A disintegrating family......

[Merry]

BK6 updated from this thread

Can anyone find any of these people in 1871?

1861 census:

RG 9; Piece: 264; Folio: 20; Page: 16

Ancestry 1861 census page (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8767/MDXRG9_264_265-0040/5707931?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3duki1861%252c%26ra nk%3d0%26gsfn%3dclark%26gsln%3dcotton%26sx%3d%26gs 1co%3d1%252cAll%2bCountries%26gs1pl%3d1%252c%2b%26 year%3d%26yearend%3d%26sbo%3d0%26sbor%3d%26ufr%3d0 %26wp%3d4%253b_80000002%253b_80000003%26srchb%3dr% 26prox%3d1%26ti%3d5538%26ti.si%3d0%26gss%3dangs-d%26pcat%3d35%26fh%3d0%26h%3d5707931%26recoff%3d&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord)

Clark Cotton was actually born in Alconbury cum Weston, Huntingdonshire in 1819.
I don't think Elizabeth was his wife as, until at least 1857, he was having children with his wife Mary Matilda, nee Clements, who he married in 1846. In 1851 Elizabeth was their lodger (surname Alexander at that date). I cannot find a marriage for Elizabeth and Clark.

I don't know what happened to Mary Matilda as there is no death for her. She was born in 1819, probably in St Leonard's Shoreditch where she was baptised (in 1851 there is no place of birth recorded for her).

One child is not accounted for up to 1861. Henry Joseph Cotton was born 31st August 1855 and then vanishes. Maybe he went wherever his mother did?

Clark and Mary Matilda's daughter, Matilda Mary (aged 14 in 1861), married in 1868 to Thomas Howse. She is the only one from this family I can find in 1871. She then vanishes and her husband calls himself a widower.

Their daughter Lydia Eliza (aged 12 in 1861) vanishes.

Their daughter Elizabeth (4 in 1861) married Frederick Davies in 1881, but I can't find her in 1871.

The father, Clark, should be on the 1871 census too, as he died in 1875 in the Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum, though his usual address was given as 5 Langley Court, Long Acre.

Any help would be much appreciated. :D

[HarrysMum]

Looking but son needs computer...back soon.

[kiterunner]

So we have the info to hand on who we are looking for, this is a transcription of the 1861 entry:
Clark Cotton Head Mar 48 Porter London
Eliza Do Wife Mar 48 Birmingham
Matilda Do Daur 14 Spital[fiel]ds Middx
Lydia Do Daur 12 Scholar Do
Elizabeth Do Daur 4 Do Do

[HarrysMum]

Blimey....they have gone AWOL....

[Phoenix]

Do you have any idea where Clark is in 1841?

There appears to be an Arthur Cotton, brush-maker and cabman who may be a brother, also having a son Clark, but that doesn't seem to lead any where.

[Merry]

No, Phoenix, I don't know where Clark was in 1841. I trawled the whole of the district of St Pancras on fiche a few years ago (131,000 records!) and found a few family members living at 13 West Street, but not Clark. However, the trawl did show me how many pages were completely illegible, so I'm not really surprised I couldn't find him.

The forename Clark was this Clark's mother's maiden name. He used it for his own son (Clark William Cotton 1853-1858) and as you said, his brother Arthur also used the name for his son (Clark Cotton 1859-1891). These two brothers also both had a daughter named Elizabeth Sarah Cotton in the same year which caused me a lot of confusion before the LMA records became available!

Last night I did find a servant called Elizabeth Cotton aged 14 b London in Clerkenwell which may be the youngest daughter.

[Shona]

There is a death registration for a Mary Ann Matilda Cotton, JFM 1861, St Pancras.

[Merry]

Mary Ann Matilda Cotton was the daughter of Clark's brother Arthur. She was born 27th October 1859.

[Merry]

Actually, if these brothers were close then it would seem more likely that Arthur might name a child for his sister-in-law if she were dead, rather than if she had run off with another man.

[Shona]

There a death of a Mary Matilda Howse registered AMJ 1886, Mile End Old Town. Born about 1872.

A daughter of Thomas and Matilda Howes?

[Merry]

She is a note on my tree, Shona! I haven't got her birth or death cert and couldn't see a bap, but I expect she is their child with those names!!

[Shona]

Clark Cotton and family in 1851, from Find My Past.

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/CensusShowPhotoImageServlet?imageName=9e4de504e852 d3293fe70cdfee7c6319f9a87344ef87b82060164ce7cf7b30 0f&censusYear=1851&imageStamp=9e003cca0453e29396de603eaed6256feea0b49 1db03610a58ec0160d6411bc75e5f8418f19b5123&desc=1851%20Census%20%3Cbr%3EMills%20Court,%20Spit alfields,%20Tower%20Hamlets%3Cbr%3EWhitechapel%3Cb r%3EHO107%20%20piece%201543%20folio%20180%20page%2 02%20&free=N&poorQuality=N&loc=&u=0&l=0&s=0&a=30900601

Mill's Court

Clark Cotton, head, 30, waiter
Mary Cotton, wife, 30
Lydia Cotton, daughter, 2, born Middx Spitalfields
Matilda Cotton, daughter, 3, born Middx Spitalfields
Eliza Alexander, lodger, 30, married, washerwoman, born Birmingham

A couple of doors away, there is a lodger named Margaret Clemments, married, 34, French polisher, born Bethnal Green.

I'll post this on the other thread about this family, for reference.