Emma Jane Nodder (1846-?) and husband William Ridge (1834-?)

[TadlowNewell]

I know some folk on here are up for a challenge, and if I don't ask, no-one will respond! I suspect this query is a hard nut.

Emma Jane Nodder was born to William Nodder and Grace Stephens in Torpoint, Cornwall, Q2 1846 (per GRO). She appears in 1851 and 1861 Censuses with her parents etc in Torpoint.

On 23 Feb 1864 she marries William Sanders Ridge in St Mary's, Devonport. (image https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-QL98-ZL?cc=1804330&wc=M61D-NP6%3A147011001 She claims to be aged 20, but was actually just 17. Curiously, her father had died just a week earlier, and so was most likely buried just a day or two before the wedding. William claimed to be 25, but was actually 29.

I cannot find anything about Emma Jane after the marriage - no children, no Census entries, no death record, no remarriage. She just vanishes. I surmise she was most likely pregnant at the time of marriage, given her age, but can find no record of any birth in 1864.

William Ridge was baptised 28 Dec 1834, (not 1835)  to Francis Ridge and Ann Sanders in Maker Church (Image https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893K-GXCV?i=187&cat=1833620) His mother died when he was aged 3; In 1841 Census he was in St German's Union Workhouse with his father and brother. His father dies 1843. William appears in 1851 Census as farm labourer aged 15.

He then (2 Sep 1851) joins the Navy (No. 29759) giving a DoB 5 Nov 1835 (not 1834). There is a detailed list of his 20-year career available for download in the National Archives. He was in Crimea, in Opium War and in America/Caribbean. He spent a couple of years ashore in Devonport 1862-64 during which time he married Emma Jane. Then in 1868/69 he is imprisoned several times, and is eventually discharged from the Navy 'Undesirable' on 13 April 1870.
 
I cannot find anything at all about him after 1870. Just like his wife he vanishes from the record, at least as far as I can find.

So, can any clever Rootschatter find any record of these two after 1864/1870?

I don't know if they stayed together or not, nor whether they died or emigrated... No Ancestry Public Trees have any information on them, and I have not found anything in UK Ancestry, GRO, Family Search (both 'records' and 'Catalog'). Maybe someone can find something in FindMyPast or MyHeritage or has an International sub for Ancestry... My guess is that they didn't produce any offspring otherwise they'd appear in other folk's researches.

Thanks for reading.

[Gallicrow]

I wonder if they could have started using Sanders as their surname rather than Ridge?

This entry in the 1881 census is worth a look:
https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1881&indiv=try&h=3112034

The William C Sanders could be William Charles Nodder (born 1863, but with MMN Bluett, which is difficult to explain). Edith S Sanders could be Edith Sage Sandford (birth registered in Exeter in 1871, MMN blank).

I must say that the occupation of William Sanders in the 1881 census - "Teacher Of Basket Making To The Blind Institution Service" - doesn't match what I'd expect of William Sanders Ridge.

[TadlowNewell]

Thanks so much for picking this up, and for the 'Sanders' suggestion, which I had not thought of.
Having had a look at the Census page you point to, I don't think this is 'our' family. There is just too much inconsistency - e.g in birthplaces, occupation and such like.

I do have William Charles Nodder and Jane Bluett in my database. They are a Torpoint couple, and he is the son of Joseph and Prudence Nodder who ran the 'Mason's Arms' pub in Torpoint for many years. William Charles and Jane had (among other children) a son they named William Charles Nodder in 1863, but he died in infancy.

Thanks again for looking.

One postscript: I have found the attached 1861 mention of Emma Jane Nodder in the British Newspaper Archive. I love the description of he as being 'respectable-looking'! I don't have a sub to BNA and used up my 'free' entries long ago, so cannot see the full article. Could anyone oblige?

[Jomot]

DEVONPORT GUILDHALL
MONDAY.- Before J May and S Kerswell Esqrs.
[…]
Emma Nodder, charged with stealing boots and shoes from Mrs Whittell, was remanded till Tuesday.

TUESDAY. – Before the Worshipful the Mayor (J. W. W. RYDER Esq), R. N. WATSON, and R. J. LAITY Esqrs.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF WOMEN’S BOOTS
Mary Ann Amelia Coleman, Elizabeth Coleman, and Emma Jane Nodder, three respectable looking girls, were charged with stealing a pair of boots, value 4s, the property of Mrs Sarah Whittell. The evidence went to show that Nodder, who had been a domestic servant in the house of Mrs Whittell, had taken from her mistress’s shop a good many pairs of boots – it might have been twenty – and transferred them to the girl Coleman, who had pawned them at various shops in the name of Berry.  Proof was tendered as to two pairs of boots, and on these two charges the prisoners were convicted and severally sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on the first charge, and twenty-one days’ on the second.  The Bench thought there had been carelessness on the part of Mrs Whittell in the access to the shop permitted to Nodder, and in dismissing the younger Coleman, a girl about thirteen, the Mayor expressed his surprise at finding her and her sister in the position they were, knowing something of the way in which they were brought up, and that they had been kept at school. He hoped it would be a lesson to the younger ones to avoid such practices in future.  It is understood that the boots in the pawnbroker’s hands, belonging to Mrs Whittell, and upon which proceedings were not taken, would be returned to the owner. – The Court was crowded throughout the hearing of these charges.  The prisoner Nodder fainted just before she was sentenced.

[TadlowNewell]

Many thanks Jomot. I realise that took effort to transcribe.