AngloIndian ancestors

[anniewoods]

I am trying to confirm the heritage of Mary Isabella Townsend.(1873-1937)
She married Benjamin John Morris (nee Jacobs) 9/3/1892 in Bombay; Mary's father claimed unknown on the marriage certificate. She was born 24/4/1873 and oral history suggests her mother was Sarah Townsend (nee Curtis). Sarah appears to have married a Townsend, again no record of this marriage has been found. It could be Madras or Bombay as this was, we believe, a miltary family connection.There is a witness, William Curtis on the marriage certificate and this could be her grandfather, Dr William T Curtis.
Oral history claims that William T Curtis married Sophia (nee Anderson). We have no confirmed dates of this marriage, Sarah's birth or Mary's birth. Mary Isabella Townsend died 8/2/1937 in Bombay, buried as an anglo-indian.
Sophia Curtis is reputed to be the daughter of a Surgeon General Anderson who may have been a medical officer with the East India Company.
We have no dates for Sophia or the surgeon general.
I have been to the British Library and found no records apart from the burial record of Mary Isabella and cannot confidently check family history, marriages, or baptism for Mary, Sarah, Dr William T Curtis, Sophia or the surgeon general and although I have found a number of Andersons who were medical, cannot trace the correct one.
I have Mary's marriage certificate to Benjamin John Morris

[Sylcec]

Hello Annie
You say that you have a copy of Mary Isabella TOWNSEND's and Benjamin MORRIS's marriage certificate. As you also say her father is unknown, does this mean that she does not name a father at the time of marriage?

You also said that you have "been to the British Museum" - by which I think you mean the British Library, Asia, Pacific & African Reading Room where all the India Office Records are kept. If you are in or near London, this really is the best place to get help. You could also try joining a more specific forum for your interests, maybe joining the Families in British India Society http://www.fibis.org. Even if you don't join, much of their website is freely accessible. Members if FIBIS and others make much use of the India mailing list at Rootsweb.com so this is a way of accessing much expertise. Finally, the India Office indexes to church records are far from perfect. FamilySearch has recently uploaded over a million baptism, marriage and burial records for India which can be freely searched and throw up some events that have missed being indexed. http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=allCollections&r=3
Good hunting! Sylvia

[anniewoods]

Many thanks. The marriage certificate lists father as unknown.
Yes, I did mean the British Library and I have looked at the FIBIS website and tracked Morris, Townsend, Curtis, Anderson...but with no connections.