Mystery Monday – Two Census Entries?

My husband’s grandfather is driving me mad. I thought I’d found him, and his wife Ellen, on the 1901 census.

Robert and Ellen Reuby - 1901

Aged 28, born Southwark, wife Nellie – which is how she appears on many census entries. But by 1901 they already had their first daughter, Ellen. So where is she?

Some searching found another entry on the 1901 census, for a Robert Ruby (a common mis-spelling), wife Ellen, daughter of 4 months, also Ellen. This is for the Staines area of Middlesex.

Robert, Ellen and Ellen Reuby - 1901

This would seem to be the most likely – and I have come across another Robert Reuby who is apparently unrelated. So more for my to-do list.

Mystery Monday – Robert Reuby and his Wives

I’ve spent a lot of today wrestling with Robert Reuby and his family. The more information I get, the less I seem to know.

First Marriage: 7 Aug 1893 to Kate Mack. No death for her under Mack or Reuby, but she disappears.
Child: baptism Feb 1901, parents Robert and Ellen Reuby.
1901 Census: shown as Head, married to Ellen , but no child listed. They occupied one room in a house.
Child: baptism July 1902, parents Robert and Ellen Reuby
Child: birth 25 July 1905
Second Marriage: Dec qtr 1905, Robert states he is a  bachelor, Ellen a widow. Her married name was Tonkins, maiden name Morris.
Child: baptism 2 Dec 1906, parents Robert and Ellen Reuby
Child: birth 14 Jan 1911

Unless Kate, his first wife, died and wasn’t recorded, or was recorded under another name, his second marriage was bigamous. As a railway worker he certainly couldn’t have afforded a divorce. Robert and Ellen lived as man and wife, using his name, until 1905, after the birth of their third child, when they married.

The 1901 census only shows the two of them – no child, although their daughter Ellen was born before the census. Perhaps she was living with grandparents, or a neighbour.  That’s something for my to-do list.

Ellen died in September quarter 1926, and in 1927 Robert married for a third time, to Ruth Davies.

Mystery Monday – Carter, Herbert or David?

This handsome young fellow is one of my grandmothers brothers.

Herbert or David Carter

Two of her brothers, Herbert and David Carter, became policemen, and this is one of them. Sadly we don’t know which one. I don’t know if I could manage to read his collar badge, and then maybe trace him that way.

Mystery Monday – Kate Mack

Kate Mack was the first wife of Robert Reuby. They were married on 7 August 1893, at St Stephens Church, Walworth, London. Their marriage certificate shows her age as 22, so she would have been born around 1871. She is listed as a spinster, with no profession. Robert is shown as a bachelor. Her father is shown as David Mack, deceased.

On 17 December 1905 Robert re-marries, his second wife being Ellen Tonkins, a widow. He lists himself again as a bachelor.

I can find no trace of Kate, either as Mack or Reuby, in the death index. In the days when only the rich could afford a divorce, it was probably fairly common for couples to separate and possibly marry again, committing bigamy. If Kate married again, I probably will never be able to trace her. But I can’t help wondering what happened to her.