Hello everyone, I am in need of your help again please.
I am hoping to keep this as simple as possible. I am helping a friend research their family tree and I have hit a problem that I can't seem to solve. I know that you shouldn't always rely on oral family history as things can get distorted over time, but the stories say that her great grandmothers on her mother's side were related, possibly cousins. I can certainly say that their maiden names were the same and they both came from Bilsdale.
Great Grandmother number 1 = Mary Hannah Garbutt born circa 1865 Bilsdale.
She married James Pettit in 1884 in Middlesborough and they had 4 children. After James died she married Robert Wilkinson Hearn in 1896 in Middlesborough.
1911 census lists her mother as Mary Garbutt age 66, widow, born Bilsdale.
Great Grandmother number 2 = Martha Alice Garbutt born circa 1867 Bilsdale.
She married George Dennis in 1884 in Pickering and had 11 children. In 1911 the family was living in York as George worked for the railway.
I am struggling to locate these two ladies before they married on any census record. I think I have just been staring at the problem too long and the solution is probably really obvious, but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Carrie xx
