Need help with faint census

[Jane Elderfield]

Can anyone decipher the occupations of William HUGHES and niece Catherine LOWTHER on the 1861 census?
And what is Catherine's birthplace-- does that funny little mark mean "unknown" or "ditto"?

The scan is very faint. I can read the occupation "Laundress" for Mary A.

RG 09 /537 / 123 page 4

Thank you
--Jane E

[malcolm99]

William is a MARINER - the enumerator has a very distinctive R when used within a word.

Catherine (it looks a bit like Caroline!) is a 'Servant Dom[estic]'. It is a ditto and so she came from Ramsgate.

[Pam Downes]

I make it:
William. mariner, born Margate
Mary, laundress, Ramsgate
Catherine, servant dom (for domestic), and do for 'ditto' as in Ramsgate. (If you look very carefully, you should be able to make out a tiny-written 'Do' like the enumerator has written underneath Kent, almost obscured by the long downward stroke from the 'g' of Ramsgate against Mary's name.

EDIT: Excellent spot, Malcolm. I think you're correct with Caroline. It does look more like Caroline, and there's a Caroline, daughter of Edward and Sarah, aged 1 born and living in Ramsgate in the 1851 census.HO107/1630 f 305 p 35

(Census in care of TNA and Crown copyright.)

Pam

[malcolm99]

Catherine (it looks a bit like Caroline!)

I've had a quick look on the GRO Birth Registers and I can't find a Catherine Lowther but there is a Caroline Emma Lowther born Thanet RD in March Quarter 1850 - are you sure this isn't her?

[malcolm99]

I think you're correct with Caroline. It does look more like Caroline, and there's a Caroline, daughter of Edward and Sarah, aged 1 born and living in Ramsgate in the 1851 census.HO107/1630 f 305 p 35

It helped a lot that my daughter's called Caroline - it just seemed to jump out at me Thanks for confirming!

[Jane Elderfield]

Well done, members! Thank you for your help.

I have submitted corrections to my genealogy server, and corrected my own notes.

Malcolm, thanks for figuring out Caroline, not Catherine! That clears up a few mistakes.

Mary Ann HUGHES was a LOWTHER before marriage, and her brother George LOWTHER married a Catherine, so I was guessing that the niece "Catherine" was a daughter of that couple. I was certainly puzzled that I couldn't find her birth registration. Glad to find that she is Caroline.

Appreciations to all who helped.
--Jane E