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Penninah Richardson ASTON

Caggwag said:
Hi, Penninah seems to have made her dad up and the address. She is a very hard lady to trace . Thank you for trying to help me
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There are lots of things that are not black and white in family history. Mistakes were made and people lied.

However from the info in this thread there are a number of coincidences that are worth noting and making a few assumptions a reasonable theory can be made.

Peninah Smith was born Bath 1869, registered as Lasbury, the illegitimate daughter of Mary Ann Lasbury and Jacob Smith Dowse.

She had a brother Sydney Smith Dowse, registered as such in 1867 Bath.

It seems certain that her mother was Mary Ann Lasbury b1842 in Bath. Her father was Thomas.

How long the relationship lasted and what type it was will never be known but Jacob Smith Dowse married another woman in 1870. This would have left Mary in a difficult position and may have been the reason she came to Bham.

Can't see Mary and the children on the 1871 census which could mean they were travelling but on the 1881 census they are in Aston under the name May, first names and births all match. Mary is listed as married but there's no husband present and haven't found a marriage for her to anyone named May.

Mary Ann marries a Vincent Dows (his name is just coincidence) on which her father's name is listed as Thomas Lashing, close enough to Lashbury. She is listed as Mary Ann May and a widow. Her birthplace on 1891 census is listed as Bath. She appears to die in 1895.

As Peninah is listed as Smith on her marriage she may have known who her father was (or at least who her mother told her it was) but not all the details, hence the mistakes.

The two reasons to assume that she was the daughter of Jacob Smith Dowse is firstly her name, very uncommon but also the name of Jacob's sister, and the second is her brother, what other reason can there be to be named Smith Dowse when their mother was neither named Smith or Dowse. That she was registered as Lashbury may mean her parents relationship had ended.
 
More of a mystery as I see it is'was Mary ann Lasbury who she says she is'
There was only 2 births recorded of a Mary Lasbury in the 1840s in Somerset
Mary Ann 1843 and Mary Maria 1849
Mary Ann is on census born about 1843/44 with father Thomas.
she is in court in 1868 as Mary Ann Lasbury accused of stealing blankets and sheets in Nov 1867 and Feb 1868
The woman she stole from was Louisa Street a lodging house keeper
She served one month in prison.
The problem is that this Mary Ann Lasbury was also in an asylum later and died there unmarried in 1914 age 70.
 
I'm fairly convinced that Mary Ann Lasbury eventually married Vincent Dows.

The stealing could very well be her, not sure about the workhouse and death. Anything is possible though.
 
And further developments.

There are 3 children with Vincent and Mary in 1891 and because they were listed as Dows and didn't appear with Mary in 1881 I assumed they were Vincent's from a previous marriage.

However they are actually Mary's, all registered as May mmn Lasbury. For some reason they seem to be on a different record (findmypast) to Mary in 1881 both on Richard St.

In addition to two older ones listed in 1891 there is another, John, birth listed as Oxford.
 
i really do hope it’s Peninnah. There are so many ifs and buts . She is the hardest in my tree to my sense of. Thank you all so much for your help and another possibility to look into.
 
1871 census at a lodging house in Clewer Berkshire
Mary Ann Smith age 27 married
Sydney age 4 and a daughter it looks a bit like Liley age 2 all born Bath, there is occupation, Carpenter after Marys Name but has been scored out.
 
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That seems to tie in a little with the John May on the 1881 census, the same area as his birth.
 
The 1881 census is out of order, Mary and the older children are listed Schedule 24, if you look at the younger children
John, Helen and William they are listed on top of the page of the next Schedule 25 which is so very much out of order of the family they appear to be listed with , the Brittains who are on the previous page which is Schedule 16.
So Mary and her children Sydney,Pennie,John, Helen and William are all at 11 Richard Street,
 
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I couldn't see the scan so couldn't work out what was going on from the transcriptions.

Been trying to find a birth registration for John but there are a lot of names he could be registered under.

Also been trying to find a father for the May children but not much to go on. There is a marriage for an Ellen May of the right age in 1900 and she lists her father as Robert.

And there is a death for a Robert May in Bham 1889 a year before her mother remarries.

Can't be sure if it's the correct Ellen though or even if it is, it's the correct Robert. And haven't found a marriage for Mary Ann to a Mr May, Robert or otherwise.

There might be a military record for the youngest son, Edward May.
 
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