William, 7, is living with his parents "Micle Dalle" (sic!) and Mary, and sister Ellen,4, , in Moulsham, Chelmsford, in the 1861 census. "Micle" is described as "Hawker" and is shown as "Mirle" in one of the sites I use to search the census records. No wonder it took ages to track the family down, especially as they were in a lodging house, and so Micle is shown as "lodger" with Mary as "wife", and hence all searches for "head" or "husband" were in vain - I learned a valuable lesson through that to not make assumptions when searching...
William, with sister Ellen and Mother Mary Ann ("Hawker's wife) is living in Gt Baddow near Chelmsford in the 1871 census aged 17, "born Woolwich"; Ellen is "born Bishops Stortford" aged 14 matching a freebmd entry - I am waiting for this certificate to arrive to see if it is the right Ellen. Michael is not with them and Mary Ann is described as "Married" and not as "Widow". I have yet to trace Michael from then until 1901, and Mary from 1871 on.
I have the marriage certificates for William John Daley's two marriages in 1873 and later (to two sisters after the first died; they went to Islington for this almost clandestine second marriage as it is against CoE teaching to marry your dead wife's sister...) and BOTH certificates show his father as "Michael John Daley", first as "pedlar" then as "labourer". I can trace William through the 1881 to 1911 censuses; in all cases apart from the 1861 mentioned census he is "born Woolwich", though the 1861 census has all the family "born Ireland" - I am waiting on the certificate on the Ellen of Bishop's Stortford to see if that is in error for at least her!
I believe Michael John Daley was in a workhouse in the 1901 census and MAY be the Michael John Daley who died in Chelmsford 1903 "aged 90".
After his second wife died in 1911, William married the local barmaid, "Trixie" (shown as "Swissie" in the civil records!); I met her once as an old lady in her nineties....
