Elizabeth Cole Webber

[Phoenix]

She was baptised 14 March 1830 in Langton Matravers Dorset. Father William Cole Webber.

In all the criminal records (that I have found them!) they are called Cole Webber, but in others they are usually Cole in censuses and Cole Webber or just Webber in parish registers.

Her daughter Mary Jane Webber is born March qtr 1850 Wareham RD

I cannot find either of them in 1851.

Elizabeth marries Frederick Pope June qtr 1855 Wareham RD. I suspect this was a registry office wedding. Frederick was twenty years her senior, still living with his parents in 1851.

Their daughter Frances was born 1859.

Frederick dies 1860 and Elizabeth is in Bere Regis with both daughters on the 1861 census.

In 1863 Elizabeth marries Charles Barnes in Bere Regis. He dies five years later in 1868.

In 1869 Elizabeth's elder daughter Mary Jane marries Israel Cobb in Bere Regis. Witnesses do not appear to be members of her family.

1871 Mary Jane & Israel Cobb have Fanny Pope aged 12 with them. No sign of Elizabeth.

Soon after the girls move to Hampshire, finally settling in Portsea and living close to each other.

But what happens to Elizabeth? Did she marry a third time? When did she die? Can anyone spot her?

[kiterunner]

Do you have Charles Barnes' death cert, Phoenix? Just wondering whether Elizabeth was an informant, which would show that she was still alive at that point.

[Phoenix]

Amended to say that in 1851 Elizabeth Coal is in Langton Matravers still, with sisters Rachel & Maria and baby Mary.

Aunt Temperance Webber (who had been hauled up before the authorities with Elizabeth a few years earlier) was next door.

[Phoenix]

No, KIte. I agree that that might have helped. These are the ancestors of the handcuff queen, so not my direct line. It's just irritating that she vanishes so comprehensively. I'd have thought that in rural Dorset she'd have been buried in the churchyard.

Elizabeth's daughters seem no better than she at holding on to husbands: they had six between the three of them.

[Merry]

What about this couple?

1871 census
1 Collingwood Place, Portsea

John Barnes head m 38 labourer general b Wareham
Elizabeth Barnes wife m 36 b Langton, Dorset

1871 census (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/7619/HAMRG10_1127_1128-0108/10927933?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3duki1871%26so%3d2%26pcat%3dROO T_CATEGORY%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26rank%3d1%26new%3d1%26M SAV%3d2%26msT%3d1%26gss%3dangs-g%26gsfn%3deli*%26gsfn_x%3dXO%26gsln_x%3dXO%26msyd y%3d1830%26msydy_x%3d1%26gskw%3dlangton%26gskw_x%3 d1%26cpxt%3d1%26catBucket%3drstp%26uidh%3d672%26ms ydp%3d5%26cp%3d11&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults)

I thought perhaps if she had run off with a relation of her previous husband, and so didn't change her name, she might not have seen the need for another marriage ceremony.

More likely than not she probably just needs to be eliminated though, but I'm having trouble with that!

[Phoenix]

Hmm. He's born Fareham, rather than Wareham,but All Saints is the right sort of area of Portsmouth to be in.

I would put nothing past this family and most of Elizabeth's sisters, wandering through several partner changes, end up in the same place.

[Merry]

Hmm. He's born Fareham, rather than Wareham

lol! I was without my glasses when I looked at it, so saw what I wanted to see!

[Phoenix]

However, only saying that on that census. There's another, younger John Barnes b Fareham. It could be an enumerator hearing what he wanted to hear. I notice that there's a John baptised in Bere Regis, in 1831.

The quickest way to disappear is to abandon your children and shack up with someone with a common name :mad: