Missing Marriage Record - Stewart - 1860s

[Emma08]

No it doesn't seem to have survived unfortunately

[myluck!]

second topic on this - LINK

[Emma08]

Yes. I started that topic a while ago but never got any closer to finding Catherine's family.

I think what's throwing me off the New York clue. .. is that when her daughter Edith Jane Menelly emigrated to America, she gave her mother's birthplace as being either "England" or "Ireland " on all the US censuses that she was part of

So... if Catherine was American,  does that mean that her daughter didn't know that?

[myluck!]

It could well be - I have an ancestor that on later census returns stated he was born in Ireland but on an early return while his mother was alive she stated he was born in India
He and his middle brother were born in India and returned to Ireland at an early age; the elder and younger siblings were born in Ireland - I don't know if he didn't realise he was born abroad by the time he was filling in the returns himself or if someone else did them on his behalf and assumed he was Irish born.
Many errors of this nature exist unfortunately to test us all!!

[Emma08]

Ok. Thanks for that!
If I could just find the marriage record for Catherine and Walter Stewart it would help.

[myluck!]

AS you've been trying to locate Catherine's ancestry for a while you may have already searched for these

If the Catherine born in New York is correct her son Henry must be with a family member somewhere
Have you searched for a 5-6 year old as a lodger, visitor, relative other than son etc?

Remembering STEWARD, STEWARD, STUART, etc.

If you locate a good prospect the place of birth given would give you a location to search births to try and find a match.

Catherine thinking of "common decency" I would not expect to marry within months of being widowed(!); have you looked for a death of a Walter STEWART between 1865 and 1870?

Lastly a very long, and more difficult, shot is the movements of Lady Beckett could provide a clue to where Catherine joined her service

[Emma08]

Thanks for the ideas!

I have searched for a Walter Stewart death between those years but didn't come up with much.  I will start again there though I think.
Interestingly.... on the family search website I did come across a Walter Stewart death in New York in 1867... and the record states that this Walter was born in England in 1842...

But I think I'll have another look at UK deaths.

I had wondered whether Henry was left with Catherine's parents as a child. Since Catherine's father was also called Walter and was a farrier... and Henry went on to be a farrier sergeant. .. was he raised by his grandfather Walter?
Henry gives his father's name as Walter Stewart on his marriage certificate (no occupation )... but I'm wondering whether his father's first name was Walter at all?

The location of Henry as a child is mysterious....

He joined the British army in either 1884 or 1885... and we think he joined up in England.

Would he need to be a British citizen to join the British army?

I found a London workhouse admission for a Henry Stewart in December 1872... he was listed as being born in 1867 and the parish of admission was St George - again a St George connection.  Catherine married her second husband in St George.
In the description it says his parents were caught begging.
He stayed in the workhouse for 3 days.
I'm not sure if this is my Henry or not.  I don't know much about the workhouses but Catherine definitely appears on the list for a workhouse in 1881.

Also, Catherine's two daughters with her second husband are also listed as boarders with a family in Essex in the 1881 census.  I don't know why Essex as both girls were born in central London.  And the people they are boarding with don't seem significant.

I can't find Catherine or her husband William Menelly on any 1881 UK census.

I will definitely try and have a look at the Lady Beckett link too.

Thank you for all your help with this.