BRICKWALL: Mary Ann Fenning (or Fleming?) born c.1818 Sunderland Durham

[Scrabble]

I am battering away at this brickwall again trying to find the birth and parents of Mary Ann.

I have posted before and not found her
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,530137.msg3857453.html#msg3857453

What I have so far:
1841 census: Mary Fenning  20 Laundress living in Bath St, Gravesend, Kent, not born in county

1842 Marriage: Mary Ann Fenning full age Spinster to Richard Thomas Appleton at Parish Church, Gravesend. Her father Samuel Fenning occupation Military.

1848 Son George birth cert - mother Mary Ann Appleton nee Fanning living at 59 Tarling St, St George East.

1851 census: Mary A Appleton 30 Mariner's wife born Sunderland living at 6 Tarling St, St George East

1861 census: Mary Ann not found (from later docs she was probably still at 6 Tarling Street but moved to Gravesend before 1871 census)

1871 census: Mary A Appleton widow 51 Laundress born Sunderland Durham and with her is Ann Flemming Mother widow 77 formerly Laundress born Nottinghamshire Northwold.

I had glossed over this information about the Mother previously, I thought she was a Lodger but looking closely I think it does say Mother. However the surname is different from Mary Ann's maiden surname, or maybe it was written wrongly, or maybe Mary Ann's name was written wrongly, both were illiterate and maybe had accents that Kent people found difficult to understand.

However I can't find any census or other information to fit Ann Flemming/Fenning, there is one born Durham (Stanhope) but she is in Stanhope for the 1871 census so couldn't have been in Gravesend too. Can't find Samuel Flemming/Fenning either.

Has anyone any ideas please?

Scrabble

[CaroleW]

Hi

Northwold is in Norfolk but I agree that it shows Notts on the 1871 image

[Scrabble]

Hi Carole

Yes, I was puzzled about that but have searched for Ann under Fenning and Flemming in 1861 and 1851 census using pob Northwold Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and Durham but not finding anything at present. I even tried Northamptonshire because Ancestry transcribes it as that but FindMyPast has it as Nottinghamshire and I also agree with that so pleased to have your confirmation too.

Thanks, Scrabble

[[Ray]]

Hi

1861 not at #6 Tarling St.

1861 RG9 279 6
p13 contains
1, Tarling Street
Thomas B White, 62, Shoemaker, Sudbury Suffolk
Catherine White, 63,, Shadwell Middx

up to #39 (p 25)

Ray

[softly softly]

Hi, When their son Robert was baptised 28.03.1858 the address given was 6 LOWER TARLING STREET.

John

[[Ray]]

Hi John

1851 HO107 1548 193 p41 def has her living 6 Tarling St.

Maybe Tarling Street was split at some time?
http://london1868.com/weller46.htm shows the route of the Whitechapel-Shadwell-Wapping underground route?


Ray

[Scrabble]

Thank you all, you have highlighted another mystery. I have never found her in 1861 census, although son Thomas appears to be in the Orphan Seaman Asylum in Bow Road Stepney. Her husband went down with his ship in Nov 1858 so maybe she had to sub-let for a while and stay elsewhere while her financial situation was sorted out although you'd have thought she would show up somewhere in the census.

She is at 6 Tarling Street in 1851 and again at 6 Tarling Street in July 1869 when she received a 'Widow's Gift' as a Seaman's Widow.

She moved to Gravesend between then and 1871 census. I had assumed that the grant may have been to fund the move but if the building of the railway caused disruption to the houses in the area at that time then that could have been another reason. There were other members of the Appleton family in Gravesend.

Scrabble

[JaneyCanuck]

I wonder whether Ann Flemming was a Mary Ann known as Ann ...

There is a death in Sep Q 1885 in Gravesend of a Mary Flemming aged 89, which is very close to Ann Flemming being 77 in 1871. I can't see a Mary Flem* to fit that death in the 1881 census.

... Per Anc'y, there's a Mary Flimming c1796 in Strood ...


What if ... Mary Ann's mother Ann was not married, and father Samuel was one of the standard inventions? Like, mother's father?

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5VY-KXQ

Ann Fenning, daughter of Samuel and Ann, baptised 1789, Hadleigh, Suffolk.

The couple also baptised children Samuel 1793 and Mary 1805.

Or wait, duh. Samuel Fenning 1793 could be Mary Ann's father.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5VY-KXQ

And married to an Ann from Norfolk? Not too huge a stretch.

In 1851 there is an Ann Fenning in Hadleigh aged 86 / c1767, inmate of almshouse, who could be the widow of Samuel Sr., mother of Samuel 1793.
Yes, in 1841 they are Samuel and Ann Fenning, aged 80 and 70, listed as "Ind" but living in Almshouse No. 8 in Hadleigh.

I like the look of them as parents of the Samuel baptised in Hadleigh in 1793, and I like the look of that Samuel as your Mary Ann's father. Suffolk is a rich vein of Fennings.

In 1841 there's an Ann Fenning in Goldhanger, Essex, born c1795 in Essex, who looks kind of like a widowed lodging house keeper. That's about 20 miles from Hadleigh.

[JaneyCanuck]

How about, Samuel being in the military and moving around and all, a brother for Mary Ann?

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J741-8F3

James Fenning, 1825, Keston, Kent - parents' names not given.
That is the only f*nning baptism in that batch.


Samuel Fenning 1893 Hadleigh, son of Samuel Fenning and Ann Elliston, is in multiple trees at Anc'y/Mundia, but none has any info beyond his birth.