Timothy Owen Bennett (aka Roberts)
The third child of Isabel (née Owen) was Timothy Owen Bennett, born on 31 July 1862 at Llanfair Street, Llanrhydd, Denbighshire, son of John Bennett, railway labourer, and Isabel Bennett (formerly Owen) [Ruthin, 1862, 3rd qt]. By 1881 he had become a marble mason and had adopted the name Timothy Owen Roberts. In the 1881 census he was listed as the head of the family though his mother was living with him. In 1890 he married Margaret Harrison [Birkenhead 1890, 4th qt]. She had been born in Liverpool in 1867 [Liverpool 1867, 4th qt] but her parents were from the Isle of Man. Some of her ancestors were Irish Catholics who possibly sailed to the island to escape the famines of the early to mid 19th century. Some of their living descendants were sure the seven children that Timothy and Margaret raised (three others died in infancy) had a Catholic upbringing.A few months after their marriage, Timothy and Margaret were living with a high school headmistress, Isabel Graves, at 12 Hawthorne Road, Birkenhead, (map) where Margaret was a general servant; Timothy was still a marble mason. They had children Timothy Edward Roberts [Birkenhead 1892, 1st qt], Mary Louise (or Louisa) Roberts [Birkenhead 1895, 4th qt], Christina Roberts [Birkenhead 1898, 1st qt], and Michael Frances Roberts [b Birkenhead 1900, 1st qt]. The family was living at 60 Oxton Road, Birkenhead in 1901. Margaret was a shopkeeper, a fruiterer, and they had a young resident servant. All their children were born in Birkenhead. At the time of the census a married couple, Frederick (28), a plasterer, and Catherine (25) Kennish from the Isle of Man were visiting them.
By 1911 the family was at the same address with additional children, all of whom had been born in Birkenhead, and a nephew, Thomas Harrison, aged 14, a baker's errand boy. One child was Annie Eveline Roberts, aged 6 and two more sons were Frederick Roberts, aged 3, and Anthony Roberts, aged 1. They later moved to 10 Olive Mount, Birkenhead
The marriage certificate of the second marriage of Timothy Edward Roberts in 1923 states that his mother was by then dead; she appears to have died, aged 50 [Birkenhead 1918, 2nd qt]. (Might this be Margaret?) Timothy (senior) died in 1940, aged 77 [Birkenhead 1940, 1st qt] and was buried at Bebington Cemetery on 2 March in a grave (No: D/725(R)) shared by his grandchildren, Alexander William Barnes (1921-1936) and Agnes Anne Pilling (née Barnes, 1922-1947).
(Click here to see a picture of the elderly Timothy with his son (Frederick) Vincent.)