Margaret Emma ScraggAge: 27 years1862–1889
- Name
- Margaret Emma Scragg
- Surname
- Scragg
- Given names
- Margaret Emma
- Also known as
- Maggie
Birth | December 23, 1862 36 33 |
Birth of a brother | John Scragg 1864 (Age 12 months) |
Birth of a sister | Elinore Scragg August 20, 1865 (Age 2 years) Source: JC's Notes |
Birth of a brother | Edwin Scragg September 8, 1867 (Age 4 years) Source: JC's Notes |
Birth of a brother | Edwin Scragg 1869 (Age 6 years) |
Census | 1871 (Age 8 years) |
Marriage | William Lucas — View this family June 14, 1882 (Age 19 years) |
Birth of a daughter #1 | Elizabeth Ellen “Lizzie” Lucas December 22, 1882 (Age 19 years) |
Birth of a son #2 | William Edwin “Ted” Lucas February 26, 1884 (Age 21 years) Source: B.Cert |
Birth of a son #3 | Herbert Lucas July 27, 1885 (Age 22 years) |
Death of a son | Herbert Lucas 1885 (Age 22 years) |
Census | 1885 (Age 22 years) |
Christening of a daughter | Elizabeth Ellen “Lizzie” Lucas November 16, 1885 (Age 22 years) |
Christening of a son | William Edwin “Ted” Lucas November 16, 1885 (Age 22 years) |
Christening of a son | Herbert Lucas November 16, 1885 (Age 22 years) |
Birth of a daughter #4 | Margaret Ann “Annie” Lucas May 31, 1887 (Age 24 years) |
Death of a father | Joseph Scragg November 19, 1887 (Age 24 years) Source: JC's Notes |
Christening of a daughter | Margaret Ann “Annie” Lucas |
Death | December 24, 1889 (Age 27 years) Source: D.Cert |
Family with parents |
father |
Birth: February 26, 1826 47 — Lancs Manchester Death: November 19, 1887 — Lancs Liverpool |
mother |
|
Marriage: November 12, 1848 — Lancs Didsbury |
|
13 months elder sister |
Birth: December 13, 1849 23 20 — Lancs Stockport Death: May 7, 1902 — Lancs Liverpool |
3 years elder brother |
John Scragg Birth: September 1852 26 23 — Lancs Chorlton |
4 months elder brother |
Alfred Scragg Birth: January 6, 1853 26 24 — Lancs Stockport Brinnington Death: 1915 |
2 years elder brother |
Joseph Scragg Birth: December 26, 1854 28 25 — Lancs Didsbury |
6 years elder sister |
Ann Scragg Birth: February 3, 1861 34 32 — Lancs Manchester |
23 months herself |
Birth: December 23, 1862 36 33 Death: December 24, 1889 — Lancs Liverpool St Johns |
2 years younger brother |
John Scragg Birth: 1864 37 35 — Ashton Under Lyne |
20 months younger sister |
Elinore Scragg Birth: August 20, 1865 39 36 — Lancs Ashton under Lyne Death: February 9, 1931 — Windsor Avenue, Spring Vale, County of Bowke |
2 years younger brother |
Edwin Scragg Birth: September 8, 1867 41 38 — Lancs Ashton under Lyne |
2 years younger brother |
Edwin Scragg Birth: 1869 42 40 |
Family with William Lucas |
husband |
|
herself |
Birth: December 23, 1862 36 33 Death: December 24, 1889 — Lancs Liverpool St Johns |
Marriage: June 14, 1882 — Green Prairie Little Falls Minnesota, USA |
|
6 months daughter |
Birth: December 22, 1882 22 19 — USA Minnesota Little Falls Green Prairie Death: September 6, 1976 — Somerset Bristol |
14 months son |
Birth: February 26, 1884 24 21 — Usa Minnesota Little Falls Green Prairie Death: December 4, 1967 — Notts Nottingham |
17 months son |
Herbert Lucas Birth: July 27, 1885 25 22 — Green Prairie Little Falls Minnesota, USA Death: 1885 |
22 months daughter |
Birth: May 31, 1887 27 24 — Green Prairie Little Falls Minnesota, USA Death: November 12, 1968 — Canada Ontario Oshawa |
Marriage | Witnesses: William Chadwick; Harriet Chadwick
On inside a list of children, DOB and baptisms |
Media object | |
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Note | Margaret's date of birth is not known exactly, but deduced from the various censuses.
Margaret and William emigrated to America, where they were married. She made several trips to England, and her children were baptised in Liverpool although they were born in Minnisota.
Margaret was pregnant and returning from the USA when she became ill. According to stories repeated by her youngest daughter, she landed in Liverpool on December 23rd 1889, and died the following day - Christmas Eve. She was buried in Liverpool in the cemetary of a church later removed to make way for the Mersey Tunnel. The child was still born. Lizzy, her first born, relates a visit to the ship and cabin of her mother's, which smelt of antiseptic. The death certificate gives blood poisoning in childbirth as the cause of death.
The photograph of her was taken only a matter of weeks before her fatal trip home. That the children were leaving a country where they had enjoyed considerable freedom probably accounts for their sad countenance. From the back ground, it may have been taken in a New York park while they waited for passage.
There are two interpretations of the life and major events of this woman, that which comes down from her eldest child Elizabeth who remained in England, and another from her youngest child Annie who emigrated to Canada. The facts verified by the marriage records to William Lucas, and the birth records of their children are all beyond doubt. But we don't know the reasons for her trip to America, how she met her husband etc.
In a note prepared by Annie's descendents, there is doubt about how and why she went to America. It is partly suggested that she may have gone on a visit (to the Frank Hall homestead, where she was later recorded in the American census of 1885) or to work. But why would a woman aged 23 travel to such a backwater as Green Prairie - which became a township only a decade earlier, and why would the smartly dressed woman in our photograph look for employment in such a small town? Further, there is no mention of her possible unhappiness and desire to return to England.
Perhaps the difference in interpretation arises from their relative ages: Lizzy was 7 when her mother died; while Annie was only two and a half. Lizzy may have been aware of her mother's unhappiness, and there was certainly reason for it if the differences between her new life and her old one in Liverpool are examined.
The place that they went to could not have been more different from Liverpool - a bustling metropolis where Margaret may have enjoyed a life of privelage. Green Prairie was a tiny place. In the American census of 1910, the population was 176. Of these, only 25% were Americans, the rest were immigrants. Of these, 57% (76) were from Sweden, 25% (27) from Germany, and 7% (9) from Finland. Only 8% were from England (7), Scotland (5) or Ireland (2). The landscape was forest - similar to the Swedish and Finnish countryside, and this is what attracted such large numbers from there. Logging was the main industry.
We know that Margaret had met William Lucas at least at the beginning of 1882 (their first child was born late December), but this is believed to have been in England by Connie - the daughter of this first born child, Elizabeth(lizzy). Connie tells that Lizzy was conceived in the Blue Bell woods at Eastham, Cheshire. Perhaps she was swept off her feet by her man, and blindly followed him to his new life in the New World.
We must search the census returns for Liverpool (1881), and those of Green Prairie and/or Little Falls. These may place her at certain times and places, but we may never know the whole truth. |
Note | This certificate includes on the inside, a list of children and their baptisms |
Marriage | ilucw186005.jpg Format: image/jpeg Image dimensions: 850 × 1,150 pixels File size: 108 KB Highlighted image: no Note: |
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Media object | Format: image/jpeg Image dimensions: 1,150 × 850 pixels File size: 171 KB Highlighted image: no Note: |