Why do they do it?
 

Attempting to track down my great grand grandfather's siblings

Looking for Elizabeth Edwards b 1842 Edgefield, dau of John Edwards, woodman.
She married George Breeze in 1866 and he died the following year. Her daughter Harriet was left with the grandparents in Edgefield, and Elizabeth vanishes.

I looked for an Elizabeth born Edgefield on the censuses and in 1871 found Joseph Mawson b Yorkshire and Elizabeth b Edgefield, living in Reigate, Surrey.

They married the following year. Elizabeth Breeze declared herself a spinster, daughter of John Breeze, woodman.

Here is the family in 1891:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...ce&pId=7942821

Joseph Mawson
Elizabeth Mawson aged 47 b Edgefield Green
Blanche Mawson 8
Samuel Edwards 31 b Edgefield Green.

Here is Blanche's birth:
MAWSON, MARY ELIZABETH BLANCHE EDWARDS
GRO Reference: 1882 D Quarter in HOLBORN Volume 01B Page 743


Were it not for the abandoned daughter, I would have never spotted her from the marriage.


Have yet to find out what happened to her after Joseph died in 1898. She may be with her daughter, who married Christopher Peters in 1900:


https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...ce&pId=7647117

1901
2, Shillington Street, Battersea, Wandsworth, London & Surrey,
Christopher Peters Married Male 27 1874 Traveller to fairs Battersea, Middlesex, England
Blanche Peters Wife Married Female 19 1882 - Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England
Elizabeth Monson Widow Female 58 1843 - Edgefield, Norfolk, England

Edit: they are living Manley's Yard Cabul Road Battersea S W, Battersea, 1911
Christopher age 37, hawker, Blanche and 4 children but no Elizabeth.

Could be death for Elizabeth:
MAWSON, ELIZABETH age66
GRO Reference: 1905 D Quarter in WANDSWORTH Volume 01D Page 361

David Walliams WDYTYA's episode featured his fairground travelling/hawker family that settled in Battersea in Manley Yard, Falcon Rd its a very famous area for Travellers and fairground people. His were the Haines family.

Wow! Thank you both! It always amazes what different minds bring to a problem.

Poor little Harriet Breeze, left behind with grandparents, caused them a great deal of worry. By September 1883 she had taken up with a navvy in Lynn. Baby Edgar (Winn Livock) Breeze was baptised in 1885, and buried the following March, aged 10 months. Harriet died in November 1885, aged 19.