Missing birth record, child raised by Grandparents. Dawson. Aberystwyth

[bethanjane]

Mary Jane Drake and Albert Dawson had a daughter b.1868 named Mary A Dawson in Aberystwyth.
1886 Mary Jane and Albert have a child named John Austin Dawson, born, baptised and died same year, Aberystwyth.

1888 Mary A Dawson had a son named John Austin Dawson. I can’t find birth records, but can find a baptism record where it names Mary Ann and says she is a single woman. JA was baptised in Aberystwyth.

John Austin was raised by his grandparents according to the 1891 and 1901 census and letters sent to my Grandfather where he calls him brother, not Uncle.
John Austin died in WW1, and I have many  sources regarding him.

I can’t find any details of Mary A Dawson after the baptism, and I’m not sure where to go from here.
She was listed as a servant age 12 in Aberystwyth in the 1881 census, and also listed in her parents census form in Aberystwyth.

I am very very taken with this particular cluster of my family and I would really like to be able to find as much as possible that might give an idea why Mary A didn’t raise John, especially as she had him baptised. Assume if it was a big secret that Mary Jane and Albert would have named themselves had this been a plan from the start (although I may be wrong)
Perhaps she died? It would explain how the situation arose and why I can’t find her, BUT I also can’t find a death record. Could she have decided against registering the birth and just named him John Austin after her deceased brother?

Mary had an older sister who moved to Lancashire and became Martha J Constantine, as far as I can tell the other siblings stayed in Aberystwyth.
Any help gratefully received!

[Milliepede]

There could be any number of reasons she didn't raise the child herself and left him with her parents.

Have you looked for a marriage?  She may have started afresh and had a family with her husband. 

The 1911 census gives the number of children still living so if you can find that census for her parents it would indicate if she was still alive or not.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

There could be any number of reasons she didn't raise the child herself and left him with her parents.

Have you looked for a marriage?  She may have started afresh and had a family with her husband. 

The 1911 census gives the number of children still living so if you can find that census for her parents it would indicate if she was still alive or not.

Looks as if Albert and Mary Jane both died in 1908 though Mary Jane seems to be Jane in census. Ages in census and death registrations are very inconsistent. As Mary Jane/Jane is recorded as  born in Ireland I'm tempted to say that's an avenue to explore for Mary A in later years. 

[bethanjane]

There could be any number of reasons she didn't raise the child herself and left him with her parents.

Have you looked for a marriage?  She may have started afresh and had a family with her husband. 

The 1911 census gives the number of children still living so if you can find that census for her parents it would indicate if she was still alive or not.

Hi yes,
I've got a list of marriages and deaths from free BMD which could possibly be Mary Anne.
Without knowing where she moved its going to be a long slog! But it's definitely something I'm going to get through.

Of course you're right about the reasoning for Albert and Mary Jane to have raised him, I haven't seen it before is why I am trying to find answers, I've got lots of people in census raising grandchildren and was just thinking about how an additional step was taken for little John.

[bethanjane]

There could be any number of reasons she didn't raise the child herself and left him with her parents.

Have you looked for a marriage?  She may have started afresh and had a family with her husband. 

The 1911 census gives the number of children still living so if you can find that census for her parents it would indicate if she was still alive or not.

Looks as if Albert and Mary Jane both died in 1908 though Mary Jane seems to be Jane in census. Ages in census and death registrations are very inconsistent. As Mary Jane/Jane is recorded as  born in Ireland I'm tempted to say that's an avenue to explore for Mary A in later years.

I knew I had seen number of children born/alive somewhere.
Mary Jane is all over the place, claiming different birth cities, countries and years on every census. She was a big drinker if the local news archives are to believed. She also doesn't appear on paper pre marriage which is something I'm also focused on, but am waiting on DNA results as I've explored every other avenue for her.

I'll do some searches for Ireland next, I don't think ancestry includes Ireland in the standard searches, so I may have missed something glaringly obvious.
Thank you

[miw]

You could try looking for her on census under the various possible surnames from the list of marriages you have found.  Also, look on Ancestry, Findmypast etc for an image of a parish register entry of the marriages, if she married in church you might find her this way as father's name and occupation will be shown.

[bethanjane]

You could try looking for her on census under the various possible surnames from the list of marriages you have found.  Also, look on Ancestry, Findmypast etc for an image of a parish register entry of the marriages, if she married in church you might find her this way as father's name and occupation will be shown.

Great idea.
They seemed to be very involved with the church as a family, with regards to birth marriage and death
Thank you

[osprey]

marriage 16 Sept 1864 in the parish church of Aberystwyth
Albert Edward Dawson 21 bach plasterer Portland Lane father Charles Dawson Saddler
Mary Jane Drake 19 spinster Church Street father Macfael(?) Drake labourer
witnesses James Johns & Elenor Evans, all signed except Mary Jane

1901 Mary Jane's pob noted as Dublin, just Ireland on other census entries.

[Mabel Bagshawe]

I think this is a funeral report for Martha Dawson/Constantine/Wright - I wonder if the names of mourners and those sending flowers may give some clues?

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3411333/3411341/55/