RootsChat.Com

Many thanks to willsy for good information which has helped to narrow down the search. It now seems to me that if it is correct that William and Sarah were indeed nephew and niece of Edward, then their father must have been his brother and it looks like there are only two candidates-  John (aka John Isaiah with various spellings) and Thomas.
If it's John, then I've found him in 1891 and 1901 in Birmingham, and he died in 1922 in Aston (adjacent to Bham). I haven't found him in 1911 or 1921 so I suppose he might have been gone to America and then returned?
If it's Thomas then I can't find any certain record of him beyond his baptism on 1.1.63, and the most likely record might be the death of a Thomas Bennett aged 5 in 1868. However, that's just a death index record so no indication of parents.

It would help if the 1871 and/or 1881 census records could be found for John and Elizabeth, together with their sons John I and maybe Thomas. Their eldest son Edward was living with George and Mira Bates at this time. John senior had died by 1891 as Elizabeth is shown as a widow.

This is all about the Bennett family who lived in Dudley. There are some minor queries but one much more complex mystery. So here goes :
Edward Bennett was born in 1857 in Stourbridge. In 1883, he married Sarah Nicklin in Tutbury, where their 5 children were born, then between 1896 and 1901 they moved to Dudley, where they all lived in 1901 and 1911 at 18 Himley Road. After Sarah died, he was still there in 1921 but I have found no record of his death.
However, in 1911, his daughter Elizabeth (born 1888) is shown with them at Himley Road but a note says “British subject by parentage”. The same note is applied to her youngest brother Edward aged 14, and also William Bennett, aged 3 and shown as Edward’s nephew born in America - bit none of the others. His birth date is shown as 7.3.08 in  the 1939 register, and I found a record showing William Bennett born in Manhattan 7.4.08 so that may be him – but that's all I have i.e.nothing about parents. Back in Dudley in 1911, there is also a niece Sarah, then aged 1 and born in Dudley Port. I have two theories about William and Sarah (though there may be others) :
•   They were indeed nephew and niece to Edward, which means that he must have had a brother who emigrated  to America then returned to Dudley Port by 1910 and presumably died before the 1911 census, hence they went to live with Edward and his family. I can’t substantiate this further because I can’t find a record of Edward and his parents in 1861, and in 1871 he was living with his own uncle.
•   Elizabeth emigrated to America some time between 1901 and 1908, gave birth to William, then returned and had Sarah in Dudley Port – they are recorded as nephew and niece to avoid the “shame” of illegitimacy. But because I can’t find a record for either, showing parent(s), I can’t prove that either. It also seems strange that Edward (Edward Thomas Bennett baptised 1896) would have accompanied Elizabeth when only aged between 5 and 12.
I have access to Familysearch, Ancestry and Findmypast but, for once, none of them have produced anything. So I am hoping to find a Rootschatter who can access either (1) details of Edward’s family to show a brother, (2) birth record for William in America to show parent/s, or (3) emigration / immigration records for Elizabeth, William and maybe Edward. Hence I am kicking this off in the Common Room as it would apply to at least two other categories.

Elizabeth subsequently married twice and had 3 or 4 children with Arthur Paskin (1886-1923) and 1 with Joseph Edward Addison (1881-1953). She died in 1973.

Thanks for your attention!

Here's what I know so far.
   Mary Kent was the 12th child and 5th daughter of Thomas and Ann, and in 1841 was living with her eldest brother Charles and his family in Market Square, Uttoxeter, shown as a servant. She married Thomas Nicklin at St Mary the Virgin in Uttoxeter, witnessed by Charles and his wife Ann.
   Thomas Nicklin was born in Coton, baptised at Milwich (probably on 6.9.29), and worked as a groom.  They lived with Mary’s mother Ann in 1851. The first of their 3 children died in infancy. At some time in the early 1860s they separated - in 1861 Mary was a house servant, visiting her mother in Pinfold Lane, whilst Thomas was in Spiceal Street with their son and daughter, next door to Charles and Ann.
   A newspaper report on 27.5.65 has been seen, which reported that he had been struck by lightning. The “Staffordshire Advertiser” reported on 28.4.66 on a court case where she is described as “the wife of a sober hardworking man in Uttoxeter but living apart from him in consequence of her dissipated habits.” The baptism of her youngest child Ann in 1867 records her as illegitimate and that Mary was shown as “living separate from her husband” in the Union Workhouse in Uttoxeter, so the father is unknown. Thomas died aged 38 and was buried at Uttoxeter.

And so to my questions:
1) What happened to her after 1867? No further record of her has been found, and it is noted that all of their children were living separately in 1871, so I have been assuming that she died between 1867 and 1871.
2) However, the 1891 census shows a Mary Nicklin, a charwoman aged 58 and born in Uttoxeter, in the Spittals Workhouse in Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent. Is this my Mary? If not, why can't I find any record of this one before 1891?
3) Less importantly, does anyone have access to the newspaper report of 1866 to show the offence for which she was charged?

Thanks in hope and anticipation!

Thanks for further replies, and apologies for my late response.
Yes I have seen the military record showing that he deserted and was then dismissed for gross misconduct in May 1898.
But the next few years are mysterious. Despite his apparent dismissal, his obituary claims that he served in the South African War, his children are said to have been born in 1900 and 1903 but the locations are unknown, and he is shown on regimental pay lists based in Kingston, Ontario between 1905 and 1908.
On 26.3.08 Ralph Edward Dawson Kent is shown as the sole passenger (recorded as “soldier”) aboard a cargo ship bound for Montevideo from Barry in South Wales. to Montevideo. But also in 1908 (exact date not shown) the London Gazette shows him (as Captain R E D Kent) resigning from the 2nd Cadet Battalion, Queens Royal West Surrey Regt. One would assume that was after the trip to South America. But then he was married in Santiago, Chile in 1911.
I'm curious about these timings, but my main concern is to try to find birth records or his son and daughter - showing location, and mother.
Complicated, isn't it. But that's why I turned to Rootschat!