I`ve gone crosseyed, loking for death of a great grandmother, until the 1881 census, she had been in Derby, where she was born & married.
However, the 1881 census for Perth, Scotland, she appears with husband & daughter Mabel(my grandmother) the other children were all scattered, one daughter with her Scottish grandmother in Edinburgh, the eldest son (from 1st marriage, in lodgings, also in Edinburgh, another son,cannot find him, did he die? if so where? no trace) another son believed to have been in the Fechney Industrial School, have tried finding the records, but unfortunately they no longer exist for that period.
shortly after 1881 grandmother shown on the census, was most likely with her sister in Edinburgh, as she was despatched from there (from Mrs Blaikies emigration home)to Canada arranged by grandmother`s sister, in 1889.
Now, it seemed to me that gt grandmother must have died,and that could have been the reason for daughter Mabel being shipped off to Canada
BUT, after a wait of over a year, I received from the lovely people of Barnardos, a report about my grandmother (who had married in Canada and left there in 1900 to go to Scotland)
Mabel told the people in the children`s home where she had been sent to in Canada, that she was not after an orphan, but that her FATHER was alive & living in Birmingham, however she said her GRANDMOTHER was dead, but the Edinburgh grandmother did not die until some years later, so did dhe refer to the other granmother still in Derby? (have not solved that one yet) there was no mention of what had happened to her MOTHER
(perhaps she had been abducted by aliens!!)
Mabel`s father had written to her, shortly after this "confession" and some extracts were quoted on the report, father had said "..no wife and no job..and complans about the selfishness of Mabel`s sister Effie, then goes on to say "..but never mind my dear, we can manage without her.."
again no mention of death of his wife.
Now comes another puzzling thing, I traced the father (George Nelson Grant) on the 1891 1901 census, now in Glasgow, but, he now has a wife named ANNIE!! have not found any record of that marriage, was he therefore "living in sin" he died in 1919 in Leicester, again wife ANNIE being mentioned, therehad been an inquest because he had dropped dead outside his home.
So, I assumed that gr grandmother must have died later than the census time, so searched from 1881 up to 1891 for her death, both in Sctland & England, nothing turned up.
So, now I am thinking,did they separate and each go their own way, he with Annie and wife with ? she also may have "lived in sin" with someone, but without a surname how can I possibly find her???
Gt grandmothers name was MARY HANNAH GRANT (nee Copeland) born in Derby 1850, she married George Nelson in 1868 in Derby, he was then a widower with a baby son, his first wife Mary Plews Street, having died from Consumption in 1866
So, any suggestions how I can attempt to find Mary Hannah
no wonder I`m going cross eyed, I`ve uncovered so many skeletons in the family cupboard, on both Paternal & Maternal sides, the ancestors must be spinning in their graves by now, that the information they tried so hard to conceal is being opened up No wonder I was never told anything about the family and any questions asked were never answered!!