One of the most satisfying moments in family history research is finally solving a mystery that has puzzled you for years. Sometimes the answer comes from an unexpected source, and sometimes it completely changes what you thought you knew.
This is the story of two sisters, Ellen and Agnes, and how a simple assumption led me down the wrong path for years.
When I first researched my 2nd great-grandmother Ellen, she appeared in the 1861 census as Ellen Barnes, aged 8, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Barnes. Sarah was my 3rd great-grandmother born Sarah Airey.
When Ellen married, she used the middle name Rose, surname Barnes and named Joseph Barnes as her father. Her sister Agnes did exactly the same.
Looking further back, I discovered that Sarah had married Joseph Barnes in 1859 as Sarah Rose, a widow. I also found an earlier marriage for Sarah Airey to John Rose in Lancaster in 1847.
The conclusion seemed obvious. Ellen and Agnes must have been John Rose's daughters. Joseph Barnes had simply become their stepfather.
For many years I accepted that explanation.
After all, the dates fitted perfectly.
My 3rd great-grandmother, Sarah Airey, was born in Lancaster around 1830.
On 30 May 1847 she married John Rose in Lancaster. The marriage certificate names Sarah's father as Joseph Airey and John's father as Miles Rose.
I was able to find John Rose in the 1841 census living with his father Miles, but after his marriage he seemed to disappear. Despite years of searching, I could not find John and Sarah in the 1851 census, nor could I find a convincing death record for John Rose.
Adding to the theory, John Rose's mother was named Ellen, which made me wonder whether Ellen had been named after her grandmother.
Everything appeared to fit.
Then I tried to find the girls' birth registrations.
I could not find a birth registration for either Ellen or Agnes under the surname Rose.
At first I assumed I was missing something obvious. After all, this was before online records were as widely available and ordering certificates for every possibility was not always practical.
Eventually I decided to search records using only the girls' first names, and their mother's maiden name, Airey.
To my surprise, Ellen appeared.
But not as Ellen Rose.
She appeared as Ellen Barnes.
That was not what I expected to find.
I ordered Ellen's birth certificate.
She was registered shortly after birth in July 1852 as:
Ellen Barnes
Her father was named as:
Joseph Barnes
Her mother was recorded as:
Sarah Barnes formerly Airey
The informant was Sarah herself.
At first I wondered whether this might be a mistake. After all, Sarah did not marry Joseph Barnes until 1859, seven years later.
Then I obtained Agnes's birth certificate.
Once again the child was registered as Barnes.
Once again the father was named as Joseph Barnes.
Once again the mother was recorded as Sarah Barnes formerly Airey.
This time the informant was Joseph Barnes himself.
The certificate leaves little room for doubt. Joseph personally attended the register office and identified himself as Agnes's father.
The story became even more interesting when I found Agnes's baptism.
Baptised in Barnsley in 1857, Agnes was recorded as the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Barnes.
This was no longer a single piece of evidence. The same story was appearing in multiple records created at the time of the events.
In 1859 Sarah married Joseph Barnes in Barnsley.
The marriage certificate describes Sarah as a widow.
Joseph named his father as Peter Barnes, labourer.
Sarah named her father as Joseph Airey.
This raised a new question.
If Joseph and Sarah did not marry until 1859, why were they already presenting themselves as husband and wife in 1852 and 1857?
The answer remains unknown.
Possibilities include:
At present, I do not have enough evidence to say which explanation is correct.
By 1861 the family were living in Skerton, Lancaster.
The household consisted of:
All were using the Barnes surname.
The same pattern continued in 1871.
The records show a family unit living together, with Joseph and Sarah acting as husband and wife and Ellen and Agnes recorded as their daughters.
As often happens in genealogy, solving one mystery led to another.
Who exactly was Joseph Barnes?
The 1859 marriage certificate names his father as Peter Barnes, labourer.
Joseph consistently stated that he was born in Cheshire, but the place names recorded on successive censuses are difficult to interpret:
None appears to be an actual place.
One possibility is that these are attempts to record Bunbury, Cheshire.
Research into Joseph has uncovered a possible candidate in the 1851 census: a 21-year-old farm labourer named Joseph Barnes living in Sproston, Cheshire. Sproston lies only a few miles from Bunbury.
In 1841 there is also a Joseph Barnes working as a servant in Bunbury itself, although the age given does not fit comfortably with later records.
Despite extensive research, I have not yet found a baptism that can be confidently linked to Joseph.
Another breakthrough came when I obtained Joseph's death certificate.
Joseph Barnes died in Lancaster on 4 July 1888.
The informant was his daughter, Martha Dixon.
This confirmed that I had traced the correct Joseph through the Lancaster records and connected him to the wider family.
After many years of assuming that John Rose was the father of Ellen and Agnes, the evidence now points in a different direction.
The birth certificates, baptism and census records all identify Joseph Barnes as their father.
Could John Rose still somehow be involved in the story?
Possibly.
The fact that both women later used Rose as a middle name remains intriguing. It may reflect a family connection that has yet to be fully understood.
For now, however, the contemporary records are clear. The strongest evidence available identifies Joseph Barnes as the father of both girls.
Although one question has largely been answered, several others remain.
What happened to John Rose after 1847?
Why were Joseph and Sarah presenting themselves as husband and wife years before their marriage?
Was Joseph Barnes really from Bunbury in Cheshire?
And who was Peter Barnes, the labourer named as Joseph's father?
As every family historian knows, solving one mystery often creates several more.
Sometimes that is where the real fun begins.
Linda
