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Ann KELLEY
1860 - 1925 (64 years)
Has 2 ancestors and 23 descendants in this family tree.
Set As Default Person 
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Name Ann KELLEY Relationship 
with Teresa Ann GOATHAM Born 19 Jan 1860 Willenhall, Staffordshire, England 
- Date from the PR entry for her reception into the Church of England in 1892, which has both her birth surname and her married surname, so showing it was this Ann Kelly, and the same date from the church register for her baptism (as a Roman Catholic) in 1860.
Her birth, like that of most of her siblings, appears not to have been registered.
Place from the 1901, 1911 and 1921 censuses where shown as aged 41, 50 and 60 years and 5 months, and born Wolverhampton (in 1901) but more specifically Willenhall (in 1911 and 1921). Willenhall used to be in Wolverhampton parish. Two earlier censuses are consistent with this - the 1871 census, which shows her as born Willenhall, and the 1881 which shows Wolverhampton. However, the earliest census, when she was just 3 months shows her as born Walsall, as does the 1891 census.
If she was born in Willenhall or elsewhere in Wolverhampton her birth should have been reigstered in Wolverhampton RD, if in Walsall then in Walsall RD. There is no sign of a birth registration that I can find of this Ann in either, looking on FreeBMD or the new GRO online index, and also the local indexes on the Staffordshire BMD and West Midlands BMD websites (these are not complete, and looking on 26 Aug 2023 may not cover the relevant area). However, given of her 3 siblings that I am aware of I can only find a birth registration for the youngest, I don't think I am failing to find Ann's birth registration because of some error but because it wasn't registered.
(I have ruled out the two Ann's whose births were registered in q2 1860, one in Walsall RD, the other in Wolverhampston RD - not only is neither of the mother's maiden names shown on the GRO online index Downey, but also each matches that of another Ann for whom a baptism has been found, and so it is clear neither surname is an alias used by Bridget Downey).
Apart from the date of birth match between the two records pointing strongly to Ann being the daughter of James and Bridget née Downey, supposed names for her parents appear elsewhere. When she was received into the church they were given as James and Mary [sic], and when she married her father was named as William! I think her mother died when she was just 7, which might explain why she got her name wrong. Her father's name is more difficult to understand. However at the time of the 1881 census, a William Kelly was lodging with Ann and her family (husband and children) who was of about the same age as her father (William's age given as 50 in 1881; Ann's father James was shown as aged 20 in the 1851 census and as 40 in 1871, though slightly younger, 28, in 1861). Could James have been known as William? I have not found an entry for James in the 1881 census, though a death registration which seems likely to have been his was not until 1889.
But if William was Ann's father why was he shown as lodger and not father or father-in-law? Perhaps he wasn't. And could James have remarried? - maybe Mary was a step-mother. There were so many Irish Kell(e)ys in the area, that if James or William was not in Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall or Wolverhampton RDs I will not have noticed them, and I have not reconstructed the families of those in these areas.
Whilst it is not clear whether Ann's father James was ever known as William, I do find the use of two different names for him reassuring in suggesting it is not too surprising that she should have got the name wrong of a mother who she cannot have known well.
Baptised 29 Jan 1860 Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, Bilston, Staffordshire, England - From church register entry (image on FMP, viewed 26 Aug 2023)
Her godfather was Like Stoneham and her godmother Ann O'Toole
Gender Female Received into the Church 6 Nov 1892 Christ Church, Fenton, Staffordshire, England - From baptism register (image on FMP, viewed 2 Dec 2019)Shows [in left margin) Jan. 19/60, when Baptized: 1892 Nov. 6 No. 337, Child's Christian Name Ann (Gotham), Parents' Names: Christian: James & Mary, Surname: Kelly, Abode: 7 George St, father a Miner, ceremony performed by W. R. Blakett, [in right margin] adult Reception.
Died Dec Q 1925 Stoke on Trent Reg Dist, Staffordshire, England - GRO ref: Gotham, Ann q4 1925 aged 64 Stoke T. RD 6b 258
Buried 26 Nov 1925 Fenton Cemetery, Fenton, Staffordshire, England - From transcribed data from the burial register (on FreeReg, viewed 13 Aug 2019)
Shows Ann Gotham, widow, aged 64, abode 14 Edward St
Siblings2 brothers and 1 sister Patriarch & Matriarch 
James KELLY, b. Abt 1832, Co. Roscommon, Ireland (Father) 
Bridget DOWNEY, b. Abt 1833, Co. Roscommon, Ireland (Mother) Person ID I301441 All | All in the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study , All subjects of the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study Last Modified 14 Nov 2024
Father James KELLY, b. Abt 1832, Co. Roscommon, Ireland Mother Bridget DOWNEY, b. Abt 1833, Co. Roscommon, Ireland Married 22 Sep 1851 St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Walsall, Staffordshire, England - GRO ref: KELLY, James to DOWNAY, Bridget q3 1851 Walsall RD 17 310
Details from church register entry (image on FMP, viewed 26 Aug 2023)
Since only CofE clergy could be registrars at this time for marriages in their church, James and Bridget would have had to have had a registrar present, and the full (and original) entry with all the details will be in the local Register Office, with copies obtainable from it or a copy of the GRO copy from the GRO. The church register does not give marital status, occupations, ages or names of fathers.
Family ID F300853 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family Thomas GOTHAM, b. Jun Q 1855, Fenton, Staffordshire, England , d. Sep Q 1912, Stoke on Trent Reg Dist, Staffordshire, England (Age ~ 57 years) Married 14 Nov 1878 St. Peter Ad Vincula Church, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England - The 1911 census showed that Thomas and Ann had been married for 32 years
GRO ref: GOTHAM, Thomas to Kelley, Ann q4 1878 Stoke T. RD 6b 320
Venue from UKBMD website, date from PR entry (image on FMP)
The 1911 also census shows that Thomas and Ann had had 7 children but only 4 were still living (and only two were with them on census night). Only 4 were found with them on any censuses, 1881 to 1911, so the others must have died as quite young children.
These can be identified from baptism and burial records; the abode of George Street, which is shown as Thomas and Ann's home at the time of the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses shows that they were children of this Thomas.
Also with Thomas and Ann at the time of the 1911 census were orphaned nephew William (son of Thomas's brother Matthew), a grandson Walter (aged 2) and a border, 48 year old widower Thomas Rowcroft.
Children7 children Last Modified 23 Mar 2023 Family ID F300487 Family Group Page | Family Chart
- Date from the PR entry for her reception into the Church of England in 1892, which has both her birth surname and her married surname, so showing it was this Ann Kelly, and the same date from the church register for her baptism (as a Roman Catholic) in 1860.