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Julie - I'd like to know what you think about the birth register of William Albert Woollett that I wrote about yesterday.

He was a baker, known as William Harrison. His father was a bricklayer named Albert Harrison. In 1881 he was living in the same town (Maidstone) as his future wife.

Unmarried mothers were often sent away to stay with friends or family to have their babies. So he may have been born in Bow.

Dropping the middle name of Albert would be understandable, as his father went on to marry another woman when William was 4 years old.

Sorry about the delay in replying Ive been away. How do you know that the William Albert Woollett is the same as or known as William Harrison the young fella that lived with his Grandmother in the 1871 census. I have looked at this before. So you think I should get that birth cert. So are you saying that Woollett was the mothers name and he was registered as that. I have to try it i suppose. Thanks for your help.

No, don't do that! I edited my earlier post. I think that birth registry for William Albert Woollett is more likely to be for Emma's nephew. So please don't send off for the certificate on my advice.

I do think that there's a good possibility that your gt.grandfather was the William Harrison living in Maidstone though, as he was a baker and, according to his baptism record, his father was a bricklayer called Albert Harrison.

(Not married to his mother though).

As I mentioned, it was very common then for unmarried mothers to be sent elsewhere to have their babies. So William being born in Bow could still be a possibility. What made you dismiss this William Harrison when you looked at the family before?

Yes you could be right but the baptism record looks like its him it has the father Albert and mother Emma. The thing is she may of had him in London and then gone home to Maidstone and not registered him at all. The fact Albert and Emma lived a couple of streets apart :-S. Its mostly coincidences. I wish we did what they do in Scotland and put the mothers maiden name on the death cert lol. How did you get the baptism record ??

I think I might pop to the cemetery and see if his birthday is on the stone as the baptism record says that his birthday is 1st June 1863 if it is it would be one more thing closer.

The Maidstone parish records are on Find My Past

I can't work out where mother Emma went. :-(

Looking thru my notes I know why I didnt follow up some of the clues it was making sense up until 1881 census William Woollett died 1873 Mary Woollett became head of household thats all fine but then William Harrison appears as married but his future wife Eliza Batchelor is still single but this may explain why they didnt get married until 1919 after they had all the children he may not have been free to marry again until maybe a first wife died ???

Emma Woollett I think in 1871 census comes up in Northampton as a Cook/Servant ???