Mary Redman (1862-1922)
Personal details
Gender:
Female
Notes:
Mary was the eldest daughter of Emma Blewett. She emigrated to South Africa with her husband and young family in 1894. Her surviving children Leonard and Gertrude Pearce were given the middle name Blewett, their maternal grandmother's maiden name. That they weren't given their mother's maiden name, Redman, appears to confirm that Mary's father William Henry Redman was persona non grata, having more than likely abandoned the family, leading to the Redman family's separation by the 1881 census. It suggests to me that Emma Blewett was much loved by her daughter Mary.
Relationships
Children:
Marriage date:
2 August 1887
Birth
Date:
26 March 1862
References:
England & Wales Census 1871
Date:
2 April 1871
England & Wales Census 1881
Date:
3 April 1881
Notes:
By the time of the 1881 census the Redman family were completely separated – all three women living in separate households, with no sign of William. Mary (19) was listed as one of four servants at a lodging house at 1 Marine Terrace, Penzance (10 doors down from the former home of her grandparents Gabriel and Ruth Blewett, where her mother Emma grew up and lived until 1859).
England & Wales Census 1891
Date:
5 April 1891
Notes:
The Pearce household at the 1891 census included James's widowed father William Pearce, and Mary's sister, whose name was given here as Gertrude Redman, dressmaker.
Emigration
Date:
14 December 1894
Notes:
James Pearce, presumably with his young family in tow, emigrated to Africa in December 1894, not long after the birth of a son, Leonard, in September 1894.
Death
Date:
7 May 1922
Place:
Notes:
Cause of death - septic meningitis. Mary died a little over three weeks after her younger sister.