Invisable Children! (General)

by mrsbruso , Wednesday, March 21, 2012, 00:28 (4637 days ago) @ Joanne

I accidentally discovered that my great Aunt Bess had two children who were born and died in Cardiff, prior to her emigrating to Canada. I feel sort of badly that I didn't even know these two little ones had ever existed until recently. One cousin knew about one, another cousin knew about another. (The BMD index knew about both.)

I am still missing the names of four children born to my great grandparents that I wouldn't have known about but for the 1911 census. I've narrowed these "invisible" children down to about ten possibles. Parish records aren't any help, because at that time they were primitive methodists, and were baptised outside their own "circuit" by a minister their grandmother held in high regard. (Sigh.) I am hoping to narrow the possibilites down a bit before ordering birth certs . . .

My mother had two small brothers (Albert and Charles) who died at three and four respectively, and whose graves I still decorate each summer. (I have no baby pictures of my mother, but tonnes for Albert and my Aunt Floss, as my grandmother had them taken regularly to send to my grandfather during WW1). My mother, the sixth and youngest child, first appears in family photographs during visits with her Uncle Bill.

My uncle's recent obituary listed his four children, with no mention of the fifth, a infant son (also Charles) who predeceased him.

If my family is anything to go by, I suspect that "invisible" children are fairly common.