We always want more

The quantity of information collected on census returns has steadily increased with time. It does seem that providing more information can lead to more questions. In 1911, couples were required to state the duration of the marriage. It is clear that either some memories were faulty or powers of arithmetic were lacking. Not all the…

Fading hope

I am following up on the logic I outlined in ‘More on Brother 2’. (See also ‘Brother 2’ and ‘Still hunting brother 2’) I elected to look for James Stanley, born in Ireland, on the 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881 census returns. I found 42 separate entries. Unfortunately, not one of them cites Roscommon as…

Where to go

Some of the reasons for moving location were covered in ‘Why move’. Once someone had decided to move the next question is where to go. There may have been a few people who used the random “pin in a map” method. It was far more common to follow established paths. In the early 1900s, my…

More on Brother 2

I had my suspicions that Brother 2 (see Brother 2 and Still hunting Brother 2) may have been called Michael. Unfortunately, the Michael Stanley who died in Dewsbury in 1859 was aged one. His father was Thomas. At the time, I suggested that looking for an unknown name, in an unknown place, without even a…

Mary Kenny and others

As explained in ‘Room at the Inn’, Uriah Senior and his wife Catherine/Kate (nee Stanley) seemed to be willing to share what little they had with others. In 1881 Uriah and Kate have Irish born Mary Kenny, born 1859, lodging with them. This was before they started their family.  Unfortunately, the census does not have…

Still hunting ‘Brother 2’

In Brother 2, I speculated that the Michael Stanley who died in Dewsbury in 1859 might be the so called ‘Brother 2’. In order to provide more information, I called up the Death Certificate. My speculation was misplaced. However, useful information was still extracted. Michael died on 20th December 1859, in Daw Green. This location…

Brother 2

I am picking up on the information from my researcher relative (see ‘Dewsbury once more’ https://www.roscommonstanley.me.uk/direct-line/dewsbury-once-more/) that two brothers came over from Ireland. I have now established that one of these was Thomas Stanley (Brother 1). He was born around 1829 and probably died in 1857. After the success of my previous speculation, I am…