I am looking for a Mary Ann Sutton who would have been 17 when the 1891 census was taken. I subscribe to two sites where this census is on line, and find that they are both different in many respects. I have found people on one that are not on the other, and vice versa. One site seems to definitely have several pages missing for Prittlewell. Anyway, Mary Ann was supposed to have been working in this area in 1891. In 1893 she gave birth to an illegitimate child who was registered as Mabel Dorothy Burgess Sutton. To my mind the Burgess part would have been an indication as to who the father was. Family lore has it that she was made pregnant by the son of the people who she was working for, and that they were the Prittlewell's squire's family. Mary eventually married Ernest Vince(who was apparently illiterate, but better than nothing in those days), when Mabel Dorothy was 3 years old, and from then on the child was known as Dorothy Mabel Vince, under which name she married. Only to die 2 months later of consumption. Ernest and Mary Ann are my husband's paternal grandparents, and whilst Dorothy really has no bearing on our family genealogy, my curiosity needs to know who she was working for, and if there was a Burgess in the household. On one site I have found a Robert Burgess, born Norwich.Norfolk aged 32, working as a farm servant at Chalkwell Hall, along with 2 other female servants - neither of which are remotely like Mary Ann. She may have arrived there after the census of curse. He does not appear on the other on-line site. So, is there anyone out there who has access to the actual census records that could look up Mary Ann Sutton aged 17, working in Prittlewell in 1891? MTIA Maisie Vince Australia

Hi Maisie The extra middle name may very well be a clue to the identity of Mabel's father. Adding a putative father's surname in the Christian name column was a common enough practice. Nevertheless, you should not exclude other possibilities - it could have been a distant family name, or even the name of someone who had been kind to her during her "trouble". I'm a little puzzled by what you mean by "the actual census records". If you think that Mary Ann has been so horribly mistranscribed as to be unfindable through either of the online indexes to which you have access or that both of those indexes have missed her, you can work your way through the census images for Prittlewell yourself. Most online providers have this facility - let us know if you are unsure how to do it. If you take this route, make sure you check that the schedule numbers (left most column) are continuous from one page to the next. If they are not, it suggests a missing page. The other possibility is that Mary Ann was not in Prittlewell at all. If this is the case, you are going to have a very tough search on your hands if you want to do it "manually"! Is your Mary Ann SUTTON the one living with her grandfather Charles in Orsett in 1881? If so, she also seems to have a third Christian name of Eliza. Might she therefore be the Eliza SUTTON, born Orsett c1873 who is a domestic servant in North Kensington in 1891? Servants quite often had their names adapted by their masters, and I can find no other evidence of an Eliza SUTTON being born or living in Orsett prior to this time. Hope this helps Caroline > -----Original Message----- > From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk- > bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Tony & Maisie Vince > Sent: 25 August 2008 00:43 > To: Essex List > Subject: [Ess] 1891 Census for Essex > > I am looking for a Mary Ann Sutton who would have been 17 when the 1891 > census was taken. I subscribe to two sites where this census is on > line, and find that they are both different in many respects. I have > found people on one that are not on the other, and vice versa. One > site seems to definitely have several pages missing for Prittlewell. > > Anyway, Mary Ann was supposed to have been working in this area in > 1891. In 1893 she gave birth to an illegitimate child who was > registered as Mabel Dorothy Burgess Sutton. To my mind the Burgess part > would have been an indication as to who the father was. Family lore has > it that she was made pregnant by the son of the people who she was > working for, and that they were the Prittlewell's squire's family. > > Mary eventually married Ernest Vince(who was apparently illiterate, but > better than nothing in those days), when Mabel Dorothy was 3 years old, > and from then on the child was known as Dorothy Mabel Vince, under > which name she married. Only to die 2 months later of consumption. > > Ernest and Mary Ann are my husband's paternal grandparents, and whilst > Dorothy really has no bearing on our family genealogy, my curiosity > needs to know who she was working for, and if there was a Burgess in > the household. On one site I have found a Robert Burgess, born > Norwich.Norfolk aged 32, working as a farm servant at Chalkwell Hall, > along with 2 other female servants - neither of which are remotely like > Mary Ann. She may have arrived there after the census of curse. He does > not appear on the other on-line site. > > So, is there anyone out there who has access to the actual census > records that could look up Mary Ann Sutton aged 17, working in > Prittlewell in 1891? > > MTIA > > Maisie Vince > Australia > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK- > admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message