Hello, everyone
I'm new here and would just like to say that I love all the work that you've been doing - this seems to be a strong genealogical forum and I'm happy to see it.
For a while now, I've been trying to find information about my third great-grandmother Mary Ann Bowers (1846-1940), who continues to be something of an elusive figure. I have a subscription with Ancestry and have been trying to find her in the 1851 and 1861 census records for years to no avail.
I discovered her through a Church of England marriage record (although this side of my family was likely either Catholic or Methodist) with my third-great-grandfather James Edward Murray (1837-1876) dating to 1868, where her father's name is written down (Edward Bowers; cloth dresser) as well as her place of residence at the time (Off Street; a street that no longer exists in Leeds). All the census records from 1868 onward put her down as being born in Leeds in 1846, so I would expect to see her in the 1851 and 1861 census records for Leeds too, but can only find census records of her from after she got married. I've tried to find her and her father in the records but haven't been able to locate them at all, looking far outside of Yorkshire and looking with alternative spellings too. I've tried to find her record in the Birth Index registration to no prevail and even her death is a bit mysterious. She seems to have lived until 1940 and I believe I have her burial record from Leeds Beckett Cemetery, but there's no record in the Death Index aside for one from Yarmouth (Norfolk), which seems unlikely to be her.
I've wondered if maybe the family was of Irish origin and might have been staying in Ireland for a while, but this doesn't seem feasible as it would've cost quite some money to get across from Leeds and then come back in time for Mary's marriage. I've come to the conclusion that the only thing I can do is try to find Off Street in the 1871 census and hope that she still has family living there but don't know which registration and enumeration districts this street would correspond to.
Would anyone have some hints or insights that could help me track down this side of my family?
