Tracking down any family members can be tricky, and even more so when you're travelling up the maternal line in a family, as identifying the maiden name of the women in question can be difficult.
My maternal Grandmother was Jessie Cobb. She was the youngest of 9 surviving children to Alfred Cobb and Mabel Florence Courts. My great grandparents.
Mabel Florence went by Florence I think. My theory is that the eldest girl, named Florence Winnifred, went by Winn, so her mother probably was Florence or Florrie. She was born in 1884 in Gainsborough. At that time it was a bustling port and market town. The first census where we can find Mabel Florence is in 1891 (Census returns in the UK occur every 10 years starting in 1841). In 1891 she can be found living on Swash's Yard off Silver Street with her parents and three of her siblings. Her father, John David, is an engine fitter's labourer, her mother does not have an occupation listed, but with four children under 6 she was probably kept busy!
Silver street still exists in Gainsborough, it's one of the main shopping streets in the town populated with banks and shops. Back in the late 1800's it was close to the port, with many yards leading off the back of Silver Street in the warren of little streets that led down to the river. Sadly the yard in question no longer exists.
We can find Mabel Florence on the 1901 census for Gainsborough also. There are now 8 children, Mabel Florence is the eldest and is 16 at the time of the census. She's working as a washerwoman. Her father is still working as an engine fitter's labourer, and two of her siblings are working also. The residence is now 9 Chapel Yard, which was near Bridge Street. Again the original buildings in this area are gone. I believe that the buildings in this area would have been what are known as "back to backs" where houses from one street quite literally backed onto the houses in the next street. There would probably have been one main downstairs room where activities such as cooking and eating would take place, and one upstairs room for sleeping. With two adults and 8 children this would have been cramped at best.
On January 10th 1903 Mabel Florence married Alfred Cobb in the Parish Church in Southwell. The witnesses were Mabel Florence's sister in law, Annie Cobb (nee Shepherd) and John Charles Something - the writing is difficult to read and I don't have any John Charles in my tree! Perhaps they will appear in due course. At the time of the marriage, both Mabel Florence and Alfred are living in Southwell, a small village 30 miles south of Gainsborough. Mabel Florence's father John is described as a mechanic on the wedding register. Alfred's father is deceased but was previously a sweep.
From 1903 Mabel and Alfred began having children, and by the next census in 1911 they had four children. The family is living at 45 Waterworks Street in Gainsborough now. They are boarders in the house with another family whom were perhaps the homeowners. Alfred works drilling iron boilers. Interestingly two of the children were born in Derbyshire which suggests that the family were moving between cities, possibly for work, between their marriage and the date of the census.
Mabel Florence and Alfred had six more children, five of whom would survive. The sixth, George, was born and died in 1913.
