiden name as Oldknow on childrens birth registrations, I wonder if she was illegitimate and then her mother married and they took on the surname Brown 

Just adding this in case it is found to be relevant
Priscilla Brown
Single
Marriage   31 May 1814
Duffield, Derbyshire
Spouse John Oldknow

It is possible that John was transported to Australia 

[LizTJ]

Thanks Rosie, I had already seen this marriage and discounted it on the grounds of the childrens names, but the scenario you offer is plausible, even more so when I tell you that the George Roper that she married was an illegitimate child himself and went through the rest of his life alternating between the names of Smith (his father's name) and Roper (his mother's maiden name) even though his mum and dad married whilst he was a baby.  This has made researching this family a nightmare, although the next generation tended to use Roper as an extra christian name rather than a surname.  Thanks again
Liz

[rosie99]

It would help if we could find Selina Brown / Oldknows baptism    Why do the awkward ones always vanish

She gives her maiden name as Oldknow on childrens birth registrations, I wonder if she was illegitimate and then her mother married and they took on the surname Brown 

Or as I posted it could be the other way round and they took on the Oldknow name

[LizTJ]

Before I knew the name Selina I had done an extensive search of Oldknows in the Horsley Woodhouse area and looked through the entire 1841 census for Horsley Woodhouse for William, Dorothy, Jemima and Susannah should all be on that somewhere as they were born there. At this point I won't rule out a visit to Derbyshire Archives later in the year, hopefully they will have some of the original registers there.  They don't appear to have been copied by Family Search, although I'm not really sure how you can check this.  I used to ring the local Mormon Church and ask if they had microfiches for wherever I wanted.  Perhaps that's the next step from here.
Liz

[rosie99]

Hopefully your local Mormon family history centre is still open, they have closed a few as they are now putting more online.

You should be able to check if they have the filmed what you are looking for
https://familysearch.org/catalog/search

I could not see them in 1841 either, I had hoped that maybe the Susanna that they were living next door to in 1851 would hold the clue but she was living with an Oliver in 1841.

[Annette7]

I think the scenario that's been offered is probably the right one.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like John and Priscilla regularly had children baptised!

A Hannah Oldknow born 25/7/1816 was not baptised until 11/7/1830 Smalley, Derbyshire, dau. of John and Priscilla.

A Rachel Oldknow was baptised 9/7/1837 Smalley (1851 census indicates she was born 1827).

1851 Census - Horsley Woodhouse

Priscilla Oldknow   61    born circa 1790 Denby, Derbyshire
Christopher Oldknow son   bc.1821 Horsley Woodhouse
Rachel Oldknow  dau.        bc.1827        ditto

Cannot find any of them in 1841.

Unless they were non-conformist (and due to the 2 late baptisms found I would suggest they were negligent rather than N/C's) I think finding baptisms of their children could be difficult.

So, if Selina Brown born prior to marriage (as seems likely) known children would be:

Selina bc.1812 (as Brown)
Hannah born 25/7/1816 (bp'd 1830)
Christopher bc.1821
Rachel bc.1827 (bp'd 1837)

I feel sure there were probably others that were not baptised at all (from available online records).

Annette

 

[LizTJ]

Yes, I think you are both right in your assumptions
Rosie - it looks like Church of LDS have copied Horsley Woodhouse (St Susanna) from 1879 - 1951 and 1904 - 1983. 
Can't find anything for Horsley (St Clements) even though Genuki claims records exist from 1558.  I shall contact Matlock after I return from holiday.
Annette - thanks for your input.  I agree that the scenario you give is the most likely. Strange that none of us can find them on the 1841 census.  Could they have been in the workhouse? or with relatives in another part of the county.  Will wait till an*****y have a free weekend and have a good look.  I will also ask at Matlock about workhouses in the area, I presume it would have been Belper.
Thanks again for your help
Liz