Author Topic: Elusive gt grandmother help needed  (Read 1318 times)

Offline Mars Barr

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Elusive gt grandmother help needed
« on: Sunday 03 August 08 17:38 BST (UK) »
Myg gandmother Mary Hannah Grant nee Copeland b.1850 in Derby, was last sighted in Perth  with her husband George Nelson Grant b.1841 Edinburgh, and their daughter Mabel (my g.mother)
on the 1881 census.
Normally they lived in Derby. However, in 1881 their son also George Nelson, was in an Industrial School, for which no records now exist, he had been sent there for stealing newspapers and was sentenced for 6 years.
I do`nt know why he was in Perth, but I believe there may have been relatives there.

Mary Hannah disappeared after this time, and it appears that she & George Nelson had seperated
he had a new "wife" by 1891 Annie Packer, they married in 1910, George stating he was now a widower.
I assumed that Mary Hannah may have died then, but to my surprise, I recently saw on someone`s family tree, the death of "my"  Mary Hannah given as Oct 1919

With great excitement I contacted the author, only to be informed that she knew nothing about Mary Hannah!
 I have since seen a message on Ancestry, stating that this person "lifts"names from other peoples trees, why she wants to do that I`ve no idea ! I cannot see the purpose in listing someone not connected to you. (But whose tree did she find the info on?)

The main problem in trying to trace Mary Hannah is in her surname, she obviously adopted a new one, her new partner`s perhaps? and without knowing what that is, I cannot find her.I`ve
 tried searching for her under the name of Copeland & Grant on the death indexes (for England) but with no success.
Its possible however, that she may have met a new partner in Scotland, but what was his name???

Can anyone help,do you know Mary Hannah and who her partner was?
or can you offer any advice on how to find her?

I have been searching for some years now without success, and I would be so grateful if anyone can offer a solution



Gartland (Canada)  Copeland (Derby & Leicester)  Barr (Greenock-Scotland)
Geoghan(Ireland)  Jarvis (Essex)

Offline fiona g

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Re: Elusive gt grandmother help needed
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 03 August 08 19:44 BST (UK) »
Hi Mars Barr

I checked SP just incase she stayed in Scotland either remarried or died here.

Nothing for Mary Hannah Copeland on marriage btn 1881-1932,  30 marriages for Mary Copeland btn 1881-1932,too many to check.

On the deaths nothing for Mary Hannah Copeland b1850+-2yrs,for Mary Copeland 3 results

1.Mary Copeland b1850 died 62yrs 1914 Fife
2.  "         "          b1852   "    80yrs 1932  Dumfries
3.  "         "          b1853   "    74yrs  1927 Dumbarton

it would be worth a try on SP for above deaths with Mary Copelands mothers maiden name.

Fiona

Offline Mars Barr

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Re: Elusive gt grandmother help needed
« Reply #2 on: Monday 04 August 08 10:29 BST (UK) »
Thank you Fiona for trying to find details about Mary Hannah Copeland.

As mentioned I have tried all the English death indexes in case she had returned to Derby, but nothing there either, for Copeland or Grant. Of course she must have changed her surname if she had another partner, which I suspect must have been the case.

I know all the children were at different addresses, especially after 1881, the children were all in Edinburgh, except for my grandmother, she had been with her maternal grandmother in Derby for a while, then after she died, her sister Effie had taken her to Edinburgh, then she arranged for her to be sent to Canada as an orphan
I have her records kindly arranged  by Barnardos, in which there are a few excerpts of letters sent to her from her father, one in which he remarks "no wife and no job, but never mind my dear we will manage, Effie has been so selfish"

Apparently my grandmother had confessed to the Home authorities, that she was not an orphan at all. Her father at the time of writing had been in Birmingham. It was also mentioned that he had discussed with her the family history (how I wish I had that letter !

There was never any mention that the mother had died, and by 1891 George Nelson had acquired a new "wife" whom he married in 1910 in Derby. I had assumed that Mary Hannah must have died around that year, because he stated he was now a widower on the marriage cert.
However, if its true that Mary Hannah died in 1919 (as had been mentioned in the family tree of Roads of Buckingham) then obviously the marriage was bigamous.
These events could have been the reason why my mother never told me anything about the family`s past, or that George Nelson & Mary Hannah had parted. Sadly my grandmother died in 1941 when I was only 10 years old, so I never had the chance to learn anything about her early life, she might have told me about her parents had she lived until I was an adult, but then she might not have I`ll never know anyway.

I have started to go through the family tree mentioned, in the hope that I can find some link as to why the author inserted the information about Mary Hannah, or if I can find any clue as to  where she "lifted" the information from
someone somewhere obviously has the information, if only I could find out who!

Sorry for blethering on, I`ll shut up now, and just say thanks again for taking an interest and trying to help, it is appreciated.
Gartland (Canada)  Copeland (Derby & Leicester)  Barr (Greenock-Scotland)
Geoghan(Ireland)  Jarvis (Essex)