This week's prompt WORKING resulted in my going back over census records looking at the professions of the ancestors who make up this Bramble Bush.
As a fulltime working woman I am often taken by surprise at how recent it was that women were listed with a dash or none to indicate they didn't work or that they were keeping house.
There were so few women working that it catches me by surprise when I find a relative of ours who was listed with a profession in a time that typically women weren't.
As I was looking through the census records I discovered something a bit confusing.
In the 1901 census my husband's 3rd great grandmother, Henrietta (nee Scealey) Whitesell, was listed as head of household at age 47. She was residing with her mother, Jane M (nee Backhouse) Sealey aged 78. Henrietta's profession was listed as farmer. Henrietta was married, and yet husband Arthur was not living with her. Mother, Jane, was widowed. They were in South Northfolk, Woodhouse Township.
I then went searching for where husband Arthur was during this census taking. I found Arthur living with their children: David (aged 23) and Cora (aged 17) in Elgin, Bayham Township. Arthur was listed as head of household, and he was a farmer.
As I dug some more for Henrietta I found her in the 1861 census. Her mother Jane was listed as head of the household with daughters Hannah (aged 11) & Henrietta (aged 9). She was listed as married. Husband George was not on this census record.
I finally found George in the 1861 census living with his parents & younger brother Orlo (age 15) in Bayham Township, Elgin County.
As I continued to dig around I discovered a possible reason for why George was not to be found with his family. It seems he had been living apart from his wife over several years.
George died in 1894 under mysterious circumstances. He may have been poisoned OR the poison may have been added to his body after death by natural causes.
George died May 13th 1894. On October 20th 1893 he rewrote his will leaving everything to Sarah Jane Robbins. She is listed as his wife, but there appears to have been no divorce from Jane (who listed herself as a widow in the 1901 census).
The new will replaced one that had been written in 1887.
Soon after he died the rumours began that he had been poisoned and Sarah's brother had influence over George. Sarah & her brother were executrix & executor of George's approx $40,000 estate. Remember this was 1894, and that was a lot of money.
His daughter Henrietta contested the will.
The body was exhumed, but there appeared to be too much arsenic for the poison to have been added before death. How exactly did the arsenic get into his organs after death?
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/589338/vancouver-daily-world/
It appears as though Jane & George had been living apart for many years. I can not come up with a logical reason for why Henrietta & Arthur were living separately for the 1901 census which was where this research session began about 7 hours ago.
And so ends a journey down the genealogical rabbit hole for today
When researching results in more questions than answers!!!
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
This is why I search -
Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/
________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment