Enjoy puzzles????

[cheryle.f]

I had a one and a half year old puzzle on one side of the family that is nearly solved but at the same time there was another on the other side of the family. Sydney Gray(B1856) marries Mary Ann Curtis(bBreamore1852).One daughter was 'born to them'and one son. Gertrude Annie Gray was born in 1879 she was reg as such( Alderbury).She married in 1898 in Christchurch  and her first daughter was born 1898. Her marriage (father stated as Sydney) and death cert tie in with her being born in 1879. In the 1881 census Sydney and Mary Ann are living on there own, no daughter and she is nowhere to be found on any census. In the next census she is missing again but by now Sydney and Mary Ann have had a son who was born in 1888 and is with them (Ernest Gray). I know that sometimes people were missed of the census but this seemed deliberate so i started to look around the village of Redlynch and Wishford where the two main families in my tree originate from. In Wishford there was a Henry Gray and in his house an unmarried sister in law of 27 with the  maiden name Haskell. I discovered she died soon after this census and she had at the census a daughter living in the house Annie Gertrude,but when i checked it seemed this child also was reg as passing away. Could it be possible as Sydney and Mary Ann who seemed to be slightly more advantaged in life through the census's as were always classed as dealers in Horses or stables had taken a child from someone else, and the other thing that didnt quite add up was that their only other child wasnt 'born'untill 10 years later which i have never come across before. Would you have to prove a child passed away before you reg the death or could you just walk into an office and write the fact in the 1870's. I know Gertrude Annie was born and married but just cannot find her in between so it seems like she was 'hidden'while she was young.

                   any views appreiciated 

                                  cheryle.f

                         

[janan]

Hi Cheryle,
Do you have the birth certificate for Gertrude Annie Gray or just the registration details? Is there a birth registered for an Annie Gertrude Haskell around the same time? You've got a possible for Gertrude in 1891 in the shape of Annie Gertrude but what about 1881, have you Annie then? I would think it quite possible that Sydney and Mary Ann acquired Gertrude after her mother's death but then there is the child's death to consider? Do you have the death certificates? It is quite a lot to shell out but getting all certificates might be the only way of sorting this out.
Cheers Jan

Just looked in 1881 and see that is when she is with Emily so it is 1891 you've lost her, I got confused   I suppose eventhough they had registered/registered her as their own they would have been to scared to show her on a census, especially if there was something fishy about her death. Wonder how that was done? I'm sure you still needed a doctor to declare someone dead even in 1881 and there is the small question of the body You do need those death certificates.

[cheryle.f]

Hi Jan, Gertrude Annie(sidneys daughter)is reg in 1879, but not showing in the 1881 census as with them. Up the road in 1881 Henry Gray is living in Wishford with his family including his unmarried sister in law who passes away straight after the census leaving her one year old daughter Annie Gertrude. The funny thing is that the grand son of Gertrude Annie (who is now 84 )says that he never remembers his grandmother being called Gertrude but only Annie and another twist in the tale is that Henry who is in Wishford looks like he will turn out to be Sydneys brother. Their father and mother Mark and Eleanora Gray- General dealers so it seems to be one step forward and two back....but isn't that always the case. Oh and yes i do have Gertrude Annies marriage cert stating that her father was Sydney Gray but only the reg of birth 1879 Alderbury 5a177
but as yet have not ordered the birth cert.

       best wishes and thanks for taking an interest
                             regards cheryle

[janan]

I would really love to know how Annie Gertrude was supposed to have died, I am intrigued as to how they did this   Maybe some kind of accident, where the body wasn't found Let me know if you do get the death certificate

Jan (wanting the gory details )