myroots

E Lancaster - Emma or Elizabeth?

posted Saturday, 9 April 2005
Whilst Alice Mary Wales' birth and death remain elusive, her mother's death certificate arrived in the latest batch of new certificates yesterday. Catherine Wales, nee Stoney, died on 18th November 1907, at 43 Herman Road, Bowles Road, Camberwell. She was 78 years old, the widow of Aaron Wales, Harness Maker, and died of 'cerebral softening' ... perhaps something like Alzheimers. The address ties in with the censuses and other certificates for the family. But there's still a bit of a question: the informant, present at death, was E. Lancaster, Daughter. Aaron and Catherine had two daughters with names starting with 'E': Emma born 1860, and Elizabeth B, born 1869. So which one was it?



A quick search on FreeBMD, that wonderful (though not complete) index of births, marriages and deaths, for Emma and Elizabeth marriages brought up nothing obvious for Emma, but a record in June 1895 for Elizabeth Bridgetina and Henry John Lancaster (interestingly, Alice Mary called one of her reputed 21 children after her sister Elizabeth Bridgetina, born in 1887, a few years before the marriage).