Alice Stark née Richards missing after 1887

[barbara lee]

Alice Ellen Stark née Richards was born in Shirley Southampton on 22 Feb 1864, daughter of Alexander Richards and Ellen. She was in Southampton on the 1871 census aged 7 (RG10/1188 f62 p24) and the 1881 census aged 17 (RG11/1207 f44 p23). She married John Stark at Christ Church Southampton on 11 Sep 1887 and then the young couple seem to disappear.

My great Aunty Dolly had something to say about all the Richards siblings (her aunts and uncles) except Alice, which suggests Alice was long gone by the time Dolly was born in 1895. Did the Starks emigrate? The Alice Starks on the US censuses don't seem to have been born in England, and she doesn't appear to be in Canada in 1901.


Barbara

[Coromandel]

A possible sad end to the story:

FamilySearch has the death of an Alice E. Stark on 15 March 1888 at Kearny, Hudson, New Jersey. Her birthplace is given as 'Eng.', age as 24 and marital status as 'Married'.

[barbara lee]

Oh dear, poor Alice. That record seems to be an exact match, even to the middle initial.

Thanks, Coromandel. No American cousins to find, then.

Barbara

[sueannbowen]

A possible sad end to the story:

FamilySearch has the death of an Alice E. Stark on 15 March 1888 at Kearny, Hudson, New Jersey. Her birthplace is given as 'Eng.', age as 24 and marital status as 'Married'.

Poo Coromandel and also well done. I saw this whilst having a quick sneaky peaky at lunchtime at work. Thought I'll have a good old sniff around tonight - too late mate. How sad though, wonder what her cause of death was.

[barbara lee]

Given that it was only six months after the wedding, my main suspicion is complications of pregnancy or childbirth.
Alice's parents were my ancestors, so I am wondering if the bereaved young husband thought to write to them with the bad news. He probably did. I have a letter some stranger wrote in 1910 telling Alice's elder sister (also in Southampton) that her only son had died in Vancouver aged 22.
Barbara

[sueannbowen]

Alice's son Barbara? So you are thinking that she died and he survived?

[barbara lee]

No, sorry, Annie's son, the elder sister of Alice. I was making the point that people did write letters with news like that in those days.
Barbara