Last year, when the 1921 census was released, I looked for my ancestors who I knew should be recorded in there, along with their closest relatives. Although I did find most of the people I expected to, there were one or two that eluded me. One of those that I was unable to find was Rosina Jane Parry, the sister of my grandfather, Donald Parry.
Rosina was born in Hereford, in April 1905. Her mother died later that month, as a result of giving birth, so Rosina and her brother were brought up by their father, John, no doubt assisted by other members of the family, as well as friends. John then died in 1918, when Donald was fourteen and Rosina aged thirteen. They were each taken in by different relatives - in Rosina's case, I believe it was her aunt, Mary Parry, formely ROBERTS, the widow of John's brother, Thomas.
The family story is that Rosina then went to London when she was sixteen, ie round about the time of the 1921 census.
I recently returned to searching for her, trying various spellings and also missing out information, such as her surname. I was intrigued to discover an entry for a "Rosina J TARY", born 1905, working as a servant in St George's Hanover Square, London, Middlesex, and giving her birthplace as Toronto, Canada. The age would be exactly right for Rosina Parry, since the 1921 census was taken in June that year.
I have sometimes found TARY/TARRY as mistranscriptions for PARRY, which was one reason for taking a closer look at the entry. And, comparing the "T" of TARY to the "T" of Toronto, the former does seem to be more curved, as if it could be a "P":
But there are some other "P"s on the page, which are more completely curved, so I could be wrong:
Another reason for taking a closer look at the entry was that, in 1924, Donald went out to Canada.
I have been unable to find any relevant entries for Rosina J TARY (or PARRY) in Canada, or entering the UK.
So, is it possible that Rosina and her brother, Donald, perhaps unhappy at the circumstances they found themselves in after their father died, dreamt of leaving and going to Canada - and that, having moved to London, Rosina adopted that as her birthplace? [I have no evidence as to whether Rosina "ran away" to London, or whether it was with her aunt's blessing.]
Am I making too big an assumption that this could be 'my' Rosina?
Can any of you reading this find evidence in other records that would prove the existence of the Rosina J TARY, and therefore prove my assumption wrong?
