Help finding Elizabeth Clara please

[Sussex Maid]

I am having trouble finding this lady in 1871 and 1891
What I do have is
Elizabeth Clara Preston
b 1855 Plaistow Essex
1861 with parents Walton and Elizabeth Preston at Parnham St, West Ham (Clara Preston)
1878 marriage to Ebenezer Aldridge and 1881 with Ebenezer at Ainsty Street, Rotherhithe (Clara Aldridge)
Ebenezer dies and she marries William Nash in 1889.
After that nothing, I can't even find Kate, the daughter she had with Ebenezer.
Any help gratefully received

[kiterunner]

The 1881 census says Kate is age 3, born Rotherhithe, but I can't see her birth registration. Have you found it? And if so, what name was she registered as?

[Sussex Maid]

Kiterunner
Thank you for looking. The only birth reg I found was Q1 1878 West Ham for Kate Aldridge (Elizabeth Clara's family were in that area). I haven't got the certificate but maybe the birth preceded the marriage....

[Langley Vale Sue]

There is a death in West Ham JFM qtr 1897 for a Clara Nash aged 42. 4a 143

I also found an Eliza Preston in 1871 as an inmate in Shoreditch Industrial School, Brentwood, Essex. Her place of birth is unknown & her estimated birth year is 1858, which is a bit out I know.

[kiterunner]

This is very very tenuous, but... there is a death of a William Nash age 33 in Greenwich district Apr-Jun 1890, and a marriage of an Elizabeth Clara Nash Jan-Mar 1891 to either William Hammond or Thomas Harris (the other one married Sarah Ann Anthony). And there is a death of an Elizabeth Clara Harris Apr-Jun 1904 Greenwich district, age 48.

Well, so far that all looks very tenuous, as I said, but there is this family in 1901 at 20 Hanlon St., Deptford St Paul:
Thomas Harris Head M 49 Labourer Herts Hamptead
Clara Harris Wife M 45 Essex Canning Town
Joseph Harris Son 15 Rotherhithe

Canning Town is next to Plaistow. I'll see if I can find this lot in 1891...

[kiterunner]

Okay, 1891 at 4 Clarance St., St Paul Deptford
Thomas Harris Head M 38 General Laborer London Rotherhithe
Clara Do Wife M 36 Do Do
Kate Do Daur 13 Scholar Do Do
Thomas Do Son 10 Do Do Do
Joseph Do Son 5 Do Do Do
John Barnes Boarder S 18 General Laborer London Rotherhithe

The birthplaces for Thomas and Clara are wrong, but they have a daughter Kate of the right age, and born in the right place!

[Sussex Maid]

Sue - Thank you for the 1871 info, will check it out. I had noted the Clara Nash death in 1897 - she only seems to use the Elizabeth when she is getting married....
regards

[kiterunner]

Don't you think that Harris family is them, then?

[Sussex Maid]

Kiterunner
Thank you for the census information - she really is very unlucky with her husbands..
Will order the 1891 marriage and 1904 death that you found.
regards

[Sussex Maid]

Kiterunner
Sorry, rather slow in typing.
Yes I do think the Harris family is her/them and will order the certs
Thank you for your help
regards

[kiterunner]

Checked the 1881 and Thomas was in Rotherhithe with a wife called Priscilla, who was 35 born Norfolk St Peters. Children Clara Barnes 13 and John Barnes 8. Priscilla Harris death Apr-Jun 1887 St Saviour, age 42. (Joseph Henry Harris birth registered Apr-Jun 1886 St Olave)

[kiterunner]

Er, this might put the cat among the pigeons!

I was looking at the LMA baptisms on ancestry to see if Thomas and Elizabeth Clara had any children (I know there are none of theirs on the censuses, er, or so I thought, but they could have died young) and I found this! What the...?!

St Mary, Rotherhithe, 1877
Baptised Sepr 9 1877, born July 24th 1877: Kate Elizabeth, Dr of Thomas & Elizabeth Clara Harris, abode 25 Albion St., occupation labourer.

I don't think this can mean that I got the wrong Clara and Kate on the censuses, because Thomas and Clara have John Barnes with them in 1891, as well as Kate, and Thomas and Priscilla have John Barnes with them in 1881 and no Kate. But it looks as if Elizabeth Clara was living with Thomas Harris, had Kate, then married Ebenezer, then married William Nash, then she and Thomas got back together and actually married each other! What a complicated family!

(I can't see a marriage between Thomas Harris and Elizabeth Clara before Kate's birth, so this isn't a case of bigamy.)


Kate Elizabeth Harris birth registered Jul-Sep 1877 St Olave.

Possible marriage for Kate, 1st Jul 1900 at Bermondsey St Crispin: Henry Alfred John Clement Powell, 24, to Kate Elizabeth Harris, 22, spinster, of 58 Tranton(?) Road, father Thomas Harris, labourer. Witnesses Thomas Harris and Jessie Adelaide Bailey.

[Sussex Maid]

Kiterunner
Thank you so much for the extra (confusing) information.
I have just been using freebmd to try and find the birth registrations for the children you found with Thomas and Clara Harris in 1891 and was getting hopelessly confused as to what the surname should be...
Can I ask one more favour please?? What was the address in Rotherhithe in 1881 for Thomas and Priscilla Harris - please don't tell me it was Albion Street - and also what did Thomas put as his pob?
Thank you

[kiterunner]

No, they weren't at Albion Street. I was wondering whether Elizabeth Clara was living there when she married Ebenezer Aldridge?

1881 20 Swan Lane, Rotherhithe
Thomas Harris Head Mar 30 Gen Lab Herts Hemel Hempstead
Priscilla Do Wife Mar 35 Norfolk St Peters
Clara Barnes Daur 13 Scholar Surrey Rotherhithe
John Do Son Do Do Do

The birth regs for Kate and Joseph are in posts #12 and #11 respectively above. I forgot to look for Thomas jr though; I'll see if I can find him.

Edit - just realised the other children might be Baines rather than Barnes.

[kiterunner]

Oh, there are a few possibles for Thomas jr around 1881. He must have been born after the 1881 census, at least I would think so, so the age on the 1891 census of 10 is probably a little bit out, but there are quite a few possible birth regs for him.

[Sussex Maid]

Kiterunner
Thank you for all the information,
The address for Elizabeth Clara when she married Ebenezer looks like Blount Street, Limehouse - the writing is very bad.
regards

[kiterunner]

Oh sorry, that birth reg for Joseph must be wrong because he was baptised as James Joseph Harris 9th May 1897 at Deptford St Luke. Born Mar 23 1886, son of Thomas and Priscilla, abode 20 Hanlon St. (the address where Thomas, Clara and Joseph are on the 1901 census). Another couple from the same address had their babies baptised on the same day so I suppose that was what made Thomas get round to having Joseph baptised.

So, the birth reg is Apr-Jun 1886 James Joseph Harris, St Olave 1d 299.