I want to know more about Mabel Kate Dawson
Introducing Mabel Kate DAWSON, my maternal grandfathers sister. Born in London, England 15 March 1881 she is my favourite family history mystery woman. One of those relations that you plan to research in more detail, when you get time.
Hyphenated Married Name
I know she married a man called Roman Victor Jose BYRON-BARHYDT on 25 February 1904. Not exactly an “English” sounding name. A name with some mystery? When I was a child we were told she went to the USA and worked in shows. Apparently with cowboys as part of the Wild West show. I’m not sure when or how true, though.
She appears in the 1911 census in the UK still called Mrs BYRON-BARHYDT, status still married, however she was at her fathers house on the census date, with no husband noted. I wonder where he was living, was she just visiting or living there permanently. I have not found Roman in another 1911 census document so perhaps he was overseas. Years later Roman died in 1923 in a hotel in Romania.
The next piece I have for Mabel indicates at some stage she ended up in Mexico. This is according to her application for re-admission indicated by the The National Archives’ catalogue on Nationality and Naturalization. This is held in the records at the The National Archives, Kew. She is now a resident in Hornsey. Certificate 11,624 was issued 6 November 1924.
Mabel Kate DAWSON: Unusual Job
It is not just the travels or the mysterious husband that make Mabel my mystery lady to research. She played the saxophone and piccolo for a living. An unusual job for a woman in the early 1900’s. Not bad for a woman born on 15 March 1881.
Part of the My Family History Series: 6 November.
When you do some more research have a look at the ‘ Who do you think you are ‘ for Sheridan Smith [2014] ,who had musical relatives and Emelia Fox who had many actors in the family , They were both referred to archives in London for performers , possibly Royal Academy of music ?
Hazel, thanks for the tip. I will add it to my research log of places to check out. Fran
Great post, I have highlighted it in this weeks GeniAus’ Gems. You can see the full list here: http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/gags-geniaus-gems-3-october-2014.html
Jill, thanks heaps for featuring two posts. Fran
That is so interesting! How amazing that we have so much information about our past right at our fingertips these days.
Thanks for sharing this at the #saygdayparty!
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
Natasha, Love trying to find time to visit your parties. You have such an interesting bloggers following you with such a wide variety of posts. Fran
How fabulous and mysterious!
Hi Kate, Thanks to taking the time to read my post about my Great Aunt Mabel. Fran
Fascinating – I can see why you want to track Kate down.
I have decided to tidy up all my notes, collection and add sources before I get into any deep new research analysis. applying my lessons from the last Rootstech trip.
Thanks Tonia. It’s great to find some interesting persons when doing family history. Fran