Genealogy Chat

Here's Matilda in 1901, with her mother and stepfather;

Matilda Dalton
in the 1901 England Census
Name: Matilda Dalton
Age: 18
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1883
Relation to Head: Daughter
Gender: Female
Father: William Dalton
Mother: Louisa Dalton
Birth Place: Northfleet, Kent, England
Civil Parish: Northfleet
Ecclesiastical parish: Perry Street All Saints
County/Island: Kent
Country: England
Street Address:
Registration District: Strood
Sub-registration District: Northfleet
ED, institution, or vessel: 09
Neighbors:
Piece: 716
Folio: 88
Page Number: 6
Household Schedule Number: 34
Household Members:
Name Age
William Dalton 52 - District Council roadman
Louisa Dalton 40 - Field worker
Matilda Dalton 18 - field worker
Florrie Dalton 4
Willie Dalton 3
Frederick Dalton 4/12
Frederick Dalton 30 - single, boarder, gardener, Northfleet


Half-siblings:

DALTON, FLORENCE EMILY mms HOWARD
GRO Reference: 1896 S Quarter in STROOD Volume 02A Page 538

DALTON, WILLIAM GEORGE mms HOWARD
GRO Reference: 1898 M Quarter in STROOD Volume 02A Page 582

DALTON, FREDERICK JAMES mms HOWARD
GRO Reference: 1900 D Quarter in STROOD Volume 02A Page 569

Thankyou all so much for the info. I searched and found a lot of what you have found like 1911 census for George and Matilda plus children.
I looked into George Wiliiam b 1905 on census but birth info says b1904 4th quarter and mother Mercer then I found Mary Beatrice also b1904 1st Quarter mother Howard these birth certificates I have sent off for so we will soon know if they were the same year and who the Mother and Father were. Of course Mary was not in the 1911 census as she died prior to that.
It still befuddles me why there are 2 different mothers names especailly for the first 2 children who were born so close together.
I have only been using GR are any of you using other search programs?
I looked for Matilda Howard but could not decide which one she was as I found a few have you any tips regarding that?

Why can I not find the Mercer's of Northfleet in a census search on Genes Reunited?

Matilda is Annie Matilda Howard at birth registration the illegitimate daughter of Louisa Howard who married James Mercer after she was born

James died about a year after the marriage in 1886

Louisa remarried but seems Matilda ,as she was known, was with the mercer grandparents in 1891 .they seem to have accepted she was James daughter even though there’s no online records to confirm this

When Matilda married she used her birth surname

Just to add to Shirley's summary above -

in 1901 (posted above) Matilda was with her mother and stepfather and listed under his surname of Dalton .

So she was Howard at birth, Mercer in 1891, Dalton in 1901, and married as Howard.


Re searching for records on Genes -
I don't think any of the helpers here on the boards use GR for research, although it's handy for recent Electoral Rolls searches, and many of us have trees on GR.

But for research we mainly use the subscription sites Ancestry and/or FindMyPast.
We also use free sites such as FreeBMD, FamilySearch, and others.

GR's BMD and census records only cover England and Wales, so are very limited compared with other sites.

The Mercers have been mistranscribed as Meteer on GR, as far as 1891 is concerned.

They're properly transcribed as Mercer in other censuses on GR.

How on earth can I find info about a divorce whilst the searches say marriage and divorce not all divorces are showing up including mine !!

Assuming you mean England/Wales, the files of less than 0.2% of divorces after 1937 survive.

General info about finding divorce records here:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/divorce/

Ancestry has divorce records 1858-1918 for England/Wales.

The register of Scottish divorces from 1984 onwards is online at Scotlands People .website, as is the register of Dissolutions of a Civil Partnership from 2007 onwards..

I now have the birth certificates for the 2 children
Mary Beatrice Aspinall b24th Dec 1903 parents George Aspinall and Matilda Ann nee Howard
George William Aspinall b25th Oct 1904 parents George John Aspinall and Matilda Ann Mercer
All lived 7 Seymore Road Northfleet Kent
Mary died 1904.

Thanks for your help I don't actually think I've answered my original question fully but who is to say what is in a persons mind when they decide to use different names?

I have joined Ancestry now though

It might depend on who the informant was for the birth certs, and whether or not they knew, or remembered in the heat of the moment, that Matilda had been born Howard.

But at least (re your oringinal question) we found that George Aspinall had only one wife, and her life story - or at least a snapshot every ten years.