1881 Census - Mary Elizabeth Knowles/Powell

[rutht22000]

Hi

Can anyone find Mary Elizabeth on the 1881 census?

She is not with her mother Emma, siblings and step-father William Powell who are all at 4 South Terrace, Ditherington, Shropshire.

She would have been 15 give or take so could possibly be in service.  The family have connections to Liverpool, Wrexham and Shrewsbury.  She might be known as Knowles which is her birth name or Powell as all of her other siblings (on the 1881) have taken Powell as their surname.

She is alive as she marries Sam Griffiths (registered January 1890 at Atcham, Shropshire).  There is a Mary Elizabeth Knowles, age 15 in Liverpool (Little Woolton/Gateacre) but gives a birth place of Salford, so I am skeptical about that one. 

Thank you 

[Milliepede]

What birthplace does she have on other census? 

[rutht22000]

I did miss that bit out, didn't I?   

Wrexham

[CaroleW]

William Powell & Emma Knowles only married Sept qtr 1881.  Can you post details of the 1881 entry you mention above

IGNORE - just found them

[rutht22000]

William Powell & Emma Knowles only married Sept qtr 1881.  Can you post details of the 1881 entry you mention above

IGNORE - just found them

Don't worry - Emma's relationships are a little complex....she married one brother John Knowles, when he died she shacked up with his brother William Knowles (but said she was married to him)

When William Knowles died she lived with William Powell (who registered William Knowles' death  ), claimed to be married to William Powell on the 1881 census but didn't marry him until later that year.  Furthermore...William Powell was Emma's sister Anne's widower. 

[CaroleW]

Blimey  - that is one "tangled web"

[rutht22000]

Blimey  - that is one "tangled web"

Tell me about it!  She took a lot of unpicking

She lived with John and William Knowles at the same time and William Knowles and William Powell at the same time too by the looks of it 

Thankfully the Knowles brothers’ causes of death were natural… 

[CaroleW]

She certainly seems to have the “black widow” touch 🤣🤣

[Mabel Bagshawe]

There's a Mary E Knowles the right age on 1881 in Shrewsbury, a servant to Mr and Mrs Hill. Her pob is Wolverhampton but I can't find a birth to match, and the info would probably only be as good as her employers' memory.