Peter Williams was baptised in Winscombe, Somerset, in 1819, apparently married to Ann Bassett at Long Ashton in 1839, had a daughter Ann Williams, born in Wedmore about 1843, a second daughter Adelaide born in Bristol in 1846, and a third daughter Hannah born in London in 1849. Thereafter the family seems to have lived in the Marylebone area of London, where Peter Williams worked as a cordwainer/bootmaker. At the 1871 and 1881 censuses there is a grandson staying with the family, Henry Alfred Dash, who was presumably an apprentice to his grandfather as he is later also shown as a bootmaker. The 1871 census also shows an Ann Dash with a Henry Alfred Dash, hatter, and three daughters, so presumably she was Ann Williams, the eldest daughter of Peter Williams. And here is the problem :- The eldest child of Henry Alfed and Ann Dash appears to be Henrietta Alexandra Annie, born in 1863. But in 1861 Henry Alfred Dash was living with his first wife, Mary Ann Crisp, and their two daughters Frances and Laura. So some time between 1861 and 1863, Mary Ann Crisp disaapears, and is replaced by Ann Williams. Did she die? Did she run away? Did her husband desert her? I've been able to find no record of her death in FreeBMD or anywhere else, and no record of a marriage of Henry Alfred Dash to Ann Williams, yet they obviously lived together and had 8 children. Some of the children are also mysteriously absent from some of the censuses too. I know about Henry Alfred junior, who was living with his grandfather, and at one Henrietta was living with her half-sister. But some of the others just seem to vanish, and then pop up years later. -- Steve Hayes Web: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com/ http://hayesgreene.blogspot.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afgen/

On 18/07/2013 09:49, Steve Hayes wrote: > So some time between 1861 and 1863, Mary Ann Crisp disaapears, and is replaced > by Ann Williams. > > Did she die? Did she run away? Did her husband desert her? Ancestry/Freebmd has... England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 about Mary Ann Crisp Name: Mary Ann Crisp Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1862 Registration District: St George Hanover Square Inferred County: London Volume: 1a Page: 203