A Mumby Mystery

[LizzieW]

My 2 x g.g.aunt Elizabeth Eliza (known as Eliza) was deported in April 1848 for theft.  The Australian convict register shows that she had 2 children, who she obviously didn't take with her.

There was a bastardy order for one, dated 10 December 1847 (newspaper archives and also Genuki has minimum details) when she was already in prison awaiting deportation.  The father was a Wm Kennerby.  I can't find a birth, or baptism for this child.  I've asked Lincs CC if there was a copy of the bastardy order on file but they can't find one, so I've no way of knowing when the child was born.  I'm assuming around 1846/7 but it could be, of course, that the child was older and the powers that be wanted some sort of maintenance in force before Eliza disappeared to the other side of the world.

What I have found on Lincstothepast, on 18 September 1841 is a baptism for a Selina Naomi, daughter of Eliza Mumby.  No father shown.  So I sent for a birth certificate of what I thought was the child, a Mary Selina Naomi Mumby.  It has arrived today and shows a birth on 18 September,    however, it gives the parents as Thomas Mumby a labourer and Elizabeth Mumby formerly Walker, although Elizabeth Mumby was the informant on 30 September 1841.  I wonder if the birth date is incorrect and that when Eliza registered the birth on 30 September, it was already past the time allowed for registration so she just used the baptismal date.  I've searched everywhere for a marriage between a Thomas Mumby and an Elizabeth Walker but haven't found one.  The only marriage I've found was in 1846 in Waddingham, Lincs, between a Thomas Mumby aged 64 widower and Elizabeth Towle 51 a spinster.

So do you think Eliza was ashamed of being an unmarried mother and invented a husband for herself, or was there another Selina Naomi Mumby around at the time?  The (Selina) Naomi Mumby that was the daughter of Eliza sadly died on 2 May 1848 aged 7  from Typhus only 3 days after her mother sailed for Tasmania.  I'm sure Eliza must have known how ill her daughter was.  I know the death certificate I have is correct because it states daughter of Eliza and the informant was Naomi's aunt Ann Leighton, Eliza's eldest sister.  If Naomi was 7 at the time, she was obviously not born on 18 September 1841

The second query is that I need to find another child of Eliza.  I've searched Lincstothepast baptisms (I've assumed St Botolph's Church, Boston as that is where all the other family baptisms and burials took place) from about 1835 when Eliza would have been 15 to the date of her transportation but can't find another Mumby child whose mother was Elizabeth/Eliza and no father shown.  Perhaps I should start looking for parents Thomas and Eliza, or even William (the bastardy case) and Eliza, or maybe if the child was born in prison it was never baptised.  Or would a child born at Boston Goal (only an assumption) be baptised other than St Botolph's?

Lizzie

Lizzie

[lizdb]

I've just gone to 1851, put in surname Mumby, birth 1846 +/- 5 years, Lincolnshire.
Then scrolled through the pages of results.
There are half a dozen or so who arent living with their parents, several with grandparents and if I remember rightly one described as niece.
If you know the names of Eliza's parents or siblings, you may find one of these to be Eliza's child(ren).
Just a thought.

[giggsycat]

" I wonder if the birth date is incorrect and that when Eliza registered the birth on 30 September, it was already past the time allowed for registration so she just used the baptismal date".

There were no penalties for non-registration until about 1875 and many parents did not bother to register their children at all!

[LizzieW]

I've already done a quick search as you suggest, and so far I've found Maria Lighton (Leighton) who according to 1851 census was born in Boston but the only birth I can find is in Caistor.  In 1851 Maria was with Mary her mother (who is the Ann Lighton who was the informant on Naomi's death cert) so that's a possibility.  It's possible that she was born in the Caistor district but as all the but one of others were born in Boston, the enumerator just put the same place down.  One other daughter called Charlotte was born in Caistor in 1839.

The second possibility.
Simeon her brother has a child called Jane living with him on 1851 census, shown as his daughter.  There are 2 possible births, one called Elizabeth Jane in Jan-Mar 1845.  I've found a baptism which shows the parents to be Knightscales & Eliza (unlikely as the name seems, they are on the 1851 census so that child can be ruled out) and the other one Oct-Dec 1845, no baptism on Lincstothepast.

Finally, the third possibility is that in 1851, my 2 x g.grandmother (2 x g.grandfather missing on this census) was living in Hull with 4 children, the first 3 born in Boston, baptisms on Lincstothepast and the 4th one born in Yarmouth, Norfolk in Jan-Mar 1847.  In the past I've just shrugged this off as a bit odd, but now I wonder if this could be Eliza's child.  From 1852 to 1862 my 2 x g.gran gave birth to another 7 children in Hull.

The only problem is that Eliza's children are my 1st cousins 3 x removed, so it gets a bit expensive to keep buying certs for such distant ancestors.  If it wasn't for the fact that I just wanted to know who the children were Eliza left in England, I wouldn't bother.

[LizzieW]

" I wonder if the birth date is incorrect and that when Eliza registered the birth on 30 September, it was already past the time allowed for registration so she just used the baptismal date".

There were no penalties for non-registration until about 1875 and many parents did not bother to register their children at all!

It just seems a bit odd that the birth cert gives the birth as 18 September, which is the date Lincstothepast parish records show the baby was baptised.  As the parish records are in date order, I assume they are correct.  Also if Naomi was 7 in May 1848, she couldn't have been born in September 1841, unless, of course, her aunt didn't know her real age.

[trish1120]

FreeBMD has a SARAH CATHERINE Mumby Birth Reg  1840, Caistor


FreeREG has a Sarah Catherine Mumby Baptised  28 Aug 1842, St James, Grimsby, Mother ELIZABETH Mumby, abode Grimsby, Occp Fisher Woman

There are also all of these Children to a Elizabeth Mumby;
Baptisms FreeREG;
16 Sep 1837, Jewel
28 Aug 1842, Sarah Catherine
22 Oct 1839, Eliza   
27 Nov 1839, Benjamin   
12 Nov 1848, Jonas Maltby (not likely as hers)

Trish

[LizzieW]

Thanks for that trish, but I don't think any one of those is the child I'm looking for as my Eliza Mumby seems to have spent all her time around Boston.  She worked in 1.Holbeach - she stole goods from her employer there in 1841, 2.Boston - she stole goods from her employer there in 1842 and 3.Frampton - she stole goods from her employer there in 1847 leading to her transportation.    She was variously a domestic, a laundress and a "professional" cook.

[trish1120]

Ah well it was worth a try

[LizzieW]

Trish - Everything is always worth a try.  Many thanks.

Lizzie