Mary Elizabeth Vickress (b. 1860) was my great-great-grandmother’s first cousin, and to this date remains one of my toughest family brick walls, for I cannot locate her movements or death after 1886, when her only surviving sister died. You will find a handy family tree at the end of this article to help you navigate the different names mentioned below.
Let’s start with Mary Elizabeth’s parents: her father, Henry Edward Vickress (1830-1875), a carpenter, was my great-great-great-grandfather’s younger brother. He had been born in the Herefordshire village of Hope-under-Dinmore, near Leominster, though by the time he reached his early twenties, Henry Edward had relocated to the Aston area in Birmingham, where in 1854 he married Mary Davies (b.1830 Bromyard). A year later the couple had their only daughter, Caroline Ann, but only two years later Mary succumbed to liver disease, leaving Henry Edward a young widower with a toddler to raise.
By 1859 Henry Edward and his young daughter had moved to neighbouring Dudley. That same year he married Sarah Foizey in Brierley Hill, which was then in Staffordshire and today is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. Their eldest daughter (and the main focus of this article) Mary Elizabeth was born on 16 March 1860 in Pensnett, which was then a part of Kingswinford and is now also a part of Dudley. Her birth was registered in Stourbridge registration district, with her surname misspelt Vickeriss.
When she was a year old, Mary Elizabeth was recorded on the 1861 census living on Fox Street, Kingswinford. Under the same roof lived her father, who was recorded as Henry Vickers; her mother Sarah; and her elder half-sister Caroline, who was six years old at the time. Later that year, Henry Edward and Sarah had a second daughter, Sarah Jane, who sadly died at three weeks old. In 1863 Sarah gave birth to her third daughter, who was named Mercy. She would be followed by Jane (1867) and William Henry (1869).
By the time the 1871 census was taken, the family had moved to 91 Pearson Street, Wolverhampton. Eleven year-old Mary Elizabeth (recorded simply as Mary) was listed with her parents and her younger siblings Mercy (who was eight), Jane (three) and William Henry (two). Her mother Sarah would have been pregnant at the time, as later that same year she gave birth to another daughter, Susannah, who tragically died aged four months in late 1871.
Tragedy struck the family once more the following year, when four year-old Jane and three year-old William Henry died within five days of each other. In 1873 Sarah gave birth to her seventh and last child, a daughter called Drusilla, who sadly died aged only eight months.
The children’s short lives, and their causes of death, clearly suggest that the family was not living in comfortable or salubrious circumstances. Things took a turn for the worse when Henry Edward died of tuberculosis in 1875, aged 45. By the time the 1881 census was taken, the entire family had been decimated to a handful of surviving members: Mary Elizabeth, her widowed mother Sarah, her sister Mercy, and her elder half-sister Caroline Ann.
Mary Elizabeth, who would have been about 21 at the time, is not listed with her family on the 1881 census. Her mother Sarah and sister Mercy were still living in Dudley, where Sarah tried to make ends meet as a washerwoman, while Mercy remained unemployed. Sarah, who suffered from chronic bronchitis, passed away later that same year. Mary Elizabeth’s elder half-sister Caroline Ann, on the other hand, was living in the Birmingham district of Kings Norton, where she worked as a domestic servant in the house of a Mr Ridley, an egg merchant.
Unfortunately, there is no apparent trace of Mary Elizabeth Vickress on the 1881 census. Given her age and family background, it seems highly probable that she had gone into service by then, like her elder half-sister. There is a woman listed on the census who may well have been her: Elizabeth Vickers (sic), aged 19 and born in Birmingham, who is recorded as a domestic servant working – or at any rate, living – at the Howard Hotel in Sheffield. Of course, the discrepancy in age and especially in her place of birth could also suggest that this is an entirely different person altogether. Be it as it may, when Mary Elizabeth’s mother died in late 1881, Mary Elizabeth, her sister Mercy and their half-sister Caroline Ann were the sole surviving children of the late Henry Edward Vickress.
Mary Elizabeth’s movements thereafter are hard to trace. In 1885 her younger sister Mercy – a 22 year-old unemployed domestic servant – gave birth to an illegitimate son, who sadly died after living for only two days. Less than four months later, on 7 February 1886, Mercy herself died at the Aston Union Workhouse in Erdington, Birmingham. Administration of her estate, which was valued at five pounds, five schillings and five pence, was given on 11 November 1886 to her sister Mary Elizabeth Vickress, who was described as “of 263 Great Lister street Spinster the sister and one of the next of kin” (the other being of course Caroline Ann). The address was the same where Mercy had lived before her demise.
Sadly, to this day I have not been able to locate a marriage, death or emigration record for Mary Elizabeth Vickress that might shed some light on her subsequent whereabouts or what became of her after 1886, when she would have been in her mid-20s. It’s as if she had disappeared into thin air!
If Mary Elizabeth was still alive in 1891, then her closest surviving relative would have been her half-sister. Caroline Ann was recorded in the census as a resident of Northfield (Birmingham), and worked as a domestic servant. She was living at the time with her maternal uncle, Joseph Davies, a widowed builder. A few months later Joseph married a widow called Mary Grove. Caroline Ann moved out of the Davies household, and around that time became pregnant; the father’s name remains unknown. Weakened by her condition, and gravely ill, Caroline Ann died on 19 December after collapsing in freezing conditions on the High Street in Selly Oak. A newspaper of the period recounts her last moments:
DISTRESSING DEATH AT SELLY OAK
Mr. Edwin Docker (Coroner for East Worcestershire) held an enquiry yesterday morning, at the Oak Tree Inn, Selly Oak, into the death of Caroline Ann Vickress. From the evidence given by her uncle, Joseph Davis, who lives in Frederick Road, Selly Oak, and carries on business as a builder, it appeared that the deceased was 37 years of age, and had lived for some time with her uncle. On Sunday week last deceased remained in bed, feeling ill. On Saturday last, at about three o’clock, although feeling unwell, deceased left home intending to go to Sparkbrook, where she was in the habit of visiting. The witness Davis said that on Wednesday last he taxed her with being pregnant. She denied it, but being asked again by witness’s wife she owned to being so. – Harriet Edwards, Selly Oak, was also called, and said that at about 3.15 on Saturday last she saw the deceased coming towards her in the High Street. But before witness could reach her deceased staggered and fell on the footpath. Witness lifted her up, and after asking several people, who refused to help her, assisted deceased to the residence of a Mr. Cutler. She appeared very ill. Dr. Hollinshead was immediately sent for, and upon entering quickly laid the poor woman on the floor, but life was extinct. -Dr. Hollinshead stated that he considered death was due to syncope and asphyxia, and no doubt was aggravated by the deceased going out in the intense cold while in a pregnant condition. – A verdict in accordance with the doctor’s evidence was returned.
With Caroline Ann’s death in 1891, all of Henry Edward Vickress’s eight children – with the possible exception of Mary Elizabeth, if indeed she was still alive – had died. After Caroline Ann’s demise, an entire family became extinct within just one generation. Luckily, the Vickress line has continued to thrive to this day, albeit through Henry Edward’s three siblings Mary Ann, Frederick and Alfred.
If you know what became of Mary Elizabeth Vickress, or would like to share your thoughts about her possible whereabouts, please drop me an email – you’ll find the address under the “Contact” section.
The Genealogy Corner 