I have been tracing a relative from Liverpool who eventually married and died in Chester. She was born in Liverpool in 1858, Winefred Walsh to a Martin Walsh and Ann Neven. I have her birth certificate, she was born in the slum courts of Adisson St. in Vauxhall. I can find no sign of her in the 1861 census nor the 1871 census, no sign of her parents either.
Winifred next appears as marrying a Patrick McNally in Chester, 1878. I have her marriage certificate, her dad is Martin Walsh but deceased, a Patrick Walsh is witness...uncle.? She then appears in 1881 census, 1891 census with a growing family and then dies in the slum courts of Chester in 1896 of a brain hemorrhage, I have her death certificate. She loses two kids as well and after her death and burial as a pauper, the remaining three girls end up in the workhouse in Chester and then an orphanage. Patrick dumped them and married again, an unpleasant character we think! He appears in the newspaper of the time on numerous occasions fighting and drinking and berating crowds about Fenianism!
We know a lot about her and where she lived in Chester but the gap from her birth in 1858 to her marriage in 1878 is a mystery. She seems to have had a dreadful life after marriage and the census of 1861 and 1871 give us no clues to her early life. I know the painful history of the Vauxhall slums, I live in Liverpool, but is the 1861 census complete? I can only assume she ended up in a childrens home somehow as they sprung up about this time because of the Irish diaspora and cholera etc. Hard and difficult times in Liverpool, we are keen to find where she grew up.
Wondered if anyone has had similar experience and had any pointers or advice.
