Wattisfield look-up request BURROWS

[caterpillar20]

Hi

Hoping someone might be able to help. I have a Louisa Maud BURROWS born ca 1852 in Wattisfield. Her father was John BURROWS a labourer/bricklayer.

I can't find a birth record for her, and the only census hits give the wrong Louisa (that one is the daughter of a whitesmith called John). LDS hasn't given me anything either, so this is a bit of a last-ditch attempt at getting a match. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Tati]

Hi Caterpillar 

What's your first sighting of her? (I can't see any Louisa Maud registered ca. 1852 in Stow district)

[caterpillar20]

First confirmed sighting is her first marriage to John W Grant on 12 July 1873 at St Thomas in Stepney. Her age isn't given, though the age column says "minors with consent". I then have her in the 1881 census, which gives her age as 27 (making birth year 1854) and giving her place of birth as just Suffolk. The 1891 census gives her age as 36 (b = 1855) and her place of birth as what I have interpreted as Wattisfield. She remarried in 1900, where she gave her age as 46 (b = 1854). The 1901 census lists her as 47 (b = 1854) and her place of birth again as what I have interpreted as Wattisfield. She died in 1909 and the death certificate gives her age as 57 (b = 1852). Reviewing this, I maybe would lean towards 1854/5 as a birth date rather than 52. Looking at the census returns closely, the place of birth could equally be Wallisfield (1891 - RG 12/321 page 5, Louisa Grant) or Hatchfield (1901 - RG 13/336 page 51; Louisa Mead), neither of which seems to make sense....

[caterpillar20]

I have just got a potential hit in the shape of "Louisa Burroughs" who is coming up in a BMD search as being born Q2 1851 in Stow - though that would square with the age on the death certificate, it squares less well with the reasonably consistent date of 1854 from the other documents...

[Tati]

Searching the 1861 census for a Louisa born ca. 1854 W*field Suffolk and I see this girl:

1861
RG9/405 42 36
Woolwich, Kent
6 Chestnut Place
John Bonnett, head, mar, 36, Labourer, b. Cambridgeshire Newmarket
Maria, wife, 33, b. Suffolk Watersfield
Elizabeth, dau, 14, b. do.
Betsy, dau, 12, b. Cambridgeshire Newmarket
Louisa, dau, 8, scholar, b. Suffolk Watersfield

I actually suspect that she could be the girl we're looking for, and that she adapted her (step)father's details when she married to coincide with her own surname.

There's only one pre-1861 marriage for a John Bonnett to a Maria, it's in Stow district and Maria is called Burroughs:
Mar 1856 Stow 4a 655: John Bonnett - Maria Burroughs

Also, by 1871 John and Maria are in London, and John is a brickyard's labourer in 1881.

I'll see if I can find Maria Burroughs and/or John Bonnett in 1851.

[Tati]

I can't find John Bonnett but this looks like Maria

1851
HO107/1794 44 20
Wattisfield, Suffolk
Mary Burroughs, head, wid, 71, b. Suffolk Barringham
Maria, dau, unm, 24, b. Wattisfield
Elizabeth, granddau, 4, b. do.

[Tati]

Oh well, I only just looked at the 1873 marriage! One of the witnesses is John Bonnett 

[caterpillar20]

That is a VERY interesting development... so looking at the dates, there are two possibilities. One is that Maria had 3 children out of wedlock and named them all Burroughs before finally marrying John Bonnett in 1856. It seems unlikely that he is the father of Louisa as the two marriage certificates are very clear on "John Burrows (deceased)" and there would be no reason not to cite John Bonnett if he were the real father. The other possibility is that Maria was a widow when she marries John Bonnett, although it then becomes a confused question of whether Burrows was a genuine married name for her... Either way, this lead is certainly worth following up - but the question mark still remains over Louisa's birth details - I can't find a likely birth entry for 1853/4 and the 1851 from Stow seems a bit too early. I guess there is now Elizabeth and Betsy to pursue (based on the 1861 census), but with one of them born in Cambridge it's raising all sorts of questions...

[Tati]

I think Maria had 2 children, and Betsy was possibly John Bonnett's child going by her birth place. Just realised why I couldn't find them in 1851: Newmarket is missing 

Maria marries as Burroughs and is shown as unmarried with her mother also called Burroughs in 1851, therefore I'm not sure it's likely that she was married in between. 

Like you, I can't find a better match than Dec 1851 for Louisa's birth