Zipporah Mary Lister was the first child born to William Henry Lister and Sarah Woodcock in Hayfield, Derbyshire, March 1873. A brother, Lewis William, was born in Glossop, Derbyshire two years later but Zipporah's mother,Sarah, died the same day. Lewis William died aged just 9 months. Zipporah's father re-married in London just 6 months after the loss of his first wife.
In his will dated 1901 Zipporah's father refers to Zipporah "having left home several years ago without leaving any message and having not communicated since".
Zipporah is shown aged 18, living with her parents in the 1891 census but was not listed with the family in the 1901 census. Indeed, in 1896 she had married James Milner Hurd, an engineer, in Barrow in Furness and had a family of her own before the next census.
