Hi Suezee, Dundee and other interested parties.
In case anybody is a bit confused, as I was, the 1891 Census referred to by Suezee was at Countesthorpe which is in the Blaby Leicester Registration District where Harry Seekings and Georgiana where living with three children not Coneysthorpe which was where Georgiana (and all various spellings) was born in 1862.
Her mother was Betsy Bowes not Howes.
Yes I was satisfied that I had the right parents for Georgiana. There was a lot of information that can be used to build a case for the conclusion I came to. If I can avoid buying a certificate that is a good thing. It means I can save money for the more ambiguous cases.
Her father Robert Prest was variously called an engineer or gasman. In 1851 he was living at Castle Howard where he was Gasman for the 7th Earl of Carlisle. In 1881 he was at Chenies in Buckinghamshire making gas for Lord Chesham. His daughters were with him. Harry Seekings was a gardener on the Chesham estate, also on the 1881 census, and that is how they met. They married in Dec 1881 when Georgiana was 19 years old.
Four children arrived in 1884, 1886, 1888 and 1890. The last one died in the same quarter that the birth was registered and I believe this may have contributed to her leaving the marriage sometime in 1891 or 1892. She may have had a life threatening birth experience and also been affected by grief and depression. She must have been very unhappy to go so far as to leave her children. There was no divorce available except for the very rich.
Harry soon found a new partner and their first child arrived in 1894. The marriage took place in 1899.
Harry's second marriage produced 15 children. Maybe Georgiana had sensed what her life would be like if she stayed. She appears to have had other ambitions. I haven't found an immigration record or passenger list. She probably used a different name. Her father may have helped her get away. So it is not surprising that the facts are a little cloudy regarding actual dates. Her death cert, kindly found by Willsy, states her mother's name was Betsy Bowes.
The circumstantial evidence of Robert's marriage to Betsey Bowes, plus four children baptized for Robert and Betsy residing at Coneysthorpe, the first being George Bowes Prest (George being the name of Betsy's father), plus the very specific job of gasman to the nobility and all the other census information gave me the confidence to assume Betsy Bowes was the mother of Georgiana.
I have now checked the New GRO Index:
PREST GEORGIANNA MMS BOWES 1862 SQ Malton Union 9D 328
The date fits with Barton Le Street Baptisms
1862 Sep 26 Georgiana d/o Robert and Betsy Prest of Coneysthorpe Gasman.
So thank you GRO. We can solve a few mysteries, find missing children, or eliminate contenders with the additional information now provided.
Venelow
Canada
