Does anyone know anything of a Liverpool cotton broker named Henry Charles LEWIS? The 1881 census shows Mary Fletcher CLARKE born Runcorn in 1847 living in Everton with the surname LEWIS and with three children of that name. She is described as married but there is no husband with her. The 1891 census shows her as a widow. Her death certificate and the marriage certificate of her daughter gives her husband as Henry Charles LEWIS deceased cotton broker. I can find no record of a marriage of Mary and Henry or of a record of his death or any record of him on a census. This leads me to suppose that he may have been invented by Mary. The problem with this conclusion is that Mary did not come from a family that had any wealth but she never appeared to need to do any work and was described as of independent means so she had support from someone. In similar cases I have come to the conclusion that the method of achieving 'independent means' may have been less than honourable but there are always other circumstances to support this. In this case there isn't. Does anyone know of a Henry Charles LEWIS? David

Hi David, Well this one is a bit of conundrum, isn't it? Which marriage certificate did you purchase? Was it Sara Mabel Lewis's marriage in 1900 in Ormskirk? As the children's births can't be found on the civil registration index, I think it's reasonable to assume that they weren't born under the surname of Lewis. The children, Harry, Mary V and Mabel (which I'm supposing is wrongly entered on the 1881 census as being 7 months of age, and should be Sara Mabel born abt 1873/4) could be hers born outside of wedlock under her maiden name. Or, they could be born to a previous marriage of Mary Fletcher Clarke, with the husband dying/leaving the marriage shortly after the birth of their last child, and Mary "marries" again to Henry Lewis, and the children take his name. To be honest, I would concentrate on what you know to exist, rather than trying to find something you don't, ie the births of the children should be a priority. Ancestry has an entry for a Sara Mabel Lewis on the one world tree section, but although they have the marriage taking place to John Connell Drummond in 1900, it states London and not Ormskirk, and the parents are shown to be a John Lewis and a Moira MacFarland. It may be worth making contact with the person who has submitted the information to find out where they got their details from - you might be able to save them from barking up the wrong tree with the research you have :o) Regards, Sally ---------------------------------------- > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:59:57 +0100 > Subject: [ENG-LIV] Henry Charles LEWIS - Cotton Broker > > Does anyone know anything of a Liverpool cotton broker named Henry Charles > LEWIS? > > The 1881 census shows Mary Fletcher CLARKE born Runcorn in 1847 living in > Everton with the surname LEWIS and with three children of that name. She is > described as married but there is no husband with her. The 1891 census shows > her as a widow. Her death certificate and the marriage certificate of her > daughter gives her husband as Henry Charles LEWIS deceased cotton broker. > > I can find no record of a marriage of Mary and Henry or of a record of his > death or any record of him on a census. This leads me to suppose that he may > have been invented by Mary. The problem with this conclusion is that Mary > did not come from a family that had any wealth but she never appeared to > need to do any work and was described as of independent means so she had > support from someone. > > In similar cases I have come to the conclusion that the method of achieving > 'independent means' may have been less than honourable but there are always > other circumstances to support this. In this case there isn't. > > Does anyone know of a Henry Charles LEWIS? > > David > > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > > Admin Message - List guidelines: > http://freespace.virgin.net/genealogical.collections/AdminMessage.htm > > The list admin can be contacted at > [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Sally, Thank you for your interest in my query. It was the Ormskirk certificate I obtained. It showed the marriage of Sara to Dr John Drummond of 2, Radnor Place, Liverpool. From this information I was able to find Sara and husband and children on the 1901 census. Sara and Dr John then divorced in 1898. I have had no success so far in trying to find the children. The obvious one to look for is Sara Mabel Clarke but there is no record. I have tried all alternatives: Sarah Mabel, Sara, Sarah, Mabel and also looked for a Sara Mabel with any surname all to no avail. There are possibles for all 3 children but I would have to spend a small fortune on certificates to try to find them. By the way, it is Mary who is shown as age 7 months on the 1881, not Mabel. One clue as to Sara Mabel's birth comes from the record of her death. It is not shown on her death certificate but the GRO index record on Ancestry shows that she was born on 30th March 1873. Unfortunately I don't think this is right as the 1881 census shows her as age 8, 1891 as 18 etc. If her birthday was on 30th March she would have been 9, 19 etc. I have seen the entry for Sara Mabel Lewis on One World Tree and as you say it has her mother's family wrong. Unfortunately there is no contact information for whoever submitted the information. Regards David -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of sally roberts Sent: 28 June 2012 23:53 To: englanliverpool Subject: Re: [ENG-LIV] Henry Charles LEWIS - Cotton Broker Hi David, Well this one is a bit of conundrum, isn't it? Which marriage certificate did you purchase? Was it Sara Mabel Lewis's marriage in 1900 in Ormskirk? As the children's births can't be found on the civil registration index, I think it's reasonable to assume that they weren't born under the surname of Lewis. The children, Harry, Mary V and Mabel (which I'm supposing is wrongly entered on the 1881 census as being 7 months of age, and should be Sara Mabel born abt 1873/4) could be hers born outside of wedlock under her maiden name. Or, they could be born to a previous marriage of Mary Fletcher Clarke, with the husband dying/leaving the marriage shortly after the birth of their last child, and Mary "marries" again to Henry Lewis, and the children take his name. To be honest, I would concentrate on what you know to exist, rather than trying to find something you don't, ie the births of the children should be a priority. Ancestry has an entry for a Sara Mabel Lewis on the one world tree section, but although they have the marriage taking place to John Connell Drummond in 1900, it states London and not Ormskirk, and the parents are shown to be a John Lewis and a Moira MacFarland. It may be worth making contact with the person who has submitted the information to find out where they got their details from - you might be able to save them from barking up the wrong tree with the research you have :o) Regards, Sally ---------------------------------------- > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:59:57 +0100 > Subject: [ENG-LIV] Henry Charles LEWIS - Cotton Broker > > Does anyone know anything of a Liverpool cotton broker named Henry > Charles LEWIS? > > The 1881 census shows Mary Fletcher CLARKE born Runcorn in 1847 living > in Everton with the surname LEWIS and with three children of that > name. She is described as married but there is no husband with her. > The 1891 census shows her as a widow. Her death certificate and the > marriage certificate of her daughter gives her husband as Henry Charles LEWIS deceased cotton broker. > > I can find no record of a marriage of Mary and Henry or of a record of > his death or any record of him on a census. This leads me to suppose > that he may have been invented by Mary. The problem with this > conclusion is that Mary did not come from a family that had any wealth > but she never appeared to need to do any work and was described as of > independent means so she had support from someone. > > In similar cases I have come to the conclusion that the method of > achieving 'independent means' may have been less than honourable but > there are always other circumstances to support this. In this case there isn't. > > Does anyone know of a Henry Charles LEWIS? > > David > > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > > Admin Message - List guidelines: > http://freespace.virgin.net/genealogical.collections/AdminMessage.htm > > The list admin can be contacted at > [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Admin Message - List guidelines: http://freespace.virgin.net/genealogical.collections/AdminMessage.htm The list admin can be contacted at [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message