Thread: Short family in Coldstream (Loan House/Cottage)

Yeah, I had a look for Leonard. I think I've found him, basically manning a toll booth in Coldstream for thirty years. Nothing of particular note happens to him, that I recall. I'll check the census records again, but I remember there wasn't a whole lot going on. In 1891, he seems to make a drastic career move and becomes a tailor, though I haven't seen the original of that record, so there's a chance that's some sort of transcription aberration (though of what kind I don't know). I've seen some crackers, in fact the previous census transcription for Leonard has his occupation as "Fall Cillister" or somesuch (I kid you not). After some head scratching I finally realised it was probably supposed to be "Toll Collector"...

Death certificate gives no hint of parents, but the informant is H Greenlay (Hannah Greenlay, of Coatesworth Street, Sunderland, I have her in the 1881 census... somewhere amid my documents...) who is, according to the certificate, his cousin. My own research has not borne this out, and I now think she's actually the cousin of his wife, Ann Gage. Hannah and her husband William also witnessed Ann's marriage to James Grey a couple of years after William died.

I must be going mad because I thought I had William and Ann's marriage certificate, and it appears I don't. I've got the reference for it, and I seem to have been sitting on it for at least a year without actually ordering it. Why on earth have I got Ann and James's certificate, but not the certificate for the man I'm actually related to?? That's something for me to do tomorrow...

In a way, I'm glad I'm getting it now, actually, because at least now I've got something to compare it against. Now that I'm pretty confident about the rest of William's family, hopefully I can make sure his dad matches up somewhere. If he does turn out to be someone else now, I'm going to be really annoyed with myself!

Will do. As for the address when they married, I wouldn't be at all surprised if both were living on Burleigh Street in Sunderland. Virtually every address on that street seems to have someone I'm related to living in it at some point. All the cousins for Ann that I've so far found seem to live there, at one point or another, and William died there in 1880. Odd, because it's not a big street (I don't think it exists anymore, but I've seen it on old maps). They're certainly living there by 1871.

I can't believe I haven't entertained this possibility before, but what if Mary Short, who is living with John and William in the 1851 census, is not John's sister, but in fact his sister-in-law? What if she's William's mother? Doesn't explain her total absence in 1841, but at the end of the day, the census is just one day, maybe they just weren't home?