Hi Heywood, Jerry intrigues me too. You say you found two records for Jerry in 1841 for Coatmans or Coatmanheights - I only have one, for Jerry and Mary. Could you let me know who the other one is please. Jerry and Mary fascinate me. Jerry is an uncommon name so I'm fairly sure he was born in 1775 to Sarah Buckley, a spinster in Linthwaites. He married Mary Shaw in 1809 but they had a child, John, in 1800. Yes, I know, it makes no sense, does it. It gets curiouser. On the 1841 census there is a boy Joseph Mason staying with them. It turns out that he is their grandson, the son of Joseph Mason who married Mary Buckley (the daughter of Jerry and Mary). According to Mary's marriage certificate she was born in 1803, again prior to Jerry and Mary marrying. I can't find any trace of a baptism for Mary. Joseph Mason, who lived with Jerry and Mary, moved to Oldham to follow his collier profession. He married and moved around a bit, as seen in the census records, but the 1871 census is interesting. In 1871 Ann Buckley (Ben's wife) was widowed and living with her son Ben at New Road (just up the road from the Temple and Bowling Green Inn). The very next entry on the census is for Joseph Mason and his wife Hannah. So, does this suggest that are Ben and Ann related to Jerry's line in some way, or is it pure coincidence that Joseph lived there. I bought a copy of Jerry's death certificate and he died (a widower) at Austerlands, which is just along the road from New Road. Possibly he moved there to be near his grandson Joseph. The notifier is a name I don't recognise and I haven't been able to link it to the Buckley line. Anyway, if you have any thoughts on why Jerry and Mary married several years after they'd had at least two children, I'd be keen to hear them. Also I'd appreciate the other Jerry in the 1841 census in the Coatmans area. I've seen the Coatmans cottages, very similar to the Wibley cottages where Ben lived - I had a look at them on one of trip's back to the UK.
