DEARMAN & MOLLETT

This is one of those women whose lifespan more or less mirrors that of Queen Victoria, so a true Victorian.  She is also one of those ancestors for whom I have virtually all of the basic records - a complete set of census records included - and yet whose personality escapes me.  And even with all this information I do have a couple of questions that currently remain unanswered.  The watercolour is by Louis (Angelo) Fairfax-Muckley, mostly known as an illustrator and a member of the Arts and Crafts Movement.  I rather like this picture - she seems 'normal' somehow.

Emma is my great-great grandmother - my grandmother's paternal grandmother.  Her father was a sailor, so not there a lot of the time I guess - like my own, and like many from this side of the family.  And another from Portsmouth who did not stray from that city.  But only three children.  I do not think her life was unusual for the time and place, although there are significant differences to what her life would have been in our own times.  A long life - she was 84 when she died and, let us hope, a satisfying one.