My ggg grandmother Caroline Walters (alternate spellings Walter and Waters) was born in Woolwich (at that time Kent) around 1821.
The backdrop:
By the 1841 census, she was a servant at the Welton le Wold, Lincs rectory. The year and place of birth are consistent in all censuses. At first, I figured she may have gone to Lincolnshire as a young woman but I no longer think this is likely. In 1842 she married William Burton in Welton le Wold. One of the witnesses was Ann Walters. Neither name nor occupation of a father is entered.
To keep a long story shortish, I believe this is the same Ann Walters (b. 1788 Scotland; d. Agnes Ann Walter 1875 Lincs, widow of Thomas Walter, private soldier.) who was the mother of an Elizabeth Walters (b. about 1811, Scotland d. Elizabeth Southern, 1881) and James (b. about 1824 Lincolnshire, d. 1892).
I believe it highly likely that Ann is Ann Binnie who married Thomas Walter, Gunner RA, 1810 Edinburg. They had a daughter Elizabeth there in 1811. Elizabeth had two girls before getting married: Mary Walters (who never married) and Rebecca (Bee). Caroline's granddaughter (my great-grandmother)was a domestic in Rebecca's household for a while. Rebecca's husband was a witness at at least one of Caroline's daughters' marriages and one of Elizabeth's stepsons married another of Caroline' daughters. So it is clear that the two families are linked.
When Rebecca Walters married widower Thomas Southern, her father was entered in the records as Thomas.
When James Walters married widow Mary Ann Robinson, his father was entered as Abraham.
While it seems more than just likely that Ann is related to Caroline, my working hypothesis is that she was Caroline's mother. I speculate that Thomas went with his family to Kent (perhaps stationed in the Royal Artillery there.) This would explain why Caroline would have been born in Woolwich, whether or not Thomas was her father. Then Ann (a widow?) made her way up to Lincolnshire, where James was born (baptism in Little Carton, Lincs in 1825 with only Ann listed as a parent ), and that is where the family stayed.
It would help enormously if I could find some birth or baptism information for Caroline! It would be great to be able to at least establish if Ann was, in fact, her mother, and also who her father was. If it was Thomas, I don't know if the members of the Royal Artillery had their own chapels, or kept their own records.
Any help would be most appreciated!
Ard