In this final full episode of Season Eleven, host Andrew Martin meets family history addict, writer, and storyteller, Olwen Moseley. He hears about how she eventually fell in love with family history, her love of death certificates, and how she likens her work to being like a detective.
Listen to the episode
S11EP07 – 'The Overlooked' with Olwen Moseley – The Family Histories Podcast
Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, and others…
The Life Story – Mary Ann Bowler
Olwen has chosen to tell the life story of her relative Mary Ann Bowler – one of a group of fascinating female cousins, whose lives all ran short.
These women were all connected by their grandparents, and by the fact that three of them became orphans, and died as young adults.
One – Mary Ann – managed to slip through the research net until she turned up on a death certificate and in the newspaper when her father – a pub landlord – died. Initially it was suspected to have been assault outside his pub, but this was not to be the case.
In disbelief, Olwen originally believed her identity to be a mis-reported event involving Mary Jane Bowler, but after seeing repeated references, she deepened her research and discovered that Mary Ann Bowler was a completely different person that she’d overlooked.
It’s really easy to overlook relatives with the same or similar names, but Olwen was then able to unravel her story.
The Brick Wall – Elizabeth Bowler
A missing census leads Olwen to lose track of her relative Elizabeth Bowler.
Elizabeth was born in 1841 in Nash, Monmonthshire, Wales, and Olwen last sees her living with her parents Joseph and Elizabeth (née Jones) on the 1851 census at Market Street, Newport, Monmouthshire. However, whilst Olwen has the death of her mother in 1858 documented, the whereabouts of Elizabeth Bowler junior becomes a mystery.
She has examined marriage and death records from the area, and also checked for emigration records, as she knows other relatives did emigrate, but as yet, she has not found the correct Elizabeth Bowler recorded – even with one of the many name variations.
Can you help Olwen solve her brick wall?
- Where was Elizabeth Bowler after 1851?
If you think that you can help her, you can send her an email at the address she gives in the episode, or message her over at her Substack page. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we’ll pass it right along to her.
In the meantime, Olwen is happy to accept Andrew’s offer of help, but they might be about to get a bit of a shock….
Episode Credits
- Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
- Olwen Moseley – Guest