I'm looking to trace my great-grandmother. I'm usually pretty good at this sort of thing, but she's surprisingly difficult.
Her name was, as far as anyone can tell, Hannah Maria Evans - although I'm sure there are many possible variants on that. She was born in Swansea, around 1858.
I believe her death record is Q1 1948, where she is listed as "Maira Murray", age 90.
The 1939 Register has her widowed, living as a boarder with two Jones brothers, one of whom is believed to be her widowed son-in-law. Her name is "Anna M Murray" and her DoB is given as 12.12.1858, which would have made her 89 in Q1 1948.
The 1911 and 1901 censuses have her as "Hannah Murray." 1891 has her as "Elizabeth" Murray, for some reason, but her children, husband, age, location of birth, and the area where she was living all match.
She married my great-grandfather in 1882, as Hannah. We have the marriage certificate, and her father is given as William Evans, deceased, mariner. In the 1881 census, she is a barmaid at the Burrows Queens Hotel, Swansea, and Lily Perrott, the owner's daughter, was a witness at her wedding.
So we know a fair amount about her. In 1871, Hannah Evans, aged 13 (she would have been 12) is a servant in the Challacombe household in Swansea - a possible, but not certain match. I don't have an 1861 census, however, and there are no obvious matches.
There is a Daniel Evans, a ship's carpenter, in Swansea, with a 2-year-old daughter, Mary Ann. There was also a sailor from Swansea called William Evans, who would have been the right age, and who appears to have absconded to Nova Scotia around 1869.
I don't have a birth or death certificate, yet.
I'd love to know who Hannah's parents were, and to help to narrow down the right birth certificate. Any further suggestions?
