John PHELPS 1840 East Dean (General)

by Jean Herbert , Leeds Yorkshire, Thursday, October 25, 2007, 02:15 (6242 days ago)

John Phelps born 1840 East Dean married Charlotte Brain born abt 1841. They married on 24 Dec 1860. (I have both John's baptism and marriage records)
Known children were: Silas born abt 1861 - Mary born abt 1863 - Alfred born abt 1866 - Elizabeth born abt 1869 - Alice Maria born abt 1871, all in East Dean.
Now the mystery bit occurs. John was last found on the 1871 census with his wife and family. His wife Charlotte died age 31 in Sept 1872 in Little Dean
John is not found on the 1881 or 1891 censuses.

Someone from Lancashire contacted me recently with the following information:
John Phelps possibly married Ellen Nelms in Wigan Greater Manchester Lancashire. 1880 Q1 Vol 8c Wigan

The mystery of John Phelps and his perhaps second wife Ellen is intriguing me. So much so that I went looking for them on 1881 and 1891 census but could not find them. I did find them on 1901 for Ince Makerfield Greater Manchester Lancashire under the name Phillps (mistrancribed should have been Phelps). If they married in 1880 it is very strange that they only appear on the 1901 census.There is a twenty-year gap in which John has disappeared of the face of the earth.

The 1901 census says Ellen was born in Gloucestershire so I went looking for her. In 1871 an Ellen Nelmes age 22 unmarried, was living with her widowed mother and various children. One of the children shown was a John Nelmes – grandson aged 1 born abt 1870 in East Dean. The census does not give his parents but I wondered if he was a child of Ellen’s born prior to any marriage. I eventually found him - married and living with his wife and children on the 1901 census, would you believe in Ince Makerfield Lancashire, at 10 Victoria Street. This is just a few doors away from where John Phelps and his wife and children are living. I do not believe this to be coincidence, he must be some relation to Ellen, perhaps her son but not proven.

Also, one of John Phelps children Mary, born abt 1804 is living in Lancashire with her husband and family. She married Edward Shone and all children were born in Atherton Lancashire.

What is clear is that after John Phelps’s first wife died, his children were farmed out to other members of the family. I have not found all of them yet but a few were living with the Brain family, who were relations of his first wife Charlotte Brain. (See my file) It is looking more and more likely that John founded another family in Lancashire. Does anyone have any other information which could give the location of John in 1881 and 1891? Jean Herbert