The mystery of Charles Trade and Katrina Bishop
The facts as they appear are straight forward. There is a marriage record in Old Town, Maine for Charles Trade, 33, son of Peter and Mary Trade marrying Katrina Bishop 36, a widow on 30th of April 1870.
From the census entry taken on 10th of June 1870 in Old Town Maine:
- Charles Trade age 32 works in Saw Mill
- Katrine Trade age 36 keeping house
- Philip Trade age 6
- Emma Trade age 8
This is simple enough, but there are questions. In the marriage record, Charles’s parents are listed which usually means that he was single at the time of his wedding.
Are Emma and Philip, the two children, Katrine’s children from her earlier marriage? I then tried to find a death certificate of a man with the surname of Bishop or an earlier wedding to a woman called Katrine. I then tried to find Charles Trade in earlier census records. In all these searches I found nothing.
I then searched for the son Philip Trade in the 1880 census. Did not find a Philip Trade, instead, I found a Philip Tray living in Waterville.
The census entry that was taken on the 8th of June 1880 in Waterville, Maine:
- Charles Tray age 39 labors in Cotton Mill has consumption
- Catherine Tray 47 keeping house
- Emma Tray age 18 working in cotton mill
- Philip Tray age 15 working in cotton mill
- Alsed Tray age 7
- George Tray age 3
So the family moved to Waterville in the 1870s and they now have two more sons Alsed and George.
Next month I will be looking at the family in Waterville, Maine.
