Family mystery Elijah Prescott

[duckweed]

Elijah Prescott married Elizabeth Winstanley in Kings Manhattan New York 22nd October 1899. Elizabeth was 18 and Elijah 19 so possibly an elopement. She doesn't appear to have been pregnant as first child was born back in their hometown of Wigan in September 1890.

So why Manhattan and how did they get there? Why come back? If they were escaping parental wrath why not settle there?

I've tried looking for an answer but so far nothing has come up. Elijah was a builder and a sportsman. He played Rugby and Cricket.

Any ideas?

 

[leefer]

Tough one Duckweed.

My feeling is that as you say they left as young eager couple and maybe realised rather soon how far away it was(is) and how hard it was to make a living and came back with there tails between there legs.
The Prescotts seem an erractic bunch with some making lots of money....the others stealing it
My other feeling is that looking on the Winstanley side maybe your answer....did Elizabeth have family there.

 

[duckweed]

Not as far as I know. The Winstanleys are a bit shadowy. She left her husband after having had several children, and the family were not allowed to discuss her. My father found her when he was grown up. The general conclusion was that she had good reasons for leaving as Elijah was a very difficult man to live with.

All I could think was about the States is that the Prescotts were strongly connected with the Leeds Liverpool canal and maybe there was a friend who knew of a cheap ticket to New York and they hadn't thought further than that.

Haven't found them yet on the passenger list or immigration records. If they turned up together just before the marriage that would I think prove the theory.