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Births Mar 1884
Shaw Betsy Whitaker Hemsworth 9c 153

all i no of her is on the marriage cert is that she was called betsy and her dad was joseph :( my family dont even remember her cos they are to young

Sarah,

Do not allow yourself to be misled by the Betsy thing.

I first found my great grandmother on the censuses as a married woman named Fanny. I found her marriage, as Fanny, and built up the full set of censuses where she is recorded as Fanny every time.

I found a birth registration to match but I could not find a death registration.

And then I asked my mum (I know you can't ask). And she proclaimed quite haughtily, "her name was Frances"!

So I found the death registration and another birth registration, this time as Frances Jane.

But for two years I had been beguiled by "Fanny".

Jude

I keep going back to the Birth of Betsy Whitaker Shaw in 1884. I'm wondering if this might be your Betsy and she was born out of a relationship between Harriet Shaw and Joseph Whitaker.

In the 1881 Census Harriet (think this is Harriet and not Hannah as transcribed) is a widow and house keeper to Joseph Whitaker.

I had a similar situation with one of my Ancestors. She was a widow and a housekeeper to a widower who was 20 years her senior. She bore two of his children both of which where registered with my Ancestors married surname but with the widowers surname as a middle name. One might ask why didn't they marry if the were both widowed, that is still a mystery!

Could it be that Betsy put Joseph (after Joseph Whitaker) Shaw as her Father's Name on the Marr Cert in order not to show her illegitimacy

In the 1871 Census

Harriet is Married to James Shaw with a Family and Joseph Whitaker to Sarah with a Family; both are on the same page of the Census. Unfortunately, I'm not able to copy it at the moment.

Edit

With regards to my Ancestor's situation of not marrying it could have something to do with the law of Families inter-marrying; my Ancestor's brother married the widowers daughter. Haven't yet fathomed out if this is the reason why they didn't marry because perhaps it wasn't legally possible.

Not sure whether this will lead anywhere but I think it's worth adding if for no other reason than to eliminate .


This is the 1861 for Harriet & James Shaw.....Note their is a neice Elizabeth Senior the surname 'Senior' appears in the 1891 Census for Betsy Shaw.

Name: Harriet Shaw
Age: 19
Estimated birth year: 1842
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: James Shaw
Gender: Female
Where born: Royston, Yorkshire, England
Civil Parish: Darton
County/Island: Yorkshire
Country: England
Street address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

View image
Registration district: Barnsley
Sub-registration district: Darton
ED, institution, or vessel: 3
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 243
Piece: 3442
Folio: 49
Page Number: 42
Household Members:
Name Age
James Shaw 26 occ Coal Miner
Harriet Shaw 19
John Shaw 1
Elizabeth Senior 8 Niece

For the record this is the 1871 census for Harriet & James Shaw

Name: Harriet Shaw
Age: 29
Estimated birth year: abt 1842
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: James Shaw
Gender: Female
Where born: Roystone, Yorkshire, England
Civil Parish: Roystone
Town: Roystone
County/Island: Yorkshire
Country: England
Registration district: Barnsley
Sub-registration district: Darton
ED, institution, or vessel: 6
Household schedule number: 47
Piece: 4643
Folio: 105
Page Number: 10
Household Members:
Name Age
James Shaw 35
Harriet Shaw 29
John Shaw 11
William H Shaw 8
Elizabeth Shaw 6
Sarah Shaw 4
Anne Shaw 2
Ellen Shaw 1
Charles Crowther 25 brother in law


On the same census page are Joseph Whitaker and wife Sarah

Name: Joseph Whitaker
Age: 49
Estimated birth year: abt 1822
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Sarah Whitaker
Gender: Male
Where born: Roystone, Yorkshire, England
Civil Parish: Roystone
Town: Roystone
County/Island: Yorkshire
Country: England
Registration district: Barnsley
Sub-registration district: Darton
ED, institution, or vessel: 6
Household schedule number: 49
Piece: 4643
Folio: 105
Page Number: 10
Household Members:
Name Age
Joseph Whitaker 49 b Royston Yorkshire
Sarah Whitaker 46 b Ardsley Yorkshire
Emma Whitaker 17
William Whitaker 15
Samuel Whitaker 13
Fanny Whitaker 11
George Whitaker 9

The Marriage of Harriet Crowther to James Shaw
Name: Harriet Crowther
Birth Year: abt 1841
Age: 18
Marriage or Bann Date: 6 Feb 1860
Parish: Royston, St John the Baptist, Yorkshire, England
Spouse: James Shaw Widower occ Collier
Age 25
Father: John Crowther occ Farmer
Spouse Father: Paul Shaw Deceased

Witnesses Joseph Poppleton & John Wilson

1851 census for Harriet

Name: Harriet Crowther
Age: 9
Estimated birth year: abt 1842
Relation: Daughter
Father's name: John Crowther
Mother's name: Elizabeth Crowther
Gender: Female
Where born: Roystone, Yorkshire, England
Civil Parish: Roystone
Ecclesiastical parish: Monk Bretton
Phillimore Ecclesiastical Parish Maps:
View related Ecclesiastical Parish
County/Island: Yorkshire
Country: England
Street address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Disability:

View image
Registration district: Barnsley
Sub-registration district: Darton
ED, institution, or vessel: 3a
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 4
Piece: 2332
Folio: 40
Page Number: 1
Household Members:
Name Age
John Crowther 48 b Barugh Yorkshire occ Farmer of 12 acres (and Boat Hauler)
Elizabeth Crowther 48 Ossett Yorkshire
Rachael Crowther 16 b Agbridge Yorkshire
Harriet Crowther 9 b Royston
Ellen Crowther 7 b Royston
Charles Crowther 5 b Royston
Moses Stanfield 17 Servant
Thomas Robishaw 20 Servant

On the next page are three families with surname 'Senior'

i would just like to thank everyone for your help with his elusive great grandmother of mine haha i will look into all possible leads to find the correct one before i set it in store maybe i could try and look into the family were she was a servant before her marriage and see if any of them are still alive with any knowledge of her.
i know its a long shot but it might crack one piece of the puzzle as i dont live to far away from the place where she worked