The whereabouts of Lewis Spencer MOGRIDGE, b.1871 Paignton, in 1881 Census?

[lizdb]

Oooh

Here she is in 1891 and looks like your girl, as born Heavitree!

ALmer Farm, Sturminster MAshall, Dorset
RObert Cave 33 single farmer bn Sturminster MArshall
Susan Mogridge 43 housekeeper widow bn Heavitree Devon

[lizdb]

And 1881

West Terrace, East Budleigh
H/H of a Catherine J Jamieson
various servants incl:
Susan Mogridge 33 married nurse bn Heavitree Devon


Looks as if Robert fell on hard times, maybe a health problem and couldnt work, ending days in workhouse and Susan had to leave child with her sister and go out to work herself.
Or maybe another scenario, thagt is just one possibility.

[Keith Sherwood]

Lizdb,
You've done some more wonderful detective work here…I think everything you surmise from those Census snapshots (isn't it so very difficult to fill in everything that happened in each of the ten years in between - impossible, really) is probably what happened.
At least something that is slightly reassuring is that she seems to have gravitated to the area where her son lived and worked in 1891.  I'd like to think that they saw one another, mother and son, before she returned to her native Devon and her death in 1899.  There's a lot hidden behind these bare sightings of her, but a fascinating, if perhaps rather sad family story…
Many thanks again for taking all this time over this ancestral trail,
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Lizdb,
Just read through the whole of this thread afresh this morning, and noticed that Susan MOGRIDGE is referring to herself as "Widow" in that 1891 Census entry, so presumably her husband Robert must have died some time between 1881 and 1891, possibly in the workhouse.  I must see whether I can get hold of a record for the Cheltenham Workhouse that might show his admission and/or his release or demise…
Keith

[avm228]

There's a Robert Mogridge still alive in 1891, "single", 44, in Newton Abbot Workhouse.

Birthplace of Teignmouth matches the 1871 census.

Occupation of "Formerly station master" is a puzzle, but may link him to the Robert Mogridge who back in 1861 is a 14 yr old railway clerk in Teignmouth, son of Robert (a mason) & Sarah.

1861: RG 9/1400/94/44
1891: RG12/1701/118/10

[avm228]

Details of the marriage of Lewis's parents:

St Michael, Heavitree

25 Dec 1867

Robert Reed MOGRIDGE 21 bach accountant resident in Burnham Somerset.  Father: Robert, builder.
Susan Eliza WINSLEY 21 spinster. Father: James, gardener.

Witnesses: James WINSLEY (his mark); James SCOBELL (signed).

[avm228]

Children of the Mogridge couple:

31.3.70: Alice Mary, b 29 Mar; bapt privately at Paignton to Robert (gardener) & Susan Eliza, of Paignton.
11.4.71: Lewis Spencer, b 8 Mar; bapt at Paignton to Robert (gardener) & Susan Eliza, of Paignton.
11.8.72: Arthur Robert, bapt privately at Heavitree to Robert Reed (gardener) & Susan Eliza, of Heavitree.
03.5.74: Charles James, bapt at Heavitree to Robert Reed (gardener) & Susan Eliza, of Whipton.

Alice Mary's birth and death were both registered in Jun qtr 1870.

In the 1881 census Arthur and Charles can be found visiting a Jordan family in Heavitree: RG11/2143/29/27.

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi again, Avm!
Thanks so much for teasing things out even further for me...I had wondered why I had not discovered a death for a Robert MOGRIDGE between 1881 and 1891, and that certainly appears to be him.  Newton Abbot would be much closer to his roots than Cheltenham - maybe he was taken in in Gloucestershire and soon afterwards moved back nearer to his parish of origin by the authorities.  Why he should have been in Cheltenham I don't know, perhaps he was experiencing a nomadic lifestyle by then.
All those other Census references link up extremely well too, though I need to reread all the fascinating extra detail you have so kindly provided.  Many thanks!
Keith
N.B. one slight anomaly I have noticed is that in the 1871 Census for Iwerne in Dorset, James Fisher, head of household, states he is a widow, whereas didn't he marry Mary Jane Winsley in 1870 in the Exeter area.  Why isn't she in his house, where she is to be found in the 1881 Census.  And was James Frederick Fisher indeed married before?  Must look into this further, unless I've misread things

[avm228]

You're welcome, Keith

Will have a look at the Fishers (sorry, deleted irrelevant info!).