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Mary Jane remarried to John Archer in mar qtr 1899
looks like her first husband Edwin your ggg died

spook...what is Mary Jane's age and the age of the eldest child on the census form ? This could help you find her first marriage.
[The only one I could see on FreeBMD was an Edwin Briggs to Mary Jane Sykes in Halifax 1880]

There was a birth of Albert Briggs registered March quarter 1893 in Sheffield district, - Vol 9c Page 532, which would match the age of Albert in the 1901 census. Could well be a certificate worth paying for...?

I've got a friend who is researching her family history and who has met others with a similar pursuit. The 1901 census has some really big errors in it and despite complaints nothing seems to be getting sorted out about it.

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The 1901 census was put on disc in India and they had trouble sorting out and trying to interpret names of people and places.

Log on to rootsweb.com and you will be able to see the births deaths and marriages from 1837 for the whole country. It is not complete but the Sheffield entries go upto 1911 in places.

I don't know if this helps but the entry on freecen for the 1891 census shows Edwin and Mary J living on Long Henry Street
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
1891 Census
8 Records found


Piece: RG12/3826 Place: Sheffield-West Riding of Yorkshire Enumeration District: 12
Civil Parish: Sheffield Ecclesiastical Parish: St Lukes
Folio: 131 Page: 13 Schedule: 92
Address: 87 Long Henry Street



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Surname First name(s) Rel Status Sex Age Occupation Where Born Remarks
BRIGGS Edwin Head M M 51 Light Porter(Em'ee) Yorkshire - Sheffield
BRIGGS Mary J Wife M F 39 Yorkshire - Sheffield
SHARPEY Charles Stpson S M 20 General Labourer(Em'ee) Yorkshire - Sheffield
BRIGGS Edmund Son - M 18 General Labourer(Em'ee) Yorkshire - Sheffield
BRIGGS George W Son - M 10 Scholar Yorkshire - Sheffield
BRIGGS Mary A Dau - F 6 Scholar Yorkshire - Sheffield
BRIGGS Ada Dau - F 4 Yorkshire - Sheffield
BRIGGS Rosetta Dau - F 1 Yorkshire - Sheffield

Originally posted by spook

I know that Albert Briggs was born 03/01/1893 so does indeed sound like one and the same person.

Which means that Edwin his father must have still been alive in March 1892. The only death for an Edwin I can find on FreeBMD to match his age is one aged 56 registered in Chorlton Lancs in Dec quarter 1897. :confused:

That 1891 census return posted by drolnhoj looks to be the right family as the ages of Mary Jane and daughter Ada match. But you have some interesting times ahead with that stepson Charles Sharpey. All the instances of the surname Sharpey that BMD throws up are in Kent or London, and there aren't very many of them ! Certainly no birth to match the age of the Charles in the 1891 census, - but the on-line BMD isn't complete yet so you'd need to check in the Sheffield Archives BMD index.

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Originally posted by spook
The plot thickens!

Thanks for all your replies.

The Sharpey lad was a bit of a surprise - I'll have to do some digging on him. I presume if he's down as a step son would it be feasible that he was Mary Jane's son? (as opposed to Edwin's?)

Is it possible that Mary Jane's maiden name was Sharpey because she would have only been about 19 when he was born, if indeed she is the mother. You have to remeber that all of these free search pages like FreeBMD and Freecen are still being built so in a few months time there may be more information. I was interested because my grandma Marian was a Briggs from Wath-upon-Dearne and her father Frederick was from Rotherham (I think). It is good fun though. I have managed to get back 8 generations on my dad's side.

The Sharpey name looks a bit suspect i would have a look to see if it's been transcribed correctly.

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just had a look at the IGI 1881 census index and the only Charles Sharpey is the 11 year old son of William Sharpey living at High Street, Rye, Sussex. - the age is right :D

But I couldn't find Edwin and Mary Jane Briggs, at least not of the right ages, and the only possible Edmund (born 1873/1874) comes up as the son of Frederick Briggs in Doncaster :(

If you're registered with Ancestry it might be worth trying their 1881 census look-up.

Have you looked at the 1901 census for Charles Sharpey ?

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Originally posted by spook
:confused:

Just got Albert Brigg's birth certificate through the post.

On the section for Name, Surname and maiden name of mother it says:

Mary Jane Briggs late Phoenix formerly Thackray

eh? :gag:

Do think Mary Jane might have been the Liz Taylor of her day!

Wow !! ...wish I had stuff like that in my family tree :cool:

At a guess I'd say her maiden name was Thackray, and she'd been previously married to a Phoenix; I had thought perhaps a previous marriage might account for Charles Sharpey.

Have fun ;)