Caroline WATSON and sons Ernest WATSON and Harry WATSON

[Macushla]

Good morning from Adelaide, South Australia.

I'm hoping that someone will help me, please.

I'm trying to find the maiden name and possibly birth details of Caroline WATSON.

In the 1881 England & Wales Census - Caroline Watson,  she is found in Bradford, (p. 155), living as a widow with sons Ernest, aged 6, and Harry, aged 4. Both boys listed as born in Bradford, Caroline born in Birstall. Her age is given as 26 at the time, so she would be born around 1855.

Caroline, my great-grandmother, married my great-grandfather, Rev. Andrew Fuller MILLS, in Wales in around 1884.

I'd like to find her maiden name possibly the full name of her WATSON husband, along with the birth details of her boys, if possible. I believe that her maiden name may be RHODES, but I don't have any actual citation for that; I tend to be a sporadic in my genealogy research and I feel like every time I come back to it, I have forgotten what I knew before! I have tried searching birth records through A*cestry, but getting hopelessly lost.

Any help, or direction, would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much,
M.

[crisane]

marriage on FreeBMD
Marriages December 1/4 1884   
Andrew Fuller Mills       
Caroline Watson       
registration district Knighton (Knighton spans the boundaries of the counties of Radnorshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire) 11b page 235

[mckha489]

These births would fit
The birth certificate / or just the index on GRO  of your grandparent would confirm the maiden name
As RHODES

These are the boys

WATSON, HARRY       RHODES 
GRO Reference: 1876  M Quarter in BRADFORD YORKSHIRE  Volume 09B  Page 202
 

WATSON, ERNEST  WILLIAM     RHODES 
GRO Reference: 1874  J Quarter in BRADFORD YORKSHIRE  Volume 09B  Page 196

Here is a Mills

MILLS, MAUD  MYRA     RHODES 
GRO Reference: 1885  D Quarter in WEST BROMWICH  Volume 06B  Page 807
 

Free BMD has only one likely marriage in 1873

https://www.freebmd.org.uk

William Henry Watson

[crisane]

Possible death
Deaths March 1/4 1876   
William Henry Watson age 28 registration district Bradford Y.    vol 9b page 127

[mckha489]

Presume you know all about Andrew Fuller Mills but there is a long piece about his clerical career

02 July 1897 - Carmarthen Weekly Reporter - Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Not a single mention of his family!

[mckha489]

Possible death
Deaths March 1/4 1876   
William Henry Watson age 28 registration district Bradford Y.    vol 9b page 127

I thought so too, but no mention of wife in death notice

“Watson, February 24th. William Henry  of 65 Ashgrove, manufacturer , eldest son of William Watson, Draper, age 28”

Burial Undercliffe cemetery

[mckha489]

Watson-Rhodes

August 6th (1873) at the parish church, Birstal,
William Henry, Eldest son of Councillor William Watson, of
Bradford, to Caroline, youngest daughter of the late John Rhodes Esq,  Birstal.

[Macushla]

Thank you both so very much, mckha489 and crisane, that's a lot for me to work with.

I'm just about to read the piece on the Reverend; I do have a bit of info. on him but this looks good! Funny how family is never mentioned; he went on to be Mayor, too and I know from stories my grandfather told my dad, it was something that involved the whole family. My grandfather didn't like living such a public life; it's one of the reasons that he moved to Australia.

mckha489, may I please ask where you found the marriage information?

Thank you both again, so much. This gives me a lot to do on this quiet Sunday afternoon.

[crisane]

I found it.
 16 August 1873 - Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser -