Hi Helen
To answer your questions - Yes Mafey did return to Canada in 1925 (I have the shipping record) and without her baby born in England during her visit.
No more clues about Alfred in his obituary but yes I do agree there is a lot of info on his death cert. I thought that he might have descendants still in Kelowna and I wrote to all the OWEN's still in Kelowna today, most replied with no connection but not all. Yes it is very hard researching from a far, but not as hard as it was in the 1980's without the internet. However I feel I have exhausted all internet resources and I am clutching at straws hoping to find someone else researching in maybe the OWEN family that might know what happened to Mafey.
Anyway thanks for your interest & help.

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This is just a shot in the dark but bear with me. Your main goal,is to find information about Mafey Skelton, but following Alfred B. Owen's descendants may be the key to doing that. So... Alfred de Brissac Owen and Emily G. had 3 known children. Son died in WWI, can't find anything on the 2 girls nor on the daughter they adopted. Neither can I find anything on children of Alfred and Mafey. However, there is another family that possibly could be connected. There is an Arthur de Brissac Owen and his brother Cecil Calbeck Owen living in Canada in the same time frame. Different parents and as yet the only connection I can find is that both families lived in Blackheath, Kent and both families have CofE ministers within the family. But the fact that Alfred de Brissac Owen and Arthur de Brissac Owen both arrived in Canada at about the same time and both lived in Toronto and eventually both died in British Columbia, seems alot of coincidences. Arthur and Cecil were ministers and married sisters Bertha and Alice Grundy. Arthur and Bertha travelled all across Canada as missionaries and their children were born at native reserves. Cecil was a military chaplain for a time. When Alfred died, whoever gave the information to the register, has given his wife's maiden name as Emily Grundy (it was Emily Georgina Haslam) which leads me to wonder if it was a relative of Arthur or Cecil who registered the death. Arthur died in Victoria, B.C. in 1940 and Cecil died in Vancouver in 1954, but I have found deaths of their children recorded as recent as 2001 in Langley a satelite city to Vancouver. My suggestion would be to try contacting The Victoria Times, The Vancouver Sun or The Province and see if they would run a story or an ad for you. The Owen descendants could be in Vancouver or Victoria. Sorry for being so wordy.

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Hi Helen
Thanks for all that info and for spending so much time researching and thinking of a "plan of attack" for me - I really do appreciate it - so thanks very much. I do like your way of thinking - its good to have a different perspective. Yes fortunately I have 2 unusual names - de Brissac and Mafey that may stand out or stick in someones memory so I feel that letters to all those newspapers are the way to go. I'll write something up using the info you have given me and get it off to the papers ASAP - and keep your fingers crossed - I'll let you know if I get any leads. A heartful thanks again for all your wonderful help & assistance and interest as this really is a sticking point in my family history - it would be great to make some headway with it.

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Good luck. I hope you find her.
Helen C.

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