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

These records relate to my 3x Great Grandfather, William Short, born in Coldstream in 1838 (ish), died in Sunderland in 1880. I think they might relate to the same house, one gives "Loan House" as the address, the other "Coldstream Loan Cottage". I have no idea who William's father was, other than an assertion from a cousin that he was an Edward Short who was a land agent (he got this information from another cousin, but no one knows where he got it from). I'm looking for more information about this family. If you recognise anyone or any details from these records, please let me know.

Source Citation: Parish: Coldstream; ED: 1; Page: 11; Line: 1; Roll: 764; Year: 1851
Source Citation: Parish: Coldstream; ED: 1; Page: 17; Line: 600; Roll: ; Year: 1841.

William was married to Ann Gage, as per this marriage record in 1864:
Year of Registration: 1864; Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec; District: Sunderland; County: Durham, Tyne and Wear; Volume: 10a; Page: 732

He and Ann had three sons:
William (born 1867, died 1892 without issue)
Alexander Douglas (born 1868, died 1928) - my ancestor
Leonard (born 1878, death not yet found)

William died 13 May 1880:
Estimated birth year: abt 1838; Year of Registration: 1880; Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun; Age at Death: 42; District: Sunderland; County: Durham, Tyne and Wear; Volume: 10a; Page: 359

The informant of William's death was a H. Greenlay, described as "cousin" on the certificate. I've since discovered this is Hannah Greenlay of Coatesworth Street in Sunderland, who also witnessed Ann Gage's second marriage to James Grey in 1882. I've done some searching for a link between Hannah and William which might suggest why she was identified as his cousin, but I now suspect she is in fact Ann's cousin and not William's.

I don't know if William had any siblings, unfortunately the 1841 census gives no indication of the relationships between the people listed, so while there are several individuals there who might be siblings, I can't say for sure that any of them are. I toyed with the idea that Leonard Short from that census might be William's father, but I have nothing to prove it. I thought Leonard might be easily mistranscribed as Edward, and there are several Leonard's further down the tree to indicate that it is something of a family name (as are William and Alexander, my grandfather was Alexander William Walter Short, and there have been at least two other Alexander Douglas Shorts since William's son in 1868).

I can provide more details of William's descendents, but I'm not sure that will help a great deal, as Alexander Douglas Short joined the navy and he and his family settled in Kent, far from any extended family they might have had in the North East or Scotland. Leonard was only 2 when his father died and he was mostly raised by his mother and her second husband (William's friend James Grey). He seems to have immersed himself in the Grey family, to the extent that on some forms he is recorded as Leonard Grey. His son, James George Short, also changed his middle name to Grey, so the family that stayed in Sunderland appear to have regarded themselves as the family of James Grey, rather than (or at least as well as) William Short.

Hi Rubina,

Yes, I knew about the connection with James Grey earlier on. Given where both of them seem to have come from (the Scottish borders), I wondered if they knew each other before they both moved to Sunderland, and possibly William tagged along looking for work, but I've not found an earlier link yet.

As for the Scottish censuses, thanks for looking them up on Scotlands People. I've been on the site before, but probably didn't have the money to spend getting the actual details before. I know I've spent a fair few pounds on there, investigating people that turned out to be other people's ancestors... I'll take a look again and see if I can get more information now. I assume from the searches you did that the William Short who was the son of Leonard would have been born after 1842, since he didn't show up on the search above? If that's the case, he's unlikely to be my William, sadly, as mine was definitely born before the 1841 census. I think the age at death of 42 on his death certificate is probably pretty accurate, so we're looking at 1837-39 at the outside (again, I think).

Also, if John is William's father's brother, where is he on the 1841 census? Going to have to do some further digging there, I think. Surprised I haven't thought to look that up before... Funny how you get sidetracked with these things. I started looking for the family of Ann Gage (William's wife) last night, and ended up filling in a recent generation of a completely different branch of the family...

Aha! Seek and ye shall find! I've just found John, inexplicably living with a barrel load of Johnstons in Coldstream: Source Citation: Parish: Coldstream; ED: 1; Page: 16; Line: 578; Roll: ; Year: 1841

No idea what he's doing there, and the census data on the site which must not be named gives me no clue, so I guess I'm off to Scotlands People to spend some more money idly flicking through census returns!

I think we've finally cracked this one wide open! Had a match on a******. Someone else has John Short in their tree, along with two of the brothers I've identified and his mother and father. I'm just checking with him now, but I think it's a valid match and also explains where everyone went, as this Short family mostly emigrated to Australia in 1857 (around the time William came south to Sunderland). He doesn't have the 1851 census attached to John, but he does have the 1861 census which I found in the last few minutes, which matches with the previous occupation of mason's apprentice, as he is now a mason with a wife and young daughter. John and his family also emigrated some time later, also to Australia.

There is a hurdle to get over, namely that John's mother and father don't seem to have been living together in the 1841 census, but I think that's probably explicable. Thomas is an agricultural labourer, perhaps there wasn't sufficient room in his accomodation for the family, and some of them ended up going to Coldstream. Leonard, Thomas and William were all old enough to support themselves, and between them could easily have supported the family in Coldstream.