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I think you two are wonderful, and have totally lost me, but I am sure you are on the right track. I knew nothing of the second marriage until last night following all your investigation work.
Have you got the info for me to order the certs and I will ddo it straight away, you have most likely given it to me already but I am in toal awe of you both.
Regards

It's up to Raymond to do that; I'm not buying it for him lol!

Oops!! Sorry Janice. Getting my names fuddled!

I think this is Frederick's marriage.

Frederick George Cosby
Age: 25
Estimated birth year: abt 1892
Spouse Name: Ellen Kenison
Spouse Age: 25
Record Type: Marriage
Event Date: 29 Dec 1917
Parish: St John the Baptist, Kentish Town,Camden, Middlesex

Father Name: John Cosby
Spouse Father Name: William Spencer Kenison

His army papers are on Ancestry and it says he was a butcher before the war, which ties in with the 1911 census. John is down on the marriage cert as a munitions worker (it was 1917 so probably war work)

Astra,
I think your theory is a good one - that possibly Mary didn't die and he went off with Annie. I think buying daughter Annie's birth cert would be a good idea to see what names are given there - and see if mother Annie has any 'formerly' names.
If they did use Rouse because it was Annie's name, wonder why they went back to Cosby. Maybe Mary died and he was legally free to have another wife.
Just thinking aloud but it's an interesting trail they've left!
Janice

Hi Janice
Yes I found that but discarded it as he wasn't born Portsmouth as he was in the later census records. If we had known in the 1881 that he was the one married to Mary it would have saved some research that's all. It's of little consequence although I am still not sure that it is the same one. If we could pinpoint a marriage certificate to Annie then it would solve a great many problems. They say in 1911 that they have been married for 27 years which gives a date of 1883-1884. I can't find Mary Cosby after the 1881 but I also can't locate a death for her so it's all a bit of a puzzle especially with Rouse thrown into the pot.

Astra,
On the 1871 I put on page 2, John was born Hants, but living in Guernsey. Still think it's the same one though. His father was a Greenwich pensioner, a retired seaman.
Janice

How many years does it say John and Annie have been married in 1911?

If you had this information it would have been a good idea to put it in your original post. It would have saved a great deal of searching.
You are saying that the John Cosby we are looking for is the one born in Guernsey? He appears to be the one married to Mary in 1881. They are living in the Torquay registration district which puts him in the right place to meet Annie after the death of Mary.


John Cosby
Age: 23
Estimated birth year: abt 1858
Relation: Head
Spouse's name: Mary
Gender: Male
Where born: Guernsey, Channel Islands
Civil parish: Tormoham
County/Island: Devon
Country: England
Street Address: 11 Ilsham Cottages
Condition as to marriage: Married
Occupation: Cabman
Registration district: Newton Abbot
Sub-registration district: Torquay
ED, institution, or vessel: 17
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
John Cosby 23
Mary Cosby 22


I can't locate a death for Mary in Devon at the right time. There is one in Luton in 1883 but I think that belongs to the branch of the Cosby family from Leighton Buzzard. I wonder if Mary and Annie are the same person and she was Mary Anne perhaps! No can't be Mary was born in Suffolk and Annie in Torquay. Still can't find a definite marriage for them but maybe they met and married in Guernsey. I'm also still wondering if on the earlier census records we should be looking for Rouse and not Cosby!
Maybe John met Annie while he was married to Mary and when he left her to move away and live with Annie he changed his name to Rouse.

1911 and 1901 they are Cosby. It's 1891 they are Rouse.
I searched for Arthur Rouse and found it straightaway.

The baptismal records are on Ancestry.

sorry no info on when and where of her death, from my mum, recollects that there was a annie simmons. I have been going through the census's tonight and I can find most of what you have said but under the name of Cosby not Rouse, where am I going wrong.
Also I think that John was married tp Mary in the 1881 census, but by 1884 was married to Annie, I deducted this by a later census which said that they had been married for so many years. So maybe Mary died, there is a record of a Mary Cosby in Luton dieing in 1883 apr-june 3b 277

Do you know when and where Annie died? And how do you know her maiden name was Simmons?

wow again, how do you do it? I wonder why the name change, so all I need to do is find out where John Rouse Cosby died? and when ?

Raymond,
There are 3 people on this site who have Arthur Rouse born 1890 Marylebone/London on their trees. One of them is a Rouse so would probably be worth e-mailing.

Well they seem to be Rouse up to 1895 at least, but by 1898 they are Cosby. Hmm wonder what made them change.

In 1901 Annie has left home and is working as a housemaid, but she is called Annie Cosby not Annie Rouse too.

Looks like this is the missing one:

Dorothy Alice Cosby
Record Type: Baptism
Date: 3 Apr 1898
Father's Name: John Cosby
Mother's Name: Annie Cosby
Parish: St John the Baptist, Kentish Town
Borough: Camden

Births Mar 1898
COSBY Dorothy alice Pancras 1b 144

Deaths Sep 1898
Cosby Dorothy Alice 0 Pancras 1b 98

That means we are missing one. Will go and have a look. So far we have

Annie 1885
Charles 1887
Arthur 1889
Frederick 1893
Florence 1894
Harold 1900
Doris 1904

Sorry had to leave to do dinner

1911 says 8 children born 6 living

On that baptism record, John is shown as a coachman so this might be one of theirs too

Charles Rouse
Record Type: Baptism
Date: 26 Jun 1887
Father's Name: John Rouse
Mother's Name: Annie Rouse
Parish: St Mary, Bryanston Square
Borough: Westminster
County: Middlesex


There is a Charles Rouse birth in Marylebone in 1887 and a death in Marylebone in 1888 age 1.

Does the 1911 say if they lost any children?

Arthur Rouse
Record Type: Baptism
Date: 12 Dec 1889
Father's Name: John Rouse
Mother's Name: Annie Rouse
Parish: St Andrew, Whitehall Park
Borough: Islington
County: Middlesex