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A theory regarding Robert Palmer....

On some census entries he is listed as Robert Proud Palmer.

In the 1871 census (2 years before he was born) Hannah Maria Palmer and her family were living at 32 Great Whyte, Ramsey.

A few doors down, at number 40, lived an unmarried man who was apprentice to the head of the house, a bookmaker and Methodist preacher.

His name? Isaac Proud.

Do you think there's any chance that Isaac might be Robert's father, and Robert was given his surname as a middle name?

Hannah Maria Palmer is my great-great grandmother, so I may be able to help with this part of the family if you need anything else.

Just thinking,

in 1881 Kate's Mother was alive,      Harriet aged 47 .
in 1891 Kate's Father is classed as a widow, aged 60.

between 1881 and 1891 I can only find one Harriet Bontoft death 1889 Boston reg but aged only 45. 
just wondered if this was the correct lady ,

I have no reason to believe otherwise. She was christened in 1842 (on 4th Dec funnily enough) and was buried Feb 7th 1889. Her age in the burial book is given as 55, suggesting an 1834 birth. I don't have her death certificate but I don't think it can be anyone other than her.

As for the article you posted - I don't currently have Matthew Bontoft in my tree. He may have been a brother of Harriet sr's husband Thomas Bontoft, he appears to have been born in Quadring around 1803. Maybe one to look into at a later date....

Thanks anyway!   

Alex

It's not sadly. Her mother married a man called William Gear in 1894....however I'm fairly sure he's NOT the father of Harriet as he was in prison on Dartmoor for 5 years from 1887!

Having spent some more time researching this, I have a couple of theories:
1) Fanny is the daughter of the Abraham Cohen listed in both the 1861 and 1871 censuses as living in Liverpool. This could explain why on Abraham's death certificate (1874) the notifier is Maria Cohen - Fanny is listed as Maria Posner in the 1881 census, and Mary Posner in 1901, after her marriage to David. Maybe SHE notified of her father's death. The death was recorded in Cheetham, which is where Fanny was living at the time of her marriage in 1876. If this Abraham is the same one who died in 1874, the census entries for his occupation (glazier) do not tally with that recorded on his death certificate (tailor).

The one complication is the issue of Sarah, listed in the 1881 census as Fanny's 11 year old daughter born in Poland. This cannot be reconciled with the rest of this information/evidence. However, Abraham and his wife have an 8 year old daughter in the 1871 census. Is it possible this is the same girl, and that she is actually Fanny's sister? Alternatively, if Sarah was born out of wedlock, is it possible the birth would not be registered in this country, and the fact that she is listed as being born in Poland in the 1881 census a convenient way of covering this up?

2) My second theory is a bit more circumstantial, I'll admit. In the 1871 census I have found an entry for a Fanny Cohen lodging with the Samuels family in Whitechapel. She has a son called Marks who is given as 10 months old. The address she is lodging at is a few hundred yards away from New Castle Street, where a David Posner lives. My theory here is that they met here and then moved to Cheetham where they got married. However, the fact they were living in separate addresses would surely make this too much of a coincidence?

In addition, Fanny's son is a bit of an issue. Where does he go after 1871? My thought was that he was born out of wedlock - despite Fanny claiming to be married on the census, perhaps this was a convenient cover story, and being a lodger, nobody would need to know any different. Or is it beyond the realms of possibility that Sarah (11 in 1881) is the same child as Marks (10 months old in 1871)?

3) Fanny moved to the UK between 1871 and 1876, and nothing exists of her in this country before her marriage - this would be a bit of a blow to me, given the hours I have dedicated to uncovering this woman's past!   

Any thoughts ideas please friends?

In the hope that it might be spotted here as well as on the Lincs board...

How could it be that a Statutory Declaration was made to change a person's name whilst they were still alive, by people other than that person? I have a birth certificate where the forename is changed by 2 named people, one of whom is a distant relative at best, and the other of whom I am not sure where she fits into my tree!

Alex