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I have sent you an email now. Thanks 😊

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply.
In the end I did find Mary, she was actually born in Balbriggan in 1862... There is a baptism record for her (Maria Joanna on the Catholic record).

She had a younger sister Eleanor/Ella and brothers Michael, Philip and John.
Michael emigrated to America, Philip also went to America and died as a young man over there, Ella also went to America and had a family over there.
John Bissett (eldest brother) I found on a census in 1901 living in Castlereagh with his wife and children.

Mary Jane's parents were John Bissett (carpenter) and Catherine Byrne.
Both confirmed on the US marriage certificates of Mary's siblings and on baptism records.

I still don't know where the "Pauline" comes from in Mary's name or why she suddenly started to use it.
I also don't know a lot about her life after she returned from India to the UK in the early 1900s, nor have I been able to find a will for her.

I also don't know anything about her life from childhood to her first marriage...

Any information you have would be gratefully received.
Not just about Mary but any of her siblings or parents.
And especially her husbands. They are a big mystery/brick wall for me.

Thank you!

Thanks for the ideas!

I have searched for a Walter Stewart death between those years but didn't come up with much.  I will start again there though I think.
Interestingly.... on the family search website I did come across a Walter Stewart death in New York in 1867... and the record states that this Walter was born in England in 1842...

But I think I'll have another look at UK deaths.

I had wondered whether Henry was left with Catherine's parents as a child. Since Catherine's father was also called Walter and was a farrier... and Henry went on to be a farrier sergeant. .. was he raised by his grandfather Walter?
Henry gives his father's name as Walter Stewart on his marriage certificate (no occupation )... but I'm wondering whether his father's first name was Walter at all?

The location of Henry as a child is mysterious....

He joined the British army in either 1884 or 1885... and we think he joined up in England.

Would he need to be a British citizen to join the British army?

I found a London workhouse admission for a Henry Stewart in December 1872... he was listed as being born in 1867 and the parish of admission was St George - again a St George connection.  Catherine married her second husband in St George.
In the description it says his parents were caught begging.
He stayed in the workhouse for 3 days.
I'm not sure if this is my Henry or not.  I don't know much about the workhouses but Catherine definitely appears on the list for a workhouse in 1881.

Also, Catherine's two daughters with her second husband are also listed as boarders with a family in Essex in the 1881 census.  I don't know why Essex as both girls were born in central London.  And the people they are boarding with don't seem significant.

I can't find Catherine or her husband William Menelly on any 1881 UK census.

I will definitely try and have a look at the Lady Beckett link too.

Thank you for all your help with this.

Yes. I started that topic a while ago but never got any closer to finding Catherine's family.

I think what's throwing me off the New York clue. .. is that when her daughter Edith Jane Menelly emigrated to America, she gave her mother's birthplace as being either "England" or "Ireland " on all the US censuses that she was part of

So... if Catherine was American,  does that mean that her daughter didn't know that?

Thank you for that!
Born in New York... interesting. I'll look into that one. Are all American states marriage indexes online?

Thank you for transcribing the surname Richard too. I couldn't get that at first.

Strangely I can't find Catherine and William Menelly on any 1881 census.  Their two daughters are staying with another family on the night of the census.