A confession and a plea for help….
Going back to my Williams family I found I made, a few years ago, a note for Mary Williams [sister of my great grandfather John George Williams] as follows:
from origins.net
Mary Ann Williams (23) of 3 Three King Court (in parish 3 weeks) sp. and has an illegitimate child Ellen Maria Williams (2 months); no friends living, left an orphan when very young and brought up by an old lady now dead. 24 May 1865.
[St Botolph Aldgate, Entry No 3632; GL Ms 2676/25]
Now ‘my’ Mary Williams was born in St Luke’s Chelsea in 1841 [1851 census aged 9 Pce: 1491 Fol: 82 P: 72] and orphaned in 1855; her younger sister Margaret died aged 5 on 28 Jan 1855, her father William aged 49 on 21 Feb 1855 & her mother Johannah nee Frawley aged 40 on 28 Feb 1855 all in Marylebone Workhouse Infirmary. They were living at 99 Devonshire Street. Mary was the informant & made her mark on her mother’s death certificate. I have not found her for sure on the 1861.
Confession: I foolishly kept no copy of the record from St Botolph’s other that the note above. Origins.net is now taken over by findmypast to which I no longer have a subscription. I was young [well 7 years younger] & foolish then….
Plea for help: Are these St Botolph’s poor relief records on findmypast? Where are the original records kept? Would I be able to find able further details about this Mary Ann Williams [who may or may not be ‘my’ Mary] & her baby Ellen Maria? It was the statement about her being 23 in 1865 orphaned 'young' that made it seem possible that this is ‘my’ Mary although I have no record of her being Mary Ann.
I have been looking at the censuses & BMDs to try to pin down ‘my’ Mary, the above Mary Ann & Ellen Maria. Mary's only surviving sibling John aged 10 was taken to a school in Bruges, Belgium by a Victorian philanthropist to be educated; when he married in Marylebone in 1868, Mary was not a witness.
Thanks for any help with the St Botolph’s records, Josey
