Birth: 18 March 1824 Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK
Father: John Steel 1786-1865
Mother: Elizabeth Mayhew 1783-1861
Christening: 8 April 1824 St Mary, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK
Marriage: 1 January 1852 St James, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, UK
Husband: William Cowles 1823-1893
Death: 8 December 1911 Leytonstone, Essex, UK
Buried: St Margaret, Ridge, Hertfordshire, UK
William John Cowles 1853-1906
George Cowles 1855-1913
Entry in Ancestry England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 for Ellen Steel born 18 March 1824, baptised 8 April 1824 at Saint Mary, Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk, parents John Steel and Elizabeth Mayhew.
In the 1841 census as Ellen Steele (sic - on the original) aged 17, born in Suffolk, and living with John and Elizabeth (parents?), Charles, George and William (brothers?), Elizabeth and Louisa (sisters?) and two female servants (Charlotte Allestor aged 20 and Sarah King aged 25, both born in Suffolk) in the Butter Market, St James, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
In the 1851 census as Ellen Steel aged 27, born in Bury, Suffolk, single, a grocess, and living with her father (John), sister (Louisa Ann), married sister (Elizabeth Mayhew Heddak), nephew (George John Haddock), neice (Ellen Elizabeth Haddock), a grocer (Joseph Adams aged 23, born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and single) and a servant (Eliza Ann Burt aged 21, born in Woolpit, Suffolk and single) at 29 Butter Market, Bury St Edmunds St James, Suffolk. Her mother was visiting her son Samuel and family in New Market, Beccles.
Marriage of Ellen Steel and William Cowles in FreeBMD in January-March 1852 in Bury St Edmunds (4a 561).
In the 1861 census as Ellen Carsles (sic - in the index, original illegible) aged 37, born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and living with her husband (William) and two sons (George and William L), four staff and some fifty pupils at 32-34 Northgate Street, Beecles, Suffolk.
In the 1871 census as Ellen Canter (sic - in the index, Cowles on the original)) aged 47, born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and living with her husband (William), son (George), five staff and some fortyfour pupils in Northgate Street, Beecles, Suffolk.
In the 1881 census as Ellen Cowles aged 57, born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and living with her husband (William) at 15 Highstone, South Mimms, Middlesex.
In the 1891 census as Ellen Cowles aged 67, born in Bury St Eds, Suffolk, and living with her son (William J Cowles), daughter-in-law (Elisa H), grandson (William A), two granddaughters (Ellen M and Jessie H), husband (William), a governess (Edith Gregory aged 26, born in Nassington, Northamptonshire and single), and two servants (Elizabeth F Barton aged 18 and born in Harlton, Cambridgeshire, and Fanny C Knightly aged 18 and born in Barnet, Middlesex) at 65 Wood Street, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire.
Her husband died on 21 April, 1893 in Barnet.
In the 1901 census as Ellen Cowles aged 77, born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, widowed, and living with her son (William John Cowles), daughter-in-law (Eliza Hannah), two granddaughters (Ellen Mary and Jessie Hannah), sister (Louisa Ann Steel), and three servants (Betsey Fernia 59, born in Thornton, Fife, Scotland and employed as a sick nurse, Gertrude Hart aged 22 and born in Long Meadow, Cambridgeshire, and Rose Sillett aged 19 and born in Bury, Suffolk, all single) at 65 Wood Street, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire.
In the 1911 census as Ellen Cowles aged 87, born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, widowed, no stated employment, and boarding with Annie Newman (aged 53, born in Greenwich, Kent and no stated employment), her daughter (Lydia Newman aged 24, single, and a pattern card mounter), her sister (Elizabeth Scott aged 51, born in Greenwich, Kent, widowed and a sick nurse working on her own account), and another boarder (Henry William Wilkes aged 74, born in Chippen Hill, Essex, widowed and no stated employment) in six rooms at 23 Mornington Road, Leytonstone, Essex.
Death of Ellen Cowles in FreeBMD in October-December 1911 aged 87 in West Ham (4a 351).
There are thirtyone entries in Ancestry Public Member Trees for Ellen Steel which include a notice in Norfolk Chronicle for the marriage of Ellen Steel and William Cowles on 10 January 1852 in Norwich, Norfolk, notice appeared Notice appeared in 01 Jan 1862 Norfolk Chronicle (I assume that the dates are the wrong way round)).
An email states William Cowles married the 1st January 1852 at St. James’, Bury St. Edmunds, Ellen Steel. She was born 1824 and she died 8th Decr. 1911 at Leytonstone, Essex, age 87 years, being buried in the Churchyard at Ridge, Herts. She was the daughter of John Steel, Grocer of Bury St. Edmunds where she was born; therefore she was the sister of Samuel Steel who married William Cowles’ sister Sarah Ann. William and Ellen Cowles had issue: William John Cowles and George Cowles
Ellen Steel was the wife of William Cowles, my third cousin twice removed.
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