For years I have been chasing the details of Ada Bensley in the belief that she was my Gt. Grandmother helen Elizabeth WILSON.
In the 1881 census there was a 7 year-old granddaughter named Ada BENSLEY living with John's parents in the Street Blundeston but to date I haven't been able to trace her birth which the census puts as London, Middlesex. Nothing for an Ada appears in the GRO Index.
There was a Benina Jane Starckford BENSLEY born in the Blundeston 1851 who in the 1871 census was a servant in St Marylebone, London but died of smallpox in the Blundeston area in the latter part of 1872 so it is possible that she met John whilst visiting home and had a child whilst she was working in London.
August
18th 2005
I thought that I had eventually cracked my brick wall.
In the 1891 census in Yarmouth there is a Ada BERESLYAR (as transcribed by Ancestry.com)
closer inspection shows the name to BENSLYN.
Ada BENSLYN 17 was a servant in Brandon Terrace, Yarmouth RG12/1500 folio 32 page 16 place of birth Kings Cross, London. This was the break that I had been looking for for more years than I care to think about, at long last I had traced Ada and could now prove that she was my Gt. Grandmother Helen Elizabeth WILSON.
Unfortunately Ada E BENSLYN also appeared in the 1901 census as a servant in Yarmouth DISPROVING that she was my Gt. Grandmother as Helen was married and living in London with her husband and son.
So
now I need to do more research on John's sisters.
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