Genealogy Chat

I am confused. I just found a 12 yr old sister of my g grandfather in a lunatic asylum. see below...........

It is on the 1881 census. She is at Essex County Lunatic Asylum , but she was born in Bexley Heath Kent. She doesn't seem to be an inmate because it says she is a niece of a married couple. The man seems to have official after his name & the wife has "wife of gate porter"?? her name is anne Martin, but I don't understand why she would be there. Can anyone help please??

Check to see if she had a sister or brother born about that time - quite often children were farmed out at such times

really !!! there were 8 children. The next oldest was 3 years older, & my g grandfather was the youngest born 3 years later. She was the youngest of 3 girls, all the rest were boys. Did people really give there kids away?? The father had died in 1878, maybe that's why.

maybe she held a small job helping out there karan

Is Essex near Kent? The rest of the family stayed in Bexley Heath for generations, & every male was a chimney sweep. Guess the girls weren't in the business. I just found her 14 year old sister a servant in a pub. At least she is still in town

Yes, Bexley would be just a few miles from the Essex border.

It is possible she had gone there to work as a domestic and was living with her relatives. Quite a lot of young girls got jobs away from home at that age, especially if there were several children (i.e. too many mouths to feed). Ann Glos

Being a widow, It was not unusule for children to get farmed out and work for rellys just to bring in a bit more cash. some times they were even sold in to bondage (work type not sex) look at "Oliver" that was based on fact, thou he was an orphen.

oh ok, it is starting to make some sense now. Big brother died in March 1881, father died in 1878. I guess the mother wasn't coping. My g grandfather who was 8 was still at home with 1 other big brother & mum. The 3 girls are living away.

I think she is just living with Auntie and Uncle for the reasons given above. She is listed as a scholar so don't think slave trade comes into it. May even have just been 'staying over' for a while.

I am feeling very protective of my family !! Funny isn't it.....but this research is more than just facts & figures isn't. I am starting to live with them in their lives.

I just found one of the other big brothers living in Liverpool !?!?! Hey, I wonder if he had a son Named George Martin?? Maybe I am related to the Beatles !?!?

Calm down, Karen. George Martin wasn't related to the Beatles - unless there's something they aren't telling us!!!

well he had something to do with the Beatles.........it still could be a good story to tell !! LOL

oh dear, I'm back to being sad with this family again. Caroline who was working in the pub when she was 14, died when she was 22 ! so sad. The other 2 girls got married young.

Don't forget the census is just a 'snapshot' of one night. Perhaps, as someone else said, she was just staying over with her aunt and uncle for a while. Anne

Maybe the asylum had a 'lodge' at the entrance where Aunt & Uncle lived as aunt is wife of gate keeper, and uncle is official, probably the gate keeper! Also niece could have lived with them and be doing some kind of work, cleaning or kitchen work up at the asylum. My grandmother says she went out to work at the age of 10, that would have been about 1898