Mary Ann Bird and the Bird dealer

There is an interesting coincidence in the family history and it was highlighted by one of my real Aunties, and, with my research, is not uncommon.

The Auntie that informed me, and started a line of research was my dad's sister, Margaret. She told me that her mum's maiden name was Edwards, which was strange, as my mum's maiden name was Edwards. ie, my Dad's mum's maiden name was the same as his wife's.

Simply put, my mum's maiden name was Edwards and my Grandmother's maiden name was Edwards, but on my dad's side of the family. The logic here is that, I had two great grandfathers with the surname Edwards. Confusing, so a tree diagram is required:

Margaret Anne Weldon (b. April 26th 1912) who was my dad's oldest sister, told me that her mum's maiden name was Margaret Rebecca Edwards and that her grandmother's maiden name (on her mum's side) was Mary Ann Bird. In addition, an interesting fact was that she married twice.

In Margaret's own words, she told me "Gran married twice, and I think her second husband's name was Houson" she went on to say that around 1920, Mary ran a small pet shop on Tunnel Road in Liverpool. The young Margaret would spend a lot of time with her, often staying over for exciting nights. She said that her Gran was a lovely lady and she always got on smashing with her.

And that was that. So, I decided to put my detective hat on and do some digging. The first clue was the following information from Gore's Liverpool Directory for 1919:

The list of trades does not include 'Pet Shops' but under 'Animal Dealers' it says 'see Bird Dealers' and under Bird Dealers it lists: Huson, R.F., 176 Tunnel Road

Tunnel Road was in the West Derby area of Liverpool.

A resulting search then revealed that Ralph F Huson married Mary A Edwards in 1915. This was at Toxteth Park, St.Bede, Liverpool. Reference 2049TP/2/62 - A certificate was obtained. The stated age for Mary was 52 years old, which would confirm the 1862-1863 timeline for her birth. It is noted that her son-in-law (Margaret's father) Arthur Sandiland Weldon, was a witness at the marriage.

Ralph Frith Huson was shown as a widower on the above marriage certificate, a subsequent search shows that his first wife, Frances, was still alive when the 1911 census was taken and that they both lived at 176 Tunnel Road. Ralph was a house painter at the time and Frances, a Bird Shop owner. This would indicate that Frances died between 1911 and 1915.

A satisfying detective story.