As Caroline read it, all the names her mother had mentioned were there and she realised the “Fancy Lady” Ada “Maud” Mabey nee Taylor, was most probably her Great Grandmother.
Previously we had no knowledge of Maud’s first child. Frank Charles Edward Taylor, illegitimate, was born on 26 May 1902, at 19 James Street, Southampton, Hampshire and had been handed over to John Daly and his wife Eliza Alexandra Emms and raised by them. Frank later changed his name to Daly, but not until 2nd September 1949.
We believe Maud may well have left Grandad as a baby with Mrs Daly to start a relationship with Frank Mabey whom she had George with a year later and married Frank three years after that. He always spoke highly of his mother though she left him at birth – his childhood was very, very tough but he was wildly funny, a great comic, laughed in the face of adversity and a loyal and brilliant father to nine children. We know she talked of Grandad to Maud his step (half) sister and brothers as when I met Great Aunt Maud in Sydney in 1990 - she told me all the stories of meeting Grandad in England and him coming to Australia to meet with his brothers / step brothers George and Freddie (all three continued to write and send Grandad birthday and Christmas cards till he died in 1976) after that Aunt Maud continued to write to my mum Maureen, so when I went to Australia in 1990 I turned up at her home and told her I was Frank's granddaughter and we had a great afternoon. Kept in contact until she died in 1996. |
My first book for Maud Taylor was The Peverell, Honeyburn, Taylor & Mabey Family History, 700 pages, the second became The Taylor-Daly, Mabey & Scott Family History, 800 pages, with hardcovers.
Those gut feelings we all get whilst researching are often proved to be correct. I believe that Frank Charles Edward Taylor was Frank Charles Mabey’s son, carrying his first two names, with Edward after Edward Steele, Maud’s step-father. That thought is reinforced with Mabey registering the birth of Maud’s second son George Victor Mabey, claiming the child in his name, although he didn’t marry Maud until almost three years later.