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  1. #1
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
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    Default Emma Harrison, 13, "adopted child"

    On the 1881 census at 86 Culver St, Salisbury (RG11/ 2072 f 99 p13), the household of Tom Holly included an "Emma Harrison, adopted child, 13, scholar, born Salisbury". I'm trying to figure out who she was and what relationship she bore (if any) the the Holly family.

    The mother, Patience Holly, 70, was not far away in Queen Street, working as a monthly nurse in the household of Charles Ling, lay vicar and hosier, a family with with 7 children under 12, one only two weeks old (RG11/ 2072 f36 p12). Of course, Patience's job might have brought her into contact with many orphaned children, and the Hollys seem to have been a big-hearted family, so Emma might not be any sort of relative.

    Two of Tom and Patience's sons married women called Harrison, and I wondered whether young Emma might have been a connection of one of them.
    George Holly married Annie Harrison in Alderbury 4Q 1875 but she died a year later as Ann Holly aged 30 in Alderbury 4Q 1876.
    His brother Thomas Henry Holly married Charlotte Jane Harrison in Alderbury in 2Q 1876 and they had four children. Thomas Henry Holly seems to have died in the Asylum in Devizes in 3Q 1893 and his widow Charlotte remarried a man called Farmer.
    I have delved into the background of both of these Harrison women but can't find anything tying them to the adopted child Emma Harrison who was 13 in 1881.

    Is this young Emma Harrison's birth registration? 4Q 1867 Tisbury, mmn Lampard?
    Where was Emma Harrison in 1871 when she would have been three years old?

    This isn't vital to my research, but I do hate these unresolved loose ends!

  2. #2

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    Is this young Emma Harrison's birth registration? 4Q 1867 Tisbury, mmn Lampard?
    Hi Barbara, I don't think she is the Emma registered in Tisbury as I believe this to be her.

    Swallowcliffe, Tisbury, RG11; Piece: 2077; Folio: 79; Page: 27.
    George Harrison 37
    Barbara Harrison 40
    Emma Harrison 13
    George Harrison 10
    Alfred Harrison 8
    Martha Harrison 6
    William Harrison 4
    Bernard Harrison
    The children all registered with MMN Lampard.
    Alma

  3. #3
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
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    Thanks Alma. The adopted Emma seems to have been dropped off by aliens!
    Barbara

  4. #4

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    Hi
    I had a similar sort situation with my husbands grandfather it may not help, but he had no family at all to speak of, his daughter always said he was a foundling and he appeared on the census as adopted son to a family in Lancashire this family through the census had a second adopted son, after a lot of digging and a elderly relative we found he was born in Yorkshire his mother, father and elder brother died within 12 month of each other, James was taken into the Catholic boys school and later brought to this family in Lancashire by the Church there was no official adoption papers for him and he was no relation to the family he lived with

    Peanut

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by barbara lee View Post
    Thanks Alma. The adopted Emma seems to have been dropped off by aliens!
    Barbara
    Barbara, this is the best I can come up with!

    Maybe, just maybe her surname was Harris, not Harrison.

    HARRIS, EMMA (no MMN so probably illegitimate) -
    GRO Reference: 1868 D Quarter in SALISBURY Volume 05A Page 193

    1871, St Thomas, Salisbury, RG10; Piece: 1953; Folio: 44; Page: 18;
    Jane Harris 70, Farley, Wilts
    Betty Harris 34, dau, Farley, Wilts
    Ann Harris 24, dau, Farley, Wilts
    Ellen Harris 13, grandau, Salisbury
    Emma Harris 2, grandau, Salisbury
    Rosa E P Harne 19, lodger
    Edith M P Harne 26, lodger

    I then lose her until she marries Robert Street in 1892.
    Alma

  6. #6
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
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    Aha! That may well be her. Well done Alma, you may well have solved it.

    Tom and Patience's son Thomas Henry Holly married a Charlotte Jane Harrison in 1876. According to the 1861 census Charlotte Jane "Harris or Harres" was born in Farley in around 1854, daughter of Fanny (born Farley c1827). Fanny was then married to a man called Cook. Charlotte Jane was registered as Harrison, no mmn.(Alderbury 1Q 1854), was Harris in 1861, was "Cook" in 1871 and married as Harrison in 1876. So there we have connections to "Harris" and "Farley".

    So … her mother Fanny Harris or Harrison (born c1827 Farley) could very well be an elder daughter of the old Jane you have just found in Farley in 1871 , and the mystery adopted daughter Emma Harris or Harrison looks like a niece (or just possibly a daughter) of the Charlotte Jane Harrison who married into the Holly family in 1876.

    It looks like the baptisms at Pitton and Farley are only available from Nimrod (a commercial service), and I don't care quite that much about Emma to send for her baptism to see who her mother was. A strong probability that she belongs to that family in Farley will do for me.

    And thank you, Peanut. I feared that Emma might have been just that sort of random adoption, but I had a feeling there had to be a connection somewhere.

  7. #7
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
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    In the end, I DID send for that Emma's birth certificate. It says
    5th December 1868, St John Street Salisbury. Emma, girl, father's name blank. Mother Ann Harris, no rank or profession. Registered 23rd December 1868 by Ann Harris, mother, of St John Street, Salisbury.
    So that is definitely the little girl aged 2 on the 1871 census which Alma found.
    I think I can plausibly link her to the Holly family, through Thomas Henry's wife Charlotte, although how Emma came to be adopted by Thomas Henry's mother is another mystery
    Thanks all.
    Barbara

  8. #8

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    Since Ann Harris was unmarried, I can see a few possibilities. If she got a live in job (eg kitchen maid in a house), or met a man who wanted to marry her but didn't want the child, another member of her family might take the child in. Or Ann could have died - childbed was one of the most dangerous things that women did in that period.
    I think that I'd start by looking for a death cert...

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