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Aw lovely! Thank you!
 I love seeing the old photos.
We've got a photo hanging in our hall of the wartime occupants of our house - it was taken in our garden on their wedding day when he was home on leave

I'm back!
I have the marriage cert - it's not helped me very much, but some of you are magicians and I'm hoping you can find something. I have Robert's father's name now. In the 1861 census Robert's mother was Jane, widow of a butcher.

On the marriage Cert his father is John Swan, Hatter.

I've searched everywhere for a John Swan who married a Jane, but I haven't had any luck.
This is what the marriage cert says :
Marriage Cert
GRO Vol 10b, Page 172

Marriage solemnized "at the Register Office" in the district of Newcastle upon Tyne, in the County of Newcastle Upon Tyne

When married : 16th August 1856
Name: Robert Swan
Age: 23
Condition: Bachelor
Profession: Boot Closer
Residence: Northumberland Street, Newcastle
Father: John Swan
Father's profession: Hatter

Name: Margaret Johnson
Age: 23
Condition: Spinster
Residence: Northumberland Street, Newcastle
Father: William Johnson
Father's profession: Joiner

Married in the Register Office, by me, John Routledge Registrar
in the presence of Thomas Oliver, George Foster, X the mark of Frances Smith.

 

That's terrific, thank you!
I had most of that, but specific dates are really helpful. And Jane is in my direct line so it's interesting to know she was illegitimate!

I'd seen the 1856 marriage before but discounted it - partly because of the dates and partly because he seemed to spend his whole life in Morpeth, making shoes, and I couldn't understand why he'd trek to Newcastle to get married. But the date makes sense now!

I think you're right, I'll need the marriage cert to get any further. But as he was Jane's step father, not biological father I might leave that for a bit now and plod on with other relatives.

Thanks again!

Hi,
Can I resurrect this thread again! I'm at a complete dead end.

Robert  was born in Morpeth in 1833. I'm trying to find his parents and his marriage.

I can't find him in the 1841 census but assume he's in Morpeth. There's a young Robert Swan living in North Shields with his father Thomas who is a butcher/publican, but I don't think it's him, just because I don't think he ever left Morpeth.

In 1851 he is 18 years old, working as a shoemaker's apprentice. He lives in Back Way, Morpeth with his widowed mother Jane and his mother's cousin Stephen McMoran.


Robert is married in 1861, and he and his wife Margaret are still living with Robert's mother Jane in Damside, Morpeth. His mother is described as a 'butcher's widow'.

I think Stephen McMoran is the child of James McMorin, Shoemaker, b 1776 in Scotland / Terza Smith, b 1791 Morpeth.  Which would presumably mean that Robert's mother was Jane McMorin.
In 1851  William and Ellen Swan are living two doors away. William is a butcher.  Could Jane's husband be their son?

But I can't find Jane. Or her husband (Robert's father). Again, I've got stuck with all the Swans and all the butchers!

Any help is greatly appreciated!