Help. My head is stuck in Cement because of these Ancestors!!!!

[Suemagoo]

I am spinning my head around and around and almost ready to give up!!! Can anyone please give me a opinion on this strange family of my husbands.
Question:  If children were baptized  in the Church around 1890's in Blackburn, did the parents have to be married?
I have 3 children baptized in a church with parents named Emmanuel and Annie Pickering. These are the correct children. The 4th child(husband's Grandmother) I obtained a copy of the birth record from the Registrar's office and the mother (Annie Pickering) is given Barnes as the maiden name.

The 1901 Census shows the family together, however, the wife's name is listed as Mary Hannah Pickering. Have searched for a marriage record with various names, Mary, Hannah, Annie, but nothing, so I think they weren't married. Also could be a different woman??
In 1904-1906 they appear in the newspapers as neglecting their children over favour of drink and both parents spend time in jail. The mother is referred to as Annie Pickering.
In 1906 the children are taken from the parents and put in a workhouse (not confirmed but this is what the newspaper said). 2 boys stayed in England and the 2 girls were sent to Canada in 1911 as part of Bernardo homes.
In 1909, Emmanuel Pickering dies in the workhouse.
1911 Census has the 2 girls as boarders with another family. Albert and Elizabeth Dean.
1913 both girls are sent to Canada as part of the Bernardo Homes program and the boys stay in England.
Rebecca Pickering the youngest child of Emmanuel and Annie returns to England with her children in 1927 and lives in Oswaldtwistle with her brother Robert.  My husband's Grandmother is Rebecca.
This is now the strange part of my research. I found a death record for a Annie Pickering for 26 June, 1947,living in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. At the time she was living with her 2 sisters, Sarah Barnes a widow, and another Anne Pickering. Her sister has the married name of Barnes, and is a widow, but the 2 other girls are listed as single.
I query the 1901 Census and find this family of 3 girls living with their elderly father William Pickering and yet in1901 there is a record of the 4 children living with Emmanual and Mary Hannah Pickering. They also appear in 1911 Census as the 3 girls all single, but Sarah marries a Henry Barnes later that year.
I am so confused because the 1901 census lists all the children and year of births which is correct. Oswaldtwistle is where they returned in 1927 until after the war and Grandma Pickering lived there and was still alive when they returned to Canada in the late 1930's.

Can anyone advise there thoughts on my research. Maybe another source I could check. Could there have been more then one Annie Pickering born around 1865 living in Oswaldtwistle. On the 1901 Census where the name of Mary Hannah Pickering is given, it said she was from Royton, Lancashire, but couldn't find any records.

Any advice I will truly be grateful!!!! Need a aspirin, I have a headache!!!! Don't want to give up but so frustrating.
Thanks in advance.

[Marmalady]

Annie could be short for Hannah so I would say the Mary Hannah on the census is probably the Annie of the Baptism register.
And no, the parents did not have to be married to have their children baptised -- or could lie and pretend to be married when just living together.

There could well be more than one Annie Pickering of the same age in Oswaldtwistle.

Have you found your Annie on the 1939 register?

[JenB]

Agree with Marmalady - Annie could well be a diminutive of Hannah. It might be that Mary Hannah was her given name but that she was familiarly known as Annie.

Also suggested in reply #10 here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=787750.msg6431842#msg6431842

[heywood]

Has anyone found Emmanuel in 1891?

There is this couple in 1891 but it would be a few years to the birth of son George 

1891 3330/21
Castleton, Rochdale
James Pickering 34yrs Cotton Weaver b Blackburn
Annie Pickering 26 yrs Card Room Hand b Royton

I can’t see James in any other census 

In 1901 Emmanuel is a Fitter’s Labourer in a foundry but in 1881 he is a Cotton Weaver.

Heywood

[isobelw]

I think the three ladies in 1939 may be a red herring. They appear together in a number of census from 1881 onwards and it looks as if they are indeed sisters all born with surname Pickering ( children of William Pickering and Nancy (Nanny) Fielding). They were living in Oswaldtwistle by the time of the 1891 census.
Isobel

[Suemagoo]

Wow, thank you everyone for the advice and opinion!!! I don't want to judge, but Emmanuel and Annie Pickering were not the best parents. For sure the 1901 Census with the 4 children, where she goes by Mary Hannah Pickering , living at 85 Cleaver Street, is 100% my family I'm interested in.
The only Annie Pickering born around 1865 I found on the 1939 National Registry was the one entry with the 3 sisters living at 63 Lord Street, then the death record in 1947 for Annie Pickering, born around 1865 is the same address. I thought this would be my Annie, when I saw "Barnes" as her sister's married name, but this group of 3 sister's family name was Pickering, so maybe I have the wrong family and therefore the wrong death record for Annie Pickering.  Going back to the 1901 Census, Mary Hannah says she was from Royton, Lancashire. Search birth records but nothing for that  place.  Another certainty is that they were living in Oswaldtwistle in the 1930's because that is when my husband's Mother was still living in England and called this lady Grandma Pickering.

I will go back to searching Mary, Mary Hannah, Annie etc. in Oswaldtwistle for death records for the 1930's-1940's.

Thank you everyone for looking my information over. I really appreciated it!!!!

Back to the drawing board.!!!

[Maiden Stone]

Barnes is a very common name in those parts.
Biblical names such as Emmanuel were popular in Oswaldtwistle & area so not surprising there were a few men called Emmanuel Pickering.
Dates of birth on 1939 Register aren't all accurate. One of my uncles is a year out.

[heywood]

Did you consider the 1891 entry I posted?

It doesn’t help much but might be worth noting.

[Maiden Stone]

Could Mary Hannah's pob have been Rishton rather than Royton? Rishton is near Oswaldtwistle. Probably Great Harwood registration district. My aforesaid uncle was born there but his dad mangled the spelling on 1911 census. It was down as Bolton on 1901 census; possibly Granddad's handwriting again, or a census clerk saw Harwood on form and absentmindedly wrote Bolton. (There's a Harwood near Bolton.)