Rigmaiden Family History Blog: Catherine Rigmaiden's children: Catherine

Catherine was born on the 28th October 1874 according to the birth certificate which we believe to be hers.
She was registered by her father as Catherine Drury, her mother being Catherine Drury formerly Rigmaiden, father James Drury, labourer, on the 5th December. The address given was 2 Etna Street, which is in the Old Swan district of Liverpool. No marriage record has been found for Catherine and James Drury, nor has a death certificate for her former husband, James Rigmaiden. The baptismal entry from St Oswald's R.C. Church in Old Swan is full of mistakes. Firstly no father's surname is given, only the forename James (or Jacobus, as it is in Latin) and no mother's name at all. Secondly the date of birth is given as the 23rd November even though the register entry is dated the 18th November. It should probably be the 23rd October.

In the 1881 census she, aged 6, is living with her mother and small baby sister, Mary, at 16 Etna Street. They are lodging with the family of Thomas and Margaret Evans and their name is wrongly entered in the indexes as Rigmarsden. Of James Drury there is no further trace. Both the Catherine's are named as Kate and the elder Kate is a laundress, but her age is mistakenly given as 57 - she would only have been 38. This is the last paper record of Catherine Rigmaiden, if she is present in the 1891 census she must have recorded a different surname. There is no death record for a Catherine Rigmaiden. Like her husband, James Rigmaiden, she seems to vanish from recorded history.
Her daughter Catherine, however, is to be found in the 1891 census at 203 Prescot Rd, Walton, Liverpool, working as a servant for Abram(?)(26) and Ada (22) Scott, tobacconist and stationer. He is assisted by his sister Annie (22). The Scotts are from Yorkshire. There are also two children in the household, William, 10 months and Martha, aged 9. Kate is a general domestic servant, aged 17.

In 1893, Catherine marries John Percy giving her father's name as James Rigmaiden (deceased). Amongst their children is Florence Elizabeth Percy, my grandmother. We would have had no clues about Catherine's birth at all, had it not been for some papers in my grandmother's possession indicating that Catherine Drury and Catherine Rigmaiden were the same person. But there are still many unanswered questions - what happened to James and Catherine Rigmaiden? Why did the younger Catherine use the name Rigmaiden all her life and never acknowledge James Drury as a possible father? Why is the baptismal record so incomplete? Perhaps some of these will be answered with further investigation.