Children of "widowed" ancestors.

Question

Hi I'm in a bit of a pickle with one of my ancestors, I can't seem to find him after 1871, name Wm Cameron, living in Marylebourne London. I believe he died, as in the 1881 census his wife: Emma, is still living, so are most of the kids.
The catch is, he isn't and at that the children are not living with their mother.
Was this normal in Victorian society for widows?, or was something deeper afoot?, In the  1881 census I found her in a boarding house??, the 91 census she's on her own.
I feel like something's amiss, but I could be wrong.  
Regards.

Comments

She may have simply been too poor to care for the children.

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If you're lucky, you'll find them living with other relatives, which is why it often pays to fill out the relatives and their census records completely. I found this with  a profile recently, the two children's mother had died, and I found one living with the father's sister, and the other with the mother's sister.

Answer 1

It was quite usual for children to go and live with relatives after the death of a parent, many times for other reasons.

The only odd thing i see is the unusual length of time between his death and the birth of the last child, probably Emma didn't get around to registering the birth right away.

Answer 2

My grandfather's father died, and his will left my grandfather to the guardianship of his uncle (Great-grandpa's brother).  I don't know why, he had a perfectly good wife.  The uncle's family had money, though, and it may have been that they would send the boy to school.

Of course, by the time you run into these things, the people who can help you out, are dead.  I miss my Mum!  She was interested in family history, and would know some of the stuff, but by the time I had the questions, there was no one to answer them.