Mary Ann Wallace / Mary Ann Brooks /Grahamstown

[maria99]

Hi there,
Can anyone help with info on Mary Ann Wallace/ Brooks and family, from Grahamstown
This is an intriguing case as her 3 children were baptised in St Georges Grahamstown , in  Dec 1886-Jan 1887 , years after they were born.
no father 's name registered. Mother's name Mary Ann Wallace.

1 Ada Margaret  (Born 4 Aug. 1882) Baptised 30 Dec 1886
2) Daisy May  (born 30 July 1878) Baptised 13 Jan  1887
3) Agnes Hannah (born 5 Oct. 1875) Baptised  20 Jan 1887. This is my gg grandmother whose maiden name is given as Brooks

I can find no marriage to a Brooks and yet on other records their surname is given as Brooks
Mary  Brooks ( registered as a widow aged 42 ) married  Alexander James Murray 12 April 1991 in St Mary's Johannesburg
 I wonder if she is connected to the 1820 Settler, Henry Brooks whose daughter, Sarah Brooks  married James Wallace.

I would be really grateful for any help.
Greetings
Maria99

[Nookie]

I see that there is a tree on the internet which I found by googling Ada Margaret Brooks.  They have all three of the children listed - no dates at all - and have Agnes down with a second name of Anna, not Hannah.

One would assume that all three of the children were born while she was married to Brooks.

Possibly it would be worth contacting the compiler of the tree in the hopes of getting more information.

[maria99]

Hi Nookie,
Thanks for the quick reply . The tree you found is probably mine .
The problem is that only recently did I find the baptism records for the children under the name of Wallace which put a spanner in the works as it seems to indicate that she was not married to Brooks because no father  is named on the Baptism records and even if he had died in the mean time she would still have named him

Maria99

[Nookie]

Oh dear - how the plot thickens!  I think that there are a couple of possibilities:
1. Her husband had died and they did just not record it on the baptism.
2. They were possibly adopted children which could account for the delay in baptism - odd that Daisy and Agnes were not baptised on the same day considering they were both already pretty old.
3.  She lied about having being married to Brooks when she married Alexander - needed to do so because of the children's surname.
4. The Brooks marriage has just not been indexed yet!  I have been arbitrating like a crazy thing trying to get more on familysearch, but it all takes time unfortunately.

My g/g/grandmother did that - had a child out of wedlock, invented a husband with the same family name as hers, and then pretended that the 'husband' had died!

Do you know who her parents were? 

[maria99]

Hi Nookie

I can believe the father's name not being on 1 Bap. record but not on 3  individual ones

Strange also that the children were all bap. individually , each about a week apart ,as if she was trying to cover up

I don't know who her parents were . That's why I 'm hoping that something will  be found under  Mary Ann Wallace . Or possibly her maiden name was Brooks.

[pampoen]

I take it this should be 1891? married  Alexander James Murray 12 April 1991 in St Mary's Johannesburg.

[maria99]

Hi Pampoen,

 Sorry about that. Yes it should read 1891

[maria99]

Hi ,
Can anyone help me to find any info on the death of Mary Ann Murray.

She married Alexander James Murray 12th April 1891 in St Mary's Johannesburg . The record says that she was 42 at the time of the marriage (widowed)So she was born aprox 1849.

The Murrays lived in Johannesburg.

 The last record I have for her was as a witness to the marriage of her daughter Ada Margaret Brooks to Alan Douglas Cunningham 8th Oct. 1904 in Krugersdorp

Her husband , Alexander James Murray and  her youngest daughter Daisy Mary Brooks (single), were recorded on the Information of Death of Daisy Mary Brooks  on the  2nd August 1910. They were still living in Johannesburg ,in Ophirton.

If Mary Ann Murray was still alive she would have been aprox. 60 years old in 1910

I would be grateful for any help at all.

Many thanks, Maria