I began my quest to identify the Jack the Ripper victim known as Mary Jane Kelly with over a thousand possibilities. Slowly and painstakingly that list has halved by tracing those who could not have been murdered in 1888.

In 1997 genealogist Peter Birchwood identified a Kelly family in Carnarvon at the time of the 1881 census as the closest match to the information given by Joseph Barnett, Mary’s last partner.  There was no daughter called Mary but, per Barnett’s chronology, she would have been married and living away. As with many suggestions, most of which are based on less careful research, it seemed incapable of proof. I am now able to demonstrate that John and Mary did have a daughter called Mary, but she was not the murder victim.

Three of the boys in this family were said to have born in America. Baptismal records for the archdiocese of Boston record their baptisms and, to the same parents, a daughter, Mary born in May 1870. Tragically she died the following year.

Having returned to this family many times, tracing them and understanding their journey through the late nineteenth century, I am finally able to move onto the next name on the list. It is a good example of how the increased digitisation of records is aiding researchers and bringing them closer to finding Mary’s real name.