I believe that SarahD has found your Sarah in 1891 and 1901, not least because there is no match in Renfrewshire even when searching on a "wildcard" surname of *r*q*r ............., or even a female with the given name omitted from the search but surname *r*q*r.
The ages in these two entries that SarahD suggests aren't that far off.
Perhaps Sarah FARQUHAR was dissembling a bit and shaved a few years off her age, or maybe she believed that she was 39 in 1891 and 40 in 1901.
In earlier censuses it would have been her father who completed the census household schedule and who could well have been more accurate as regards her age.
Remember that it would be the respective heads of household, William SWAN and George PEACOCK who would have filled in the household schedules in 1891 and 1901, and they could only report what Sarah told them.
The fact that the Sarah in both these census entries is shown as born in Barrhead (not Banhead as in the 1901 Ancestry entry) would lead me to put a large amount of money on this being your missing Sarah, and I don't like losing bets !
The occupation in 1901 is not Moudhyly Nurse but Monthly Nurse, - I assume that Moudhyly Nurse is yet another Ancestry artifact. Note that the surname is definitely FARQUHAR, and not FARGUHAR, altho easily read by someone unfamiliar with Scottish hands and surnames as FARGUHAR !, or read by Ancestry OCR software as FARGUHAR !
Note also in the 1901 census entry the spinning occupation connection taking account of Sarah's occupation in earlier censuses.
Morag wrote:
The one in Govan seems strange - why would a 32 year old Engine Fitter have a servant ? I have many engine fitters in my family and none have servants but a large proportion of their children work as servants - so maybe she shaved off a few years (10) and was more than his servant !!
I couldn't possibly comment as regards the 'more than' suggestion !, but then George's age could have been an excellent reason for Sarah to 'massage' hers !
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Later PS
Near certain that the 32 year old George PEACOCK of the 1891 Govan census entry, died, reported age 38, in Govan Poorhouse in 1900, single, occupation shown as an engineer.
It could be very interesting to have a look at the earlier record of his admission to the Govan poorhouse, - the Glasgow poor law inspectors' interviews were truly comprehensive, - to see, not least, if there is any mention of his 'bidie-in', - especially if there were issue from the relationship, - altho' probably unlikely in view of Sarah's age.
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Even later PPS
These Govan births surely have to be worth a look, -
1883 PEACOCK Agnes Roberts
1885 PEACOCK Agnes Constable
1886 PEACOCK Margaret Wilson
1889 PEACOCK James Stephen
1889 PEACOCK Nellie Stewart
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