Hi cundy,
Have you found Mary Ann in the 1871 census?
I looked for her and her mother in the 1861, with your information.
Also looked for the two tailors I found in the directories, but without success - names and ages did not fit.
Found one John, with rightish age, but he was an apprentice nailor, not tailor.
So, finally looked at Mary Ann's mother again. Although she has the two names on the 1861 census, it looks as if she is Elizabeth Moffet, and the alternative name I think is purely given because the daughter's name is given as Mary A Johnston (please correct me if you think otherwise).
Anyway, I found her on the 1871 census, living with her brother William - I think they are both on her father's farm, but the farm has now passed into her brother's hands. On this census her status is given as unmarried. So, could this be the reason that we cannot find the marriage? Did she ever get married? Did she give the daughter the name of the child's father, even though she never married him? (I have a child born in my husband's tree whose mother recorded a father and her maiden name, address, etc - I cannot find any evidence of the marriage of the couple before the child's birth. The house where they lived at the time of the child's birth was 'uninhabited' sixth months later when the 1881 census was taken. And on that census the child was living in a different county with her mother's aunt, and the mother was working in the nearest large town - status unmarried. I can only conclude in
this case that she made it all up, so the children might avoid the stigma of illegitimacy).
John might well have been her father, and poor law records (eg. Maintenance Orders, etc) may indicate this.
However, we
still don't know what happened to John born in 1838 after 1851. Perhaps he
is the tailor in Marylebone.
I see that by 1871 there are two other children in the household with Elizabeth Moffat, besides Mary - William, born 1862, and Jane, born 1867. All the three children have the surname Johnston.
Bit of a mystery, to say the least, cundy.
Do you have Mary Ann's birth certificate, by any chance?
I'm just going to have a look at Elizabeth on the 1881.
Tell me your thoughts. * My own thoughts are only
possibilites, in the absence of finding anything concrete - and may be
completely wrong. You must think things through for yourself, cundy. See what you can find.
Paulene
P.S. In case you haven't found Elizabeth in 1871:
RG10 Piece 5214 Folio 67 P. 20 (Elizabeth
Moffat).
