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Hi Peter

I didn't know Frank Chapman was buried at Aghadoe. I understand his father John was buried at Highgate Cemetery in London on 1 July 1848 but I don't know if any memorial survives.

Hello Angela. The birth date of 14 Aug 1897 in the 1939 register would be from information given by Elizabeth Ann herself at the time. It is of course possible that the year may have been misheard or mistranscribed but other evidence does support Aug 1897 rather than Aug 1898 for her birth date. Firstly, Elizabeth Ann gave her age as 20 when she married in Apr 1918 and secondly her age was given as 70 when she died in the 4th quarter (Oct-Dec) of 1967. Thirdly, assuming she is the Elizabeth Leather on the 31 Mar 1901 and 2 Apr 1911 census, her stated age of 3 and 13 on these two returns would again align with her birth in Aug 1897 rather than Aug 1898. Where does your date of 1898 stem from? Based on information gleaned so far, I can only speculate as to why Elizabeth Ann could have been known both as Hill and Leather. As Holmemoss states, a frequent reason for this was illegitimacy and I have seen this many times in my research over the years. If the Oct 1897 baptism of Elizabeth Ann daughter of Hannah Hill at Dodworth is the same person who married Edgar, it could be that Ashley Leather was the father and that he and his wife Esther Hannah Leather later adopted Elizabeth Ann and used the surname Leather on the census returns. Unfortunately, the Dodworth baptism register did not record the date of birth as well as baptism and so there is no direct birth date evidence (i.e. 14 Aug)  to link this baptism to your grandmother. Ashley died in 1917 shortly before Elizabeth Ann was married and so is it possible that her true parentage was revealed at this time and she decided to use her birth surname subsequently - both for her marriage in 1918 and when giving her maiden name when registering the births of her three children between 1918 and 1931. In your first post, you mentioned that you thought that Elizabeth Ann was called Leather until you found her marriage record. What evidence do you have that she used the surname Leather? Do you have any information that corroborates a link with Ashley Leather? As Holmemoss states, we’re happy to try and help if we can and would appreciate any further information you have that would assist.

Elizabeth Ann Hill's age was given as 20 when she married at Emley in April 1918 which could point to the Elizabeth Ann where the birth was registered in 1897 at Wortley. No father was stated for Elizabeth Ann in the 1918 marriage register entry and in the online GRO indexes, no mother's maiden name is given for Elizabeth Ann Hill's birth registration in 1897. Noting that this may indicate that Elizabeth Ann was born out of wedlock and could have been recorded under other surnames, I had a look at the Emley census returns and did note an Elizabeth Hannah Leather aged 3 on the 1901 census daughter of Ashley Walker Leather and wife Esther Hannah and born in Silkstone near Barnsley (ties in with a birth registered in the Wortley district). She is then listed on the 1911 Emley census as E A Leather aged 13 with her parents and younger brother Lawrence Walker Leather although her place of birth is then given as Emley. After a quick dig around, I haven't found anything to link directly with the Hill family but this may be worth exploring further. Ashley Walker Leather married Esther Hannah Peel in 1892 and whilst I can find a birth record for their son Lawrence in 1901 (GRO indexes with mother's maiden name given as Peel), I haven't been able to do so for Elizabeth Leather around 1897/8. Ashley Walker Leather was one of the sons of Thomas Leather and Jane Scargill born in 1867 and died at Emley in 1917 - I saw his gravestone at Emley church a few years ago.

I can confirm that Muriel was the third child of Edgar and Elizabeth.

Hi Geoff
John Scargill (1793-1848) was Frank Chapman's father. Also his mother could not have been John's first wife Mary Catherine Redford as she died in Dec 1830. Frank's elder brother John James Scargill was the only child of this marriage - Frank was the eldest son of John's second marriage to Mary Chapman in 1833. I believe Frank's paternal grandparents were John Scargill (1754-1837) and Mary Snelson (c1760-1819?). Have you traced the Scargill line back to the 1500s? Based on a tentative but yet unproven link to the C18th Wakefield Scargills in Yorkshire, I have the line going back to Wath upon Dearne in Yorkshire in the mid C17th before which the family probably came from Sheffield.