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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Northumberland => England => Northumberland Lookup Requests => Topic started by: elizabethh on Wednesday 03 December 08 11:30 GMT (UK)
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Am up against a brick wall ggf Edward Bolton married Margaret Henderson ( but where?) both appear on the 1851 census living in Chatton area - unmarried in different households - and their first son George is born in September 1857. at Wooler so they have not moved far! I have tried every where I can think of but no result - can you help?
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have you tried searching 'george bell collection' have a look online :)
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Hi
Trying to check their birthplaces - are they the 1861 family headed by Edward Bolton age 34 and wife, Margaret age 31, living in Howick (RG9/3892 87 p3)?
Good luck
Gobbo
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Thanks for the George Bell Collection I will have a look.
Thanks 01dgobbo that is the right couple living at Burnside Wooler. I have most of the family information - the wedding is the big mystery - as is his birth..... Margaret is well documented..... Once again thanks to you both.
Elizabeth.
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Hi Elizabeth
Edward's mother was Martha Bolton and according to the census records, 1851, 1861 and 1871, she was unmarried (not a widow). This means that Edward was illegitimate and Martha may have been too ashamed to have him christened.
All the best
Gobbo
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Hi Elizabeth
Edward Bolton is quite an unusual name and it's annoying that I cannot find his marriage either on freebmd or by searching the full indices from Jan 1853 to Dec 1857. Margaret Henderson is a more common name and I had little hope of finding anything about her marriage. However freebmd has a marriage Apr-Jun 1857 Henderson Margaret Glendale 10b 439 and Glendale includes Wooler. The problem with this index record is that the page 439 only holds one other name John Hall - the implication being that John and Margaret were married. I tried to check this by looking in the 1861 census for John Hall with a wife Margaret but could not find them. This leaves me wondering if Edward Bolton and another woman have been dropped from the national index. It might be worth your while to apply for a copy of Margaret Henderson's certificate.
There is a slight possibility that Edward Bolton and Margaret Henderson were married outside England and you may want to look at the Scottish marriage records on Scotlandspeople. Lastly, of course they may just have been living together and saying that they are married.
All the best
Gobbo
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Thanks Gobbo,
I had actually done most of this already. Sorry I did not make this clear when I started out.
All Margaret Henderson's sisters were baptised at Cheviot St. Presbyterian in Wooler and one would think this is where she would have gone to get wed. As you say, Wooler is Glendale but I think I have seen that John Hall Marriage. I will have to go through the mass of searchpaper that this relative is creating. I considered Scotland as a lot of Borders Presbyterians 'marched' over to wed. Nothing. If you saw the ladies foto there is no way you would accuse her of raising those kids out of wedlock.
Turning to Edward's mother Martha, the possibility of his legitimacy is considerable. The thing is I cannot find a Martha Bolton being baptised either.
I note your success with the Census. I have not done as well as I only have her on 1861 & 71. Not 1851. Just been excited enough to go onto ancestry. Nothing. Not even the 61. I have no opinion on ancestry's worth. If you could give me the reference I will seek it out the hard way. Who was she living with?
Then of course there is the 1841 Census.
Thanks for your efforts on my behalf which are much appreciated.
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Hi Elizabeth
I found a Martha Bolton in Wooler:
1841 age 50 Innkeeper HO/107/833 12 30 7
1851 age 64 Proprietor of houses b. Wooler HO/107/2422 413 23
This Martha seems to be about 10 years older than the Martha who was living with Edward in the 1861 and 1871 censuses and was probably born at Wooler not Howick. In 1841 she had just a maid in her household and in 1851 she was living alone. The 1851 census entry shows her as unmarried.
If Martha became a little confused with age then Edward might have guessed her birthplace and age for the censuses and death registration. However, Freebmd has the death of a Martha Bolton in 1854 (Oct - Dec 1854 Glendale 10b 205) so it is possible that there were two elderly and unmarried Marthas in the area but I can only find the one in the 1841 and 1851 censuses.
Ancestry's search seems very unstable just at present, possibly because they are getting ready to change the way it works and it may become easier when they have sorted all the bugs out. I got as far as I did by searching the British census collection for Martha Bolton, born in England, Northumberland 1895 +/- 5. When Ancestry told me she could not be found I just made it try again. Sometimes, when I had just looked at an image and returned to search results the original results had disappeared but I could get back to them by repeatedly pressing the browser back button.
It's difficult to know what to do to try to resolve some of the questions raised by these elusive Boltons - I think that I would be tempted to get the Margaret Henderson marriage certificate in 1857 and also to get the death certificate for the Martha who died in 1854 but this would be a gamble and you could end up no further and having spent £14.
All the best
Gobbo, who rushes in where angels fear to tread!
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Check out Rob Bolton's site on the Bolton surname - it's full of Bolton information which may be of help -
http://www.geocities.com/boltonsurname_uk/
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Thanks Gobbo. I have the correct death cert for 'my' Martha so can dispense with the other. I shall follow up on the strange marriage just in case but it is ring warning bells. I cannot trace having seen it and maybe ONS did not send it when the facts did not fit. (I have been at this puzzle for some years, move on, and then come back to it in the hope the tooth fairy has somehow fixed it! Or system enhancements achieve the same thing.)
Don't worry about rushing in with the obvious. I do not mind and may just have missed something but I have scoured the Scottish border marriages, Lamberton, Coldstream etc., Mgt was Presbyterian so a dissenters marriage is possible but where?
We know Edward died but cannot even find his burial. Most odd.
I sincerely do hope Ancestry "change the way it works" It doesn't at the moment. The old system where you got all years at a view was far better. Now if you click on one you never get back to the full set, just that year.
Thanks jora for the Bolton link. I will give it a try.
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Hi Elizabeth
You are wise not to bother with the 1854 death certificate for Martha Bolton in Wooler. The Bolton site recommended by Jora has an extract from the Durham Probate Catalogue "1855 Bolton Martha, Wooler, Letters of administration and will: T.A. 9". This points to the death of a property owner and is almost certainly the Martha Bolton I found at Wooler in the 1841 and 1851 censuses, who therefore is not your Martha.
The Bolton site has data on one other Martha, who is too young to be yours (Edward would have been born when she was 11):
Births: Wooler, West Chapel Nonconformist, Northumberland
Martha Bolton, fem, b. 2 Oct 1815 c. 23 Oct 1815 parents George Bolton & Phoebe (nee Kennedy)
Good luck
Gobbo
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Thanks again.
So where WERE Martha and Edward in 1841 and Martha in 1851?
But I really like the look of that younger Martha by George & Phoebe in 1815. too many coincidences. A George was our Martha's brother and Edward was staying with a 'relative' George in 1851. This George would be born 1807 so have we got a filial link?
The brick wall is still there but maybe the mortar is cracking a little? I do hope so.
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In 1841, Edward Bolton is at Middleton Hall in Ilderton, Northumberland with his uncle George.
Martha doesn't appear on the 1841 census as Martha Bolton, that I've ever found. There are quite a lot of illegible records for 1841 and also some with just initials.
I've been through just about every single birth register I can find in archives and online and so far, I can't find a baptism for Martha or a family connection, other than George & Edward.
I suspect she was illegitimate, as was her son Edward.
George Bolton (1808-1883) appears to be Martha's sister.
His own marriage to Barbara Moore is missing from the currently available data.
Either he didnt marry her or the records are lost.
Same for Edward & Margaret Henderson.
There are considerable gaps in the records available for North Northumberland, particularly as so many non-conformist churches were rapidly opening and closing. I'm missing a couple of baptisms and marriages for my own Boltons, particularly from the Wooler and Belford parishes.
We can but live in hope ;D
Rob Bolton
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Oh, while I remember:
Martha Bolton, daughter of George Bolton & Phoebe Kennedy, born 1815 Wooler, married Thomas Carr in Wooler in 1859 and died as Mrs Carr in 1909 in Wooler. She appears with the correct family members in each census.
8)