X00300: Who is Ann Sipin - Solved!

So, a few years ago, I posted about X00300, the question of who is Ann Sipin who shows up in the 1861 census living with Thomas Williams and family. She appears to be a member of the family somehow, but the surname was not one that I have found anywhere else.

I was looking at the 1861 census record again and started wondering if the surname could perhaps have been Tipping, rather than Sipin. It would make sense as one of Thomas William's daughters married into the Tipping family.

I checked, and Elizabeth Ann Tipping, who would have been born in 1853 did not appear with the rest of the Tipping family in the 1861 census. So it would make sense that the "Ann Sipin' in the 1861 census with the WIlliams family is in fact Elizabeth Ann Tipping.

X00291 Update

In my search to find what happened to Hester Sophia Williams, I was looking into the possibility that she may have stayed in England rather than come to Canada with the family. I did come across a marriage record from 1853 in Cornwall, England between a Hester Ann Williams and a Henry Pascoe.

On the plus side, the year of birth is close (1831 vs 1833), and the name of the father is also Thomas Williams. Plus, the location of Cornwall is not far off from where the family originated.

On the negative side, the name is off (Hester Ann vs Hester Sophia) and the father's occupation is given as a miner (as far as I can make it out). I decided to dig a bit further, and managed to find a baptism record for the Hester Ann Williams who appears in the marriage record:

Unfortunately, this would appear to be a different person than the one I'm looking for. The mother's name is different, and of course, I've already found the baptism record for Hester Sophia Williams.

So, the search continues. I do think that it is unlikely that she would have stayed in England by herself at age ten, but I want to look for all possibilities.

X00300: Who is Ann Sipin?

In the 1861 Census of Canada, the Williams family is found living in Guelph. Thomas Williams and his wife Sybil are listed and in the household are their two youngest daughters, Emily and Samina. But there are two others living in the household at the time: Ann Sipin, aged 8 and Maria Hill aged 18.

Maria Hill is clearly not a family member, as she is listed as being a servant and was born in Ireland. But what about Ann Sipin? Is is possible that she might just have been living with the family with no connection, but could she possibly be a clue to a connection?

At the age of 8 in 1861, she would have been born about 1853. She would likely be too young to be another child of Thomas and Sybil Williams. But could she perhaps be a granddaughter? One remote possibility is that she is the daughter of Hester Sophia Williams, who I have not been able to find any trace of after 1841 (see X00291). Perhaps Hester Sophia married a man with the surname of Sipin, and had a child but then the two of them died shortly thereafter, leaving their daughter to be raised by her grandparents.

It's a possibility, but I have not seen the name Ann Sipin show up anywhere else in the records to confirm one way or another.

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Sources:

D01597 1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Guelph, Guelph, p. 14; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 13 May 2018). Rec. Date: 5 Feb 2018. Cit. Date: 13 May 2018.

X00291: What happened to Hester Sophia Williams after 1841?

Hester Sophia Williams is daughter of Thomas Williams and Sybil Foxwell for whom I have very little information (a similar case to Samina Foxwell Williams - see X00287)

There are two sources that I've found for her so far:
1) Her 1833 baptism record [D00028]



2) The 1841 census where she appears with the rest of the family [D01530]



So, here are the details that we have:

• She was baptized in 1833 and so was likely born about 1833 [D00028].
• The family moved to Canada around 1842 and eventually settled in Guelph, Ontario. The 1851 census for Guelph did not survive, so the earliest census in which the family appears is the 1861 census (where she would have been about 28 years old). She does not appear with the rest of the family in the 1861 census [D01597].

Here are the possibilities:

1. She died in the UK before the family came to Canada. In that case she would have died between 1841 and 1845.
2. She stayed in the UK and never came to Canada. That would have been very unlikely as she would have been under 10 years old when the family came to Canada.
3. She came to Canada, but died prior to 1861
4. She came to Canada, but married prior to 1861.

I'm going to dismiss option 2 as unlikely. So, the next actions are:

• Check UK deaths and burials for 1841-1842 [Option 1]
• Check Guelph and Orillia burials prior to 1861 [Option 3]
• Check Guelph and Orillia newspapers for deaths prior to 1861 [Option 3]
• Check marriages prior to 1861 [Option 4]
• Check later census records for a hester, ester or sophia born 1833 in England [Option 4]
• Check death records for a hester, ester or sophia born 1833 in England [Option 4]

Sources:
[D00028] Saint Peter (Liverpool, Lancashire, England), "Baptism Record - Hester Sophia Williams," Batch No P020273; Dates 1826 - 1833l Source Call No 0093877-0093879; FHL microfilm.

[D01530] 1841 census of England, Liverpool, Lancashire, folio 45, page 37; digital images(accessed 6 May 2018); citing PRO HO 107/559/15.

[D01597] 1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Guelph, Guelph, p. 14; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 13 May 2018).