I have spent many years searching for Emma Dibdin. My grandmother, Minnie Emily Frances Hobbs, was born Oct.11, 1885 in the registration district of Portsea Island. Her mother's name was given as Emma Hobbs, formerly Dibdin. Her father was Charles Henry Hobbs. I have searched the marriage index from 1870 to 1899 and have not found the marriage of Emma and Charles. Carole Steele has provided me with a list of all the Emma Dibdin/Dibdens that were born and also the marriage dates of them. There is not an Emma Dibdin getting married to a Charles Hobbs. One of the possibilities is that Emma had been previously married. So I picked the Emmas from the list that could fit into the time frame I am working with. I found one Emma married to a ?Cook, another married to a Frederick Chase. So I went back over all the marriage entries for Charles Henry Hobbs and for just Charles Hobbs, cross referencing all of them. After much searching I found an Emma Chase getting married to a Charles Henry Hobbs in 1876.
I thought that this had to be them but alas, the following is what the parish records said.
23 Sep 1876 Portsea St. Mary
Charles Henry HOBBS (x) - 20 - bach - lab - Sussex St. - s/o George
HOBBS, saddler
Emma CHASE (x) - 21 - spin - ... - Sussex St. - s/o William
CHASE, gardener
Witnesses - Eliza Cochrane (x), George HOBBS (x)
Grasping at straws, I have the thought that maybe Emma Chase was unaware that she was considered a spinster. Since she signed with an X, perhaps she didn't realize what was being written. The Emma Dibden that married Frederick Chase in 1870 had a father named William who was also a gardener so is this just coincidence or is this actually the Emma that I want?
However, when Emma registered her daughter's birth, she apparently signed her own name which blows that theory all to heck, or does it? Could she and Charles have learned to write 7 years later?
I recently found my family in the 1891 census in Fulham in London. My find confirms that this is the same family that is in Portsea in the 1881 census. So now I know that my Emma Dibden/Dibdin was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire about 1855. Charles Henry Hobbs was born in Titchfield, Hants. about 1857.
Charles and Emma had a son William on the 1881 census. I ordered his birth certificate and it confirms Emma's maiden name as being Dibden. However, there doesn't appear to be any Emma or Emily Dibdens born at this time. And I still can't find a marriage for them.
The following is the list of Dibden ladies marriages in the time frame that I am interested in. Carole Steele has provided me with this list.
1860 QTR 1 EMMA BASINGSTOKE 2c 240 George Cook
1860 QTR 3 SARAH SALISBURY 5a 313
1860 QTR 4 MARIA WINTER GREENWICH 1d 923
1861 QTR 1 HARRIET STEPNEY 1c 720 George Goodman
1861 QTR 2 EMMA NEWPORT M 11a 258
1861 QTR 4 ELIZABETH BRISTOL 6a 44
1864 QTR 4 ELIZABETH NEW FOREST 2b 1087 George Fry
1865 QTR 2 EVE MARY PANCRAS 1b 47
1865 QTR 3 ANN ALDERBURY 5a 321
1865 QTR 3 MARY ANN SHOREDITCH 1c 368 William Reaveley
1866 QTR 2 SUSAN NEW FOREST 2b 1003 William Page
1866 QTR 3 EMMA S.STONEHAM 2c 104
1866 QTR 4 ELIZABETH T NEW FOREST 2b 111 Joseph Osman
1867 QTR 1 LUCY ALDERBURY 5a 246
1867 QTR 2 MARY ANN S.STONEHAM 2c 104 James Bull,,
1867 QTR 4 LOUISA AMELIA LAMBETH 1d 427
1867 QTR 4 MARY NEW FOREST 2b 1153 Asher Winter
1867 QTR 4 SARAH JANE ROMSEY 2c 117
1868 QTR 1 MARY KENSINGTON 1a 59
1868 QTR 2 EMILY NEW FOREST 2b 935 James Mussell
1868 QTR 4 MARIA NEW FOREST 2c 1087 George Gould
1868 QTR 4 MARY ANN SOUTHAMPTON 2c 34
1869 QTR 3 JANE CHEPSTOW 11a 5
1869 QTR 3 MARY ANN PORTSEA 2b 748
1870 QTR 3 EMMA PORTSEA 2b 628 Frederick Chase
1870 QTR 3 RHODA NEW FOREST 2b 957 Edward Castleman
1872 QTR 1 JANE SOUTHAMPTON 2c 14 Henry Whitcher
1872 QTR 2 CHARLOTTE NEW FOREST 2b 1014a Henry Edwin Bowles
1872 QTR 4 ELIZABETH KENSINGTON 1a 85
1872 QTR 4 JULIA MARIE SOUTHAMPTON 2c 21 Frank Bull
1872 QTR 4 SARAH ELIZABETH S.STONEHAM 2c 112a
1874 QTR 2 FANNY ALICE HAMPSTEAD 1a 1103 Montegue Severn
1874 QTR 3 FANNY SOUTHAMPTON 2c 2
1874 QTR 4 ELIZA S.STONEHAM 2c 107
1874 QTR 4 KATE NEW FOREST 2b 1175 George Farmer
1874 QTR 4 SOPHIA LAMBETH 1d 595
1875 QTR 2 CAROLINE SUSAN ST.GILES 1b 807 A.G. Lowe / Lavre
1875 QTR 4 EMILY SHOREDITCH 1c 271
1875 QTR 4 GEORGINA ISLINGTON 1b 483
1876 QTR 1 CHARLOTTE CHEPSTOW 11a 23
1876 QTR 2 ALICE CHEPSTOW 11a 1
1876 QTR 2 SARAH SOUTHAMPTON 2c 16 Elijah Carpenter
1877 QTR 2 AMELIA HACKNEY 1b 851
1878 QTR 1 ELIZABETH ST.SAVIOUR 1d 175
1879 QTR 2 EMILY NEW FOREST 2b 1057 James Watson
1880 QTR 2 ELIZABETH NEW FOREST 2b 1025 Elliot Baby
1880 QTR 2 MINNIE ELIZA CHEPSTOW 11a 15
1880 QTR 3 SARAH ANN SOUTHAMPTON 2c 67
1881 QTR 1 ANN ALDERBURY ? Charles King
1881 QTR 3 LOUISA ADELAIDE SHOREDITCH ?
1882 QTR 2 ELIZA CHELSEA 1a 619
1882 QTR 3 FANNY EMMA SOUTHAMPTON 2c 13 Frederick Jeffries
1883 QTR 2 HANNAH
ELIZABETH CHEPSTOW 11a 9
1884 QTR 1 MARY EMILY LEWISHAM 1d 1065
1884 QTR 3 CHARLOTTE
MATILDA PANCRAS 1b 306
1884 QTR 3 ELIZABETH ALDERBURY 5a 308
1884 QTR 4 ELIZABETH SARAH ST.SAVIOUR 1d 296
1885 QTR 1 ELIZA HESTER NEW FOREST 2b 871 William Dibden
1885 QTR 1 MARY ANN SOUTHAMPTON 2c 60
1885 QTR 4 MARTHA JANE CROYDON 2a 416
