1939 Register, g-granny in Lightwood Green, Overton, but why?

[cad]

I hope someone with knowledge of the Lightwood Green area in 1939 might be able to give me some insight.
I searched the 1939 register and found my grandmother and her stepfather exactly where I expected to find them in Garden Village Wrexham but her mother Alice was not there. I searched in vain to find her for about a month and eventually found her by specifying her birthday, she had been listed as Elizabeth A and then the NHS had subsequently corrected her name to Alice Elizabeth.
The address is Lightwood Green, schedule number 18, Station Road( I think)
Amelia Austin, widow born 1868
Amelia Austin, single born 1895
One other holdhold member is officially closed
All of them are " unpaid domestic duties" so I don't think Alice was there for work. At the moment I assume she's visiting a friend but I don't know, if anyone has any other ideas I'd be grateful if you could share them.
Googling "Amelia Austin, Overton" only resulted in a newspaper report about an assault case, interesting but not much help.
Thanks for reading this.

[garstonite]

18 Station Road - "unpaid domestic duties"- could she have had a Railway Cottage supplied by the Railway in exchange for cleaning the local Station ??....just a thought 

[Guy Etchells]

I would suggest you forget about the railway as I feel it is a wild goose chase.
If you look at the national Library of Scotland maps for the area
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=52.9614&lon=-2.9154&layers=171

You can look at modern maps with an overlay of an old map.
If you look further up the station road from the railway station you will see a house named Canister Hall.
I suggest Canister Cottages were either cottages for the workers at the hall or possibly in this case alms houses or houses for retired workers.

Cheers
Guy

[johndwadsworth]

There appears to be a lot of ladies on "Unpaid domestic duties". Don't you think this is the official way of saying "Housewife" or similar.

[groom]

There appears to be a lot of ladies on "Unpaid domestic duties". Don't you think this is the official way of saying "Housewife" or similar.

I assumed that as well, as all of my female married relatives are described in the same way, even if they are living with the family.

[andrewalston]

I take it that Nathaniel Jones, a couple of doors away, is not a known relative.

Where any of her children evacuated to the district? She may have been helping them settle in to their temporary homes.

I have found one Runcorn family's children evacuated to several houses on the outskirts of Blackpool. Father is at home working, and mother is at a boarding house on Central Drive.

[cad]

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the input but no, she only had the one child. I've looked at 1911 census for Amelia Austin and have still failed to find a connection, although the younger Amelia is a servant in 1911 in Shropshire and ( like many girls of their class at that time) Alice had been in service at one time also in Shropshire, so it's possible they may have known each other from there but this may be grasping at straws.
As to all this speculation over the phrase " unpaid domestic duties", I too am sure this means housewife, had it said just "domestic duties" or even " paid domestic duties" I would have assumed she was employed by the householders, as it is I expect she is a house guest.
Incidently, I found the phrase "unpaid domestic duties" particularly amusing when it was applied to my great grandmother's cousin who along with her husband ran a chip shop in Shrewsbury.

[cad]

I would suggest you forget about the railway as I feel it is a wild goose chase.
If you look at the national Library of Scotland maps for the area
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=52.9614&lon=-2.9154&layers=171

You can look at modern maps with an overlay of an old map.
If you look further up the station road from the railway station you will see a house named Canister Hall.
I suggest Canister Cottages were either cottages for the workers at the hall or possibly in this case alms houses or houses for retired workers.

Cheers
Guy

Thanks Guy,
The link was very useful, I had wondered about Canister Hall, it sounds grand but on the map looks quite modest, compare it to Google Earth and it looks about the same but is now called Spinney cottage. I found a copy of the Overton Oracle online which describes Canister Hall as " four cottages joined together with one central chimney which they all shared. The name came from the shape of the building which was said to resemble a tea canister. It was owned by Sir Watkin Williams Wynn". So probably not the grand landowner then, in fact could Canister Cottages and Canister Hall be one and the same? Sir Watkin Williams Wynn is well known to my family as my Grandad is from Ruabon in the shadow of Wynstay Hall, the family seat of the Williams Wynns.

[clairec666]

I've found "Unpaid domestic duties" next to most adult females living with their family - e.g. wives and unmarried daughters. (I think this was often recorded without many questions being asked, since my great-aunt was doing "unpaid domestic duties" in 1939 even though she was disabled and wouldn't have been capable.)

Unfortunately you may never find out why Alice was living there, or how she knew the other household members. The downside of the 1939 register compared to earlier censuses is that there's no "relation" column...