Hi All,
I had what I considered to be quite a concise branch of information regarding a great grandfather, Frederick Herbert Manssuer - I had his birth, both his parents and their marriage record, his siblings, all census returns available, and his untimely and rather dramatic demise, burial, the works - until I had a look on GRO for his birth reg,(just to bulk up sources et al and despite finding it already on FindMyPast), and that of his individual siblings.....and I got rather a shock when I found that, while the first born child, Alfred Mansswer, born 1891, (incorrect spelling on the original doc but definitely one of the siblings), had the expected parents recorded, Christopher Manssuer and his wife Mary Beatrice Martin, the next three children, born in 1894, (Lilian Beatrice Manssuer), 1897 (Albert Christopher Manssuer) and then Frederick himself, 1900, had the mother's maiden surname listed as Walker - and then, to fully confuse me, the last sibling, born 1908, the mother's maiden surname was again Martin - all of the children had second given names and all appear on census returns together ....I've checked to see if there was any discrepancy with Mary Beatrice's birth, or maybe she had been married before and then divorced etc, but nothing could explain the surname Walker....what other reasons could there be other than possibly an affair, an adoption/surrogacy (I know the latter probably not the case), or did he leave a wife, get with a paramour, then get back with the wife, all between census returns, and the children all lived together?? Beatrice died in 1920 and Christopher DID remarry, to a Martha Tickle...but, again, nothing pops up re the Walker surname - I'm almost positive there will be something right under my nose or obvious to others, or something maybe as simple as, she just went by another name for a while, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas. Mary Beatrice Martin's parents were a Robert Martin and an Elizabeth Emma and while there a a few marriages that could fit the bill, I'm no further forward. Robert was a member of the clergy. There was a marriage I found that suggested a marriage between a Robert Martin in the North West, to an Elizabeth Staveley (widow), but not much information to go on. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thank you
Michelle
