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Sorry! I just saw this. Yes, I have searched the records that exist. My difficulty lies in the fact that I think I have incorrect information and I am not sure how to prove it. I could possibly prove it if someone knows what happened to John Bradley who was born in 1864 in Draperstown. Also, if anyone has documentation connecting to Ann Quigley to a John Bradley which would support the idea of him using an alias. If I could prove their deaths before 1894, it would strengthen my theory.

One of the big ways to prove it is if I am a DNA match with someone on the Quigley line who ties into my line earlier than Ann Quigley. I have already proven a connection to the Bradley line before this couple. If I could prove her line as well, it would make my theory much stronger since I'd have DNA matches to both people that do not come from their union.

Have you tried going through Civil Reg by Decade for Marriages, Births etc?  Births only start 1864.


You can Select Births or whatever and Decades from list on left.

Link http://www.rootschat.com/links/01omf/

Sorry! I had to take my son to work. Yes, it's in Surrey. They also lived in Essex, and I had them mixed up.

She was born to unmarried parents. Father's name was Eccles and mother was Collins, so she was registered as `female Eccles' and also as `female Collins'. Her death was registered as `female Collins'. The parents married 2 years later. She was raised in a foundling home, never knowing her family. Her family wasn't poor and all the other children stayed with the parents. There were 6 children altogether and the 1911 census says the mother had 6 children, with 5 still living and 1 dead (all 6 were alive).

We have the birth certificate and the death certificate. The birth certificate, issued in the 1940s lists her name (she must have been able to prove she was that baby). The death certificate shows the same death date as was her birthdate in Aug 1900. She was born 9 months, 11 days after her sister (she must have been premature).


I made another post about this individual a couple years ago, but we were trying to figure something else out. It was a HUGE help. Since I am really just trying to figure out how this mistake could have happened (what process was used), I didn't think it was related. Sorry if that's wrong!

Does anyone know of a reason why a baby would have been registered as deceased when she wasn't?

We have a birth in 1900 naming her as `female' and then a death naming her as `female'. She was born 9 months, 11 days after her sister. She was raised in a foundling home and the mother put on the 1911 census that she had a child who had died. The only child unaccounted for is the one in the foundling home. The father wasn't in the home in 1911 (two residences), but he's the one who signed the census.

Does anyone know why/how this would have happened? Maybe she was born prematurely, assumed she would die, taken away and when she survived, not returned to her parents???

The registration is in Croydon, Essex. Thank you!

I've seen her birth certificate now. She was registered without a name on Sept 28, 6 weeks after her birth. Either she was sickly and not expected to live or someone really didn't want her. She was registered by both parents. Since there was no name (given or surname) for the child, she was registered under both parents' surnames - Female Eccles and Female Collins.


Thank you for your help! I'd still like to find her in the 1901 census because it would give a clue as to what happened to her from the beginning. I'd also like to find Lizzie/Lisa Collins' origins.

We definitely need to find out who admitted her and when.

Would it make sense that she was taken from her mother at birth, if she wasn't expected to live, and then when she did live, they didn't know how to reach the parents? Then raised her as an orphan? That would explain why her mother said on the 1911 census that one of her children had died. Also, if she was born only 9 months and 10 days after her sister, she was probably early and sickly. May was very petite her entire life. The family lore about parentage must have been made up in her imagination as the workhouse wouldn't know that detail and she had no contact with her family. Maybe other kids planted it in her head.

Is that plausible?

We definitely need to get her admission records.

If I could find her in 1901 it would help figure this out.