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Hello again Tanja,

Yes, I've trawled through them all a couple of times now - no joy (nor Grace  )

This family have a habit of popping up under 20 or so surname aliases - a most annoying habit 

I've even tried to find her by leaving the surname field blank - now that becomes a real labour of love - but I was unsuccessful 

I've been using Ancestry.co.uk and have been further hampered by mis-transcriptions.

Perhaps at some stage of the game I'll get off my computer and come down to lovely Cornwall - as if I needed an excuse!

Thanks for the advice anyway.

Regards,

alhal

Thanks DS for your post.

The 1881 census entries read:
James HALSTEAD         - Head     - M - 25 - Labourer        - Lancaster, Bolton
Mary H      Do               - Wife      - M - 25 -                       - Do             Little Lever
Albert       Do               -  Son       -    -   1 -                       - Do             Bolton
Alice SMITH                  - Boarder - M - 27 - Darby Tenter -                  Birkenhead
Elizabeth A HALSTEAD - Daur       -    -  3 -                       - America, Ashcroft (BS)

You're probably right, it looks like she's the boarder's daughter - especially with her being found on the 1901 census boarding with Alice SMITH in a different household.

My problem though is that in 1881 she is a HALSTEAD - and this is not just a slip of a pen by the enumerator. If she had been a SMITH at that time then the enumerator would surely either have written her surname as "Do" to match the name of her mother whose entry just precedes her own – or would have written SMITH.

So ..... was Elizabeth the daughter of an unmarried Alice HALSTEAD who then married in the intervening 3 years and became a SMITH?

Or was she the result of a liason between a HALSTEAD male and a married Alice SMITH?

Or between a HALSTEAD male and an Alice “Something else” who subsequently married a SMITH?

Or even some other scenario?

The thick plottens. 

Thanks Tati & Valda for those extra pieces of information.

Trying to get backwards to my antecedants is getting messier. I now seem to have an inordinate number of alternative spellings of the Landry surname -Landary; Lander; Landery; Landra; Landray; Landre; Landree; Landrew; Landrey; Landri; Lantry; Laudrey; Laundery; Laundrey; Laundrie; Laundry; Laundrye; Lawndrie; Lindrey or even Landor.

I think I'll spend some time on the Gandy branch for the time being.

Thanks to everyone for being most helpful

Alhal

Allright from the West (Wet?) Midlands ,

I'm new at this lark and am getting frustrated 

I'm researching my GreatGrandmother Caroline Jane LANDRY.

She married my GreatGrandfather James GANDY in Salford 1875 8d/150-Q1.

In 1901 she is shown as aged 46 b. Cornwall, N.K. (Not Known?) and living in Bolton RG13/3614/9/110.

In 1891 she is shown as aged 34 b. Cornwall, Truro and living in New Cross, Manchester RG12/3233/32/42/6098343 next-door-but-one to what would seem to be double relatives Joseph LANDRY (40) (b. Cornwall) and his family which includes his widowed mother Jane LANDRY (75) (b. Cornwall) and his wife (36) who was b. Mary Jane GANDY.

In 1881 she is shown (by Ancestry.co.uk) as aged 27 b. PESVAIL, Cornwall and living in Hapton, nr Burnley, Lancs RG11/4159/92/42/1341997.

So, firstly, can anyone throw any light on the PESVAIL bit? I can find no trace of it and presume it to have been wrongly transcribed. Could it perhaps be Pen.... something, which sounds more Cornish?

Then, secondly, how do I work out what year Caroline was born? Her age seems to fluctuate (which I know is a woman thing - but that doesn't help me). I am loathe to waste money ordering birth certs when the basic info has not been confirmed - I have been caught out that way before.

Regards,

Alhal

PS - Love Cornwall - shame it's such a long drive from the Midlands - can anyone do anything about that?