1
How to Use RootsChat (Please don't post requests here) / Re: Adding images to Posting & Profiles - Practice Post
« on: Saturday 18 March 17 21:36 GMT (UK) »
Attempt one
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Pages: [1]
2
One Name Studies: A to G / Re: Belshaws
« on: Thursday 09 March 17 01:04 GMT (UK) »
I am very intrigued by the story of my great-great grandmother, a widowed Irish immigrant, who on the eve of the American Civil War, was raising a 4 year old daughter alone and supporting herself as a milliner. Here are such facts as I have:
Mary Belshaw Wentz was born circa 1835, in Belfast, accoring to family lore. I can find nothing about her prior to the U.S. Federal 1860 Census which has this: Mary Belshaw Kelly, milliner, widowed, living in Wilmington, Delaware with her 4-year old daughter, Jane Robinson Kelly.
Jane Robinson Kelly's 1949 death certificate lists her parents as Mary Belshaw and William J Kelly. Jane was born in Philadelphia in 1856. I can find no marriage records for them or death records for him.
Mary continued to work as a milliner until her death in 1885. In the 1880 Census, she indicates that her mother was from Ireland and her father was from England. The marriage of Charles F Wentz to Mrs. Mary M. Kelly at 2nd Baptist Church, Wilmington, DE is recorded in 1866. Charles was a well-known railroad conductor who died in 1896. Together, Charles and Mary had 3 children: Ida, Charles, and Mary. Perhaps Jane Robinson Kelly, her first child, was named after Mary's mother.
I don't know if Mary married William in Ireland, or Philadelphia (birthplace of Jane.) I have seen ship lists with Mary Belshaws, but have no real proof of her immigration year. If someone has some Belfast Belshaw connections, I would love to hear from you.
Mary Belshaw Wentz was born circa 1835, in Belfast, accoring to family lore. I can find nothing about her prior to the U.S. Federal 1860 Census which has this: Mary Belshaw Kelly, milliner, widowed, living in Wilmington, Delaware with her 4-year old daughter, Jane Robinson Kelly.
Jane Robinson Kelly's 1949 death certificate lists her parents as Mary Belshaw and William J Kelly. Jane was born in Philadelphia in 1856. I can find no marriage records for them or death records for him.
Mary continued to work as a milliner until her death in 1885. In the 1880 Census, she indicates that her mother was from Ireland and her father was from England. The marriage of Charles F Wentz to Mrs. Mary M. Kelly at 2nd Baptist Church, Wilmington, DE is recorded in 1866. Charles was a well-known railroad conductor who died in 1896. Together, Charles and Mary had 3 children: Ida, Charles, and Mary. Perhaps Jane Robinson Kelly, her first child, was named after Mary's mother.
I don't know if Mary married William in Ireland, or Philadelphia (birthplace of Jane.) I have seen ship lists with Mary Belshaws, but have no real proof of her immigration year. If someone has some Belfast Belshaw connections, I would love to hear from you.
Pages: [1]