Facts that don't stack up & reading between lines - help me solve a mystery!

[lauralem]

OK so Jane was a widow on the 1873 marriage certificate - but has the other researcher told you what it says about her father?

I've sent the other researcher a message asking just this. Hopefully she responds soon.

But I think it must be Henry, as that's who she's listed as Jane's father on her family tree on ancestry (and she has definitely seen the certificate).

I just don't get why Henry Sr would list her as his niece on the 1881 census though, and not his granddaughter?

[heywood]

I had looked at a few trees for both Janes but none show the marriage details just the year and spouse.
It might be that daughter Ellen gave the information for the census and so ‘niece’would be proper.
You are going to need confirmation of parent/grandparent to be sure.

[bbart]

I just read through the long newspaper account of the trial, and the defendant had written Florence a letter, in which he referenced a Harry, and her "Dad".  Although the letter wasn't included in the article, the lawyers did ask her for clarification.  She stated that Harry was her Uncle Henry, and "Dad" was her grandfather, as she was raised by her grandparents.

As a sidenote, the defendant also murdered one of the Constables trying to arrest him, and had wrongly anticipated that Florence would be with Henry, as he planned on killing both Florence and Henry.

Another article mentioned that first banns had been read (for Florence and Louis Hamilton), but as banns don't include the father's name, I guess that doesn't help.

(Edit: in checking for banns, the first two banns were read; the third was "withdrawn on account of murder")

[lauralem]

I have the banns with Louis Hamilton/Gurd and I read a few articles about the murder, but didn't come across one that said she was raised by her grandparents - so thanks for that piece of the puzzle!

So the story seems to be that Florence was the daughter of Jane/Kate Richards & William Adams, born in London. William died when she was an infant and she was subsequently raised by her grandparents in Melksham, after her mother remarried John McAuley and moved to Kent. Her estranged fiancé then killed her uncle (mother's younger brother) and she then moved to Portsmouth and met/married George Staniforth.

(On a side note: her marriage certificate to George lists William as her father, which I never doubted, I just wasn't sure that he and Jane/Kate were actually ever married - but census 1871 corrects that assumption).

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!

[avm228]

The 1871 census tells you that William and Jane/Kate presented themselves as married, but there is currently no evidence of a marriage for them.

[heywood]

And it could have all been sorted so much earlier if you had posted the Mccauley marriage and newspaper information, Laura.
A lesson to be learned