We know from census records that after Elizabeth Ramsden died on 26th April 1851 (aged 40, at home in Manningham), James Keighley remarried at least once. In the 1861 Census (7 April 1861) James is recorded as residing in the same house as in 1851 (1 Belle View, Manningham) with his wife Sarah, a 49 year old born in Farnley, Yorkshire. This would imply a year of birth of 1811/12.
A note in the Leeds Times of 25th October 1862 (page 8 column 5) states: “DEATHS … Bradford … On Monday, age 51, Sarah, wife of Mr. James Keighley, Belle Vue.” This death announcement would indicate a year of birth of about 1810/11 – reasonably consistent with the 1811/12 implied from the 1861 Census. No probate record has been found.
This note is about the steps taken to identify her given her 1861 Census entry and the above death announcement, in support of another note about James Keighley’s families. It is also written in the (not entirely forlorn) hope that other researchers will find this note and add their thoughts.
A marriage announcement in an on-line Newspaper archive identifies her as “Mrs. Sarah Knight, eldest daughter of the late Thos. Ingle”.
Buying a mass of marriage certificates is probably the easiest way to solve this sort of conundrum – but it could get expensive (particularly if this was an habitual way to solve any such genealogical query) and even then may not definitively identify Sarah – other corroborating evidence might be needed.
Identifying the birth or baptismal place.
The place of birth recorded in the 1861 Census will have been what either Sarah or her husband told the enumerator; in 1851 it could probably been what her parents told the enumerator. Sometimes people recall the place they grew up as their place of birth.
The 1861 census says just “Yorks Farnley” for her place of birth. Farnley could be:
A parish about 8 km East of Bradford in the Hunslet Registration District (place mark 1 on the map).
A parish about 12 km North of Bradford in the Otley Registration District (place mark 2 on the map).
There is also a Farnley Tyas about 4km South East of Huddersfield (place mark 3 on the map)..
But it could possibly read “Farsley”, which is just North of Pudsey (near mark 1) about 4 km East North East of Bradford in Bradford Registration District.
Expectant women sometimes returned to their own mother’s home for a birth – particularly the first birth. The baptism may then have taken place in the couple’s home parish. If these two places were too far apart we may struggle to identify a baptism.
Looking to document places close to the possible places of birth of Sarah Keighley as recorded in the 1861 Census we find.
- The Parish of Farnley, in Hunslet Registration District, borders: Wortley, Drighlington, Gildersome, Morley, Tong, Armley, Beeston, Pudsey and Stanningley. Other larger settlements1 within a few miles (which an inhabitant of Farnley Parish may have nominated as “their nearest town”) included: Bramley, Holbeck and Morley.
- The Parish of Farnley, in Otley Registration District, borders: Fewston, Otley and Leathley. Other settlements1 within a few miles (which an inhabitant of Farnley Parish may have nominated as “their village” – it is a more rural area) included: Lindley, Pool-in-Wharfdale and Newall.
- The Parish of Farsley, in Bradford Registration District, borders: Calverley, Pudsey, Bramley and Stanningley. Other larger settlements1 within a few miles (which an inhabitant of Farnley Parish may have nominated as “their nearest town”) included: Rodley, Swinnow and Thornbury.
- The Parish of Farnley Tyas, in Huddersfield Registration District, borders: Almondbury, Kirkheaton and Kirkburton. Other settlements within a few miles (which an inhabitant of Farnley Tyas Parish may have nominated as “their village” – it is a more rural area) included: Fenay Bridge, Highburton, Honley and Armitage Bridge.
1 Judgement of “settlements” has been made from a modern (21st century) map overlay, so may mistakenly include more recently founded or expanded settlements.
Possible Marriages – Possible Surnames
From FreeBMD, which is a database holding a transcription of the indices to the registers, looking for James Keighley marrying a Sarah between 1851 and 1861 (without geographical constraints), we get three possible marriages (to four possible brides) on three possible register pages – which unfortunately do not identify the couples. The transcription just tells us the names in the index to the registers with the particular volume and page recorded against them. This gives us three possible grooms called James Keighley and the four possible brides called Sarah.
Year/Qtr | District | Volume | Page | Surname | First Names |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1854/Q2 | Otley | 9a | 175 | Keighley | James |
Brown | Sarah | ||||
Knight | Sarah | ||||
Chippendale | Thomas | ||||
1854/Q4 | Keighley | 9a | 260 | Keighley | James |
Riley | Sarah | ||||
Ackroyd | John | ||||
Jeffrey | Ellen | ||||
1859/Q2 | Bradford | 9B | 33 | Keighley | James |
Myers | Sarah | ||||
Scholey * | Hannah | ||||
Haigh | James Cowling or Croling |
* name from Find My Past search of Civil registers
Identifying the correct marriage
To try to identify which of the above four “candidate Sarah’s” is the one who married (our) James Keighley we can:
- Find a marriage report or announcement in newspapers on-line.
- Hope we can find online parish records which give details of the couples’ marriage.
- Look in the GRO Birth Index for possible children of the couple (using the four bride’s surnames as possible Mother’s Maiden Names). Given Sarah’s age on marriage (in 1854 she would probably be about 43) it is not impossible that they had children.
- Look for online parish records for a Sarah baptised or born in or near “Farnley” in between say 1810 and 1814.
- Review the 1851 census and hope to find the bride born “Farnley” between 1810 and 1814. “living at home with her parents” – or for someone Sarah’s age living with her then husband (whose death we can then trace)
- Review the 1861 census and hope to identify the “other couple” living together.
- Buy the marriage certificates for all three James Keighley’s above, identify ours from his residence and occupation (we do not yet know his father) and hope he was marrying a Sarah.
Which ever method is used other methods may also be required to provide sufficient corroboration to be certain that we have identified the right couple.
Online Newspaper Archives
Looking in Newspaper Archives for a marriage of James Keighley is problematic, not just because the Christian name is fairly common (and also appears as a church name as in “St James”) but because the surname Keighley is also the name of a town in the West Riding of Yorkshire – in the area in which the Keighley’s lived. Searching the Newspaper Archives via Find My past suffers from not distinguish the town from the family despite the search having name fields.
Re-examining Newspaper Archives in 1854 for marriages of Sarah Brown, Sarah Knight or Sarah Riley and in 1859 for Sarah Myers to a James (Keighley omitted from search because of the place of that name) with the County restricted to Yorkshire is more profitable with far fewer spurious returns. Searching the available records on Find My Past (British Newspaper Archive) in June 2021 finds:
- 1854, Quarter 2: Sarah Brown in Otley Registration District to either James Keighley or Thomas Chippendale: 23 records for variations on Sarah Brown – none for either of the above marriages.
- 1854, Quarter 2: Sarah Knight in Otley Registration District to either James Keighley or Thomas Chippendale: 3 records found including:
MARRIAGES
Otley – On Sunday last, at the parish church, by the Rev. Jos. Hart, B.A., vicar, Mr. THOMAS CHIPPINDALE, to Miss Ann Brown, both of Otley.
Otley – On Wednesday last, at the parish church, by the Rev. Jos. Hart, B.A., vicar, Mr. JAMES KEIGHLEY, plumber and glazier, of Bradford, to Mrs. Sarah Knight, eldest daughter of the late Thos. Ingle, of the Royal Oak Inn, Otley.
Leeds Intelligencer: 03 June 1854; Page: 8; Column: 5; [on Find My Past]
The second report above would appear to be fairly conclusive given the abode and occupation of the groom. (There is a remaining puzzle as to why the first marriage in the above report is between Thomas Chippindale and Ann Brown, not Sarah Brown. The Marriage Index image on FreeBMD definitely has “Brown Sarah, Otley 9a 175”.)
For completeness:
- 1854, Quarter 4: Sarah Riley in Keighley Registration District to either James Keighley or John Ackroyd: 2 records found in 1854 for Sarah Riley in Yorkshire but none for a marriage to James (or in Quarter 4 1854)
- 1859, Quarter 2: Sarah Myers in in Bradford Registration District to either James Keighley or James Cowling (or Croling) Haigh: 2 records found in 1859 for Sarah Myers in Yorkshire but none for a marriage to James (or in Quarter 2 1859)
Sarah Keighley would appear to have been born as an Ingle and to have previously married a Knight. When she married James Keighley in May 1854 she was about 41 or 42, so her first marriage could have been before civil registration.
Parish Records – looking for the marriage of James & Sarah.
Checking the major databases available, we find
- Ancestry (marriage in Yorkshire 1856 +/-5yrs, ~James Keighley b 1805 +/-5yrs, Spouse ~Sarah) – no records found
- Find My Past (marriage in Yorkshire 1856 +/-5yrs, ~James Keighley b 1805 +/-5yrs, Spouse ~Sarah) – no records found
- Family Search (marriage in Yorkshire 1851-1861, ~James Keighley, Spouse ~Sarah) – no records found
- FreeReg (marriage in Yorkshire 1851-1861, James Keighley (Soundex)) – only marriage in 1854 at Elland to Mary Green found
- The Genealogist (marriage to James Keighley in Parish Records 1856 +/-5yrs) – only one record in Norfolk, bride is Elizabeth Keighley, groom is James Lock.
Online parish marriage records (which are an incomplete record set) from the above sources therefore draw a blank in respect of those records available at the time of writing (June 2021).
Parish Records – looking for marriage of the Sarah Ingle and Mr Knight
Yorkshire marriages on Find My Past has the following marriage in the right place and time frame (the only possible one found for Sarah Ingle)
Edmund Knight of the Parish of Bradford Woolstapler
Bishops Transcript of Otley Parish Marriage Register [on Find My Past]
and Sarah Ingle of this Parish Spinster
were married in this Church by Licence
this thirteenth Day of
September in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Four
By me Ayscough Fawkes Offl Min
This Marriage was solemnized between us Edmund Knight, Sarah Ingle
In the Presence of James Ingle, Joseph Knight
James Ingle has not been definitively identified – he might be an uncle as he has not been identified as a brother of Sarah.
GRO Birth Index for children of the James and Sarah.
The GRO Birth Index can be searched (for children of the marriage) by Mother’s Maiden Name. If we find a match it may point towards one of the four possible marriages noted above. However as it appears James married a widow, her maiden name would not necessarily be the surname under which she was married. Searching with no geographic restrictions (i.e. across England and Wales) from the date of marriage to the date of death we find:
- Keighley / Brown – between 1854 Q2 and 1862 Q4: No Matching Birth Results Found
- Keighley / Knight – between 1854 Q2 and 1862 Q4: No Matching Birth Results Found
- Keighley / Riley – between 1854 Q4 and 1862 Q4: No Matching Birth Results Found
- Keighley / Myers – between 1859 Q2 and 1862 Q4: No Matching Birth Results Found
- Keighley / Ingle – between 1854 Q2 and 1862 Q4: No Matching Birth Results Found
This option (which is quite a quick one to check and which is checking a set of records which should be complete) has also drawn a blank. We can therefore probably conclude that James and Sarah had no children.
Parish Records – baptisms of the possible brides.
Searching with non-exact location, or a location +5 miles we can find baptisms or non-conformist records of birth in the years 1810 to 1814. There is one appropriate record for Sarah Ingle:
Sarah Ingle:
- Daughter of Thomas Ingle of Farnley and his wife Mary, bap Otley 25 December 1810 (born 30 November 1810)[FSa][FMPa]
- [FSa] Family Search: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
- [FMPa] Find My Past: Yorkshire Baptisms (Bishop’s Transcripts at Borthwick Institute for Archives)
- Unlike the Family Search record the Find My Past record has the associated image (albeit of the Bishop’s Transcript) and this reveals the “of Farnley”.
Sarah Ingle’s Family
- In the report of her marriage to James she is listed as a eldest daughter of the late Thos. Ingle, of the Royal Oak Inn, Otley
- The Otley Pub Club website in discussing the Royal Oak mentions:
- “According to the late historian, Frederick Morrell, the Royal Oak probably dates back to the 17th century. There is a date stone on the Bridge Street frontage which reads “Royal Oak c 1651”. It was originally of three storys, whereas today it is of two. … The main entrance to the property today is on Clapgate but originally it was the doorway on the Bridge Street side. …
- “The Royal Oak in 1818 was described as being in Northgate, the earlier name for Bridge Street, and the innkeeper was Thomas Ingle. There were many more landlords after that, i.e. Mary Ingle who succeeded her father, …
- The baptism record suggests
- that Sarah’s mother was a Mary
- that her father was Thomas Ingle of Farnley
- The possible contradiction as to Thomas Ingle’s abode (between Sarah’s baptism in 1810 and her marriage to James in 1854, but referring to her late father’s abode) may be no more than a timing difference. In 1810 he was living in Farnley, but by 1818 he had become the landlord of the Royal Oak in Otley.
- The Mary who succeeded her father as landlord of the Royal Oak would therefore be a sister of Sarah rather than her mother.
- Thomas Ingle, her father, died sometime between 1818 and 1854.
- The following Otley burials and deaths of a Thomas Ingle are found online (June 2021)
Date | Surname | First name(s) | Age | Location | Information / Source Details | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1835 | Ingle | Thomas Alfred | 11 | Otley Parish | Year of Birth: 1824 | [FMPa][FMPb] |
Q4 1839 | Ingle | Thomas | 54 | Otley RD/Parish | Otley Vol: 23; Page: 324 | [BMD][FMPb][FaG] |
Q4 1840 | Ingle | Thomas | 77 | Otley RD | Otley Vol: 23; Page: 333 | [BMD] |
Q1 1845 | Ingle | Thomas | 27 | Otley RD | Otley Vol: 23; Page: 378 | [BMD] |
- Sources for the above:
- [BMD] FreeBMD (Thomas Ingle deaths in Otley before 1845) with GRO Death Index (ages at death)
- [FMPa] Find My Past: (Thomas Ingle Burials 1818 to 1854 in Otley) Yorkshire Burials (giving Year of Birth)
- [FMPb] Find My Past: (Thomas Ingle Burials 1818 to 1854 in Otley) England Deaths & Burials 1538-1991
- [FaG] Find a Grave (found via Ancestry): All Saint’s Churchyard, Otley: Memorial ID 188313176 (giving date of death)
- The memorial in All Saint’s Churchyard refers to “Thomas Ingle of Otley Innkeeper, who died 13 December 1839 aged 54 years”. It also commemorates:
- William Ingle of Bradford Woolstapler, son of the above named Thomas Ingle and Margaret his wife who died December 24th 1842 aged 27 years
- Margaret wife of the above named Thomas Ingle who departed this life October 30th 1863 aged 79 years
- Mary daughter of the above Thomas and Margaret Ingle who died Jan 7th 1875 aged 52 years
- Alongside this memorial is another of identical style. It commemorates:
- John Benjamin Ingle of Bradford, Land Surveyor, Eldest son of the Late Thomas Ingle and Margaret his wife who died Nov 25th 1846 aged 36 years
- Also three children of the said John Benjamin Ingle & Susannah his wife, viz.
- Thomas Alfred, who died July 21st 1833 aged 3 months
- Margaret Ann, who died Nov 6th 1838 aged 2 years
- Charles Ellison, who died Feb 11th 1840 aged 16 months
- Susannah, Widow of the aforesaid John Benjamin Ingle who died March 27th 1895 Age 86 years”
- The memorial implies a family:
- Thomas Ingle (1785-1839), Innkeeper (of the Royal Oak, Otley) married to
- – Margaret (1784-1863) who had children:
- John Benjamin Ingle (1810-1846), Land surveyor, married to
- – Susannah (1809-1895) who had children:
- Thomas Alfred Ingle (1835-1835)
- Margaret Ann (1836-1838)
- Charles Ellison Ingle (1838-1840)
- William Ingle (1815-1842), Woolstapler
- Mary Ingle (1823-1875), Landlord of the Royal Oak in succession to her father?
It is not clear how Sarah (b ~1810), who on her second marriage was reported to be “eldest daughter of the late Thos. Ingle, of the Royal Oak Inn, Otley” – who according to the memorial was married to a Margaret, when the Bishops Transcript of Otley Baptisms reports Sarah was the “Daughter of Thomas Ingle of Farnley and his wife Mary, bap Otley 25 December 1810 (born 30 November 1810)”. A number of explanations are possible:
- The Baptism transcript records Mary rather than say Margt – a transcription error and Sarah therefore fits in the above family beside John Benjamin Ingle. She may be not on the memorial because she married away?
- Thomas Ingle had more than one wife; the first was a Mary who bore him Sarah, and his second wife had the children listed on the Memorial in All Saint’s Churchyard.
- Sarah is actually the child of a different couple and the reference to her being the eldest daughter of the late Thos. Ingle, of the Royal Oak Inn, Otley in the report of her marriage is erroneous.
On Family search we find the following records – a marriage and a sequence of baptisms followed by a death which tend to support the first of the above explanations:
Batch Number | Full Name | Spouse | Event | Event Date | Event Location | Child’s name | Birth Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M00935-4 | Thomas Ingle | Margaret Crawshaw | Marriage | 28/06/08 | Otley, Yorkshire | ||
C00935-4A | Thomas Ingle | Margaret | Baptism of Child | Oct1808 | Otley, Yorkshire | John Benjamin Ingle | 06 Sep 1807 |
C00935-4A | Thomas Ingle | Mary | Baptism of Child | 25 Dec1810 | Otley, Yorkshire | Sarah Ingle | 30 Nov 1810 |
C00935-2 | Thomas Ingle | Margret | Baptism of Child | 9 Jun 1815 | Otley, Yorkshire | William Ingle | |
C00935-2 | Thomas Ingle | Margaret | Baptism of Child | 11 Aug 1822 | Otley, Yorkshire | Mary Ingle | |
GRO | Thomas Ingle | Death | 1839 | Otley, Yorkshire |
born 1785 +/- 1 yr – Yorkshire
died 1839 – Otley Yorkshire
For Sarah her mother is listed as Mary – explicitly the spouse of Thomas Ingle. For this to be the same family it would have to be a mistranscription. The order in which the children are baptised makes it unlikely that Mary was a (deceased) former wife of Thomas at the time of Sarah’s late and consequently out of sequence baptism.
There are other Thomas Ingle and Mary couples nearby:
Name | Spouse’s Name | Marriage Date | Marriage Place |
---|---|---|---|
Thomas Ingle | Mary Archer | 24 Nov 1800 | Saint Mary Castlegate, York |
Thomas Ingle | Mary Clapham | 13 May 1802 | Kirkby Overblow, Yorkshire |
Thomas Ingle, Farmer [FS-Image 583] | Mary Clapham | 17 May 1802 by licence | Kirkby Overblow, Yorkshire |
Thomas Ingle, Husbandman [FS-Image 617] | Mary Thompson | 7 Nov 1812 by banns | Kirkby Overblow, Yorkshire |
Thomas Ingle | Mary Thomas | 19 Jun 1836 | Kirkby Overblow, Yorkshire |
Occupation found by browsing any images available on Family Search (Film # 007904173)
Kirby Overblow is a parish in Knaresborough Registration District about 3 to 10 miles from the Farnley village in Otley Registration District. For Sarah to be the child of one of these couples would require both an explanation of her parentage as stated in the marriage report and a reason for a couple in Kirby Overblow having a child baptised in Otley.
Conclusion regarding Sarah Ingle’s mother
The Bishop’s Transcript containing “Mary” as a mistranscription of an abbreviated form of Margaret seems to be the most logical conclusion – which would mean that Sarah’s mother is Margaret.
1851 and 1841 Census.
Given that we have now found Sarah Ingle / Knight we can try to corroborate the family details by finding her in the 1841 and 1851 Census.
- Sarah Knight – 1841 Census
- Sarah is not with her husband on Census night but with her probable mother Margaret Ingle and a young child, Thomas Knight. [Ref: HO107; Piece: 1314; Book: 10; Folio: 30; Page: 16;]
- On the 28th April 1837 there is a baptism at St Johns Great Horton (Bradford) of a Thomas Edmund Knight, born the 22nd December 1836 to Sarah Knight, wife of Edmund Knight, Woolstapler of Bradford. [Ref: West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1910 on Ancestry]
- Margaret is described as a Publican and their address is given as Clapgate, Otley. The Royal Oak Inn was on the junction of Clapgate and Bridge Street. The former inn is now occupied by a firm of solicitors, Savage Crangle whose address is given as either “Bridge Street”, “20 Manor Square”, “20 Bridge Street” or “Royal Oak House, Manor Square, Bridge Street” – anything but Clapgate!
- Edmund Knight is in another part of Bradford described as “opposite Victoria Terrace”. [Ref: HO107; Piece: 1293; Book: 6; Folio: 16; Page: 24;]. He is described as a Woolstapler – who was a wholesaler and marketer of raw wool.
- Sarah is not with her husband on Census night but with her probable mother Margaret Ingle and a young child, Thomas Knight. [Ref: HO107; Piece: 1314; Book: 10; Folio: 30; Page: 16;]
- Sarah Knight – 1851 Census
- From the marriage report we now know that we are probably looking for a married or widowed Sarah Knight in the 1851 Census
- Her Sister-in-Law is also widowed and they are found together with Mary Ingle at North Parade Manningham [Ref: HO107; Piece: 2310; Folio: 412; Page: 50;]
- Sarah & Edmund’s child Thomas Edmund in 1851 is with Sarah’s presumed mother the widowed Margaret Ingle – where he is described as a Grandson – which would tend to confirm that we were correct in concluding that Sarah’s mother was Margaret and not Mary. [Ref: HO107; Piece number: 2284; Folio: 415; Page: 29;]
Marriage Certificates.
There is a delay in obtaining them and “buying your way” out of a genealogical puzzle seems to be a lazy way out which can become expensive; so other methods have been used in preference.
Conclusions
From the above we can conclude that the second wife of James Keighley, plumber and glazier of Bradford was Mrs Knight, the former Sarah Ingle daughter of Thomas and Margaret Ingle.
Redundant Work having found Sarah Ingle
Initial searches of the Newspaper Archives focusing on James Keighley were unsuccessful leading to other searches. After realising that searches of the Newspaper Archives focusing on each of the brides would be more successful and having found the marriage announcement the following are no longer relevant – although they do help exclude the other three brides Sarah’s Brown, Riley and Myers. They are left in this post for the benefit of other researchers who might turn up this post in a search for these brides:
Searches for Baptisms of the four possible Brides
Sarah Brown:
- None [FR]
- Daughter of William and Ann Brown, bap Leathley 3 June 1810 (born 12 May 1810) [FSa][ANCc]
- Daughter of George and Sarah Brown, bap Honley Moor Cottom Independent 16 May 1810 (born
10 May1810 [FS] 12 May 1810 [ANCa][ANCc]) - {Miss-indexed online: Israel Son of George and Martha Brown, bap Wortley 4 September 1814 (no birth date recorded) [FMPa][ANCb]}
- Daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Brown, bap 20 July 1813 Kirkheaton Independent (born 26 May 1813) Hopton independent Chapel – at the Mirfield end of Kirkheaton Parish. Parents “of the parish of Kirkheaton” [ANCa][ANCc]
Sarah Knight:
- None [FS][FMP][ANC][FR]
Sarah Riley:
- None [FS][FMP][FR]
- Daughter of William and Ann Riley, born 19 July 1810 at Berry Brow, Almondbury (Baptist Record)[ANCa][ANCc] Berry Brow is about 2½ miles from the village of Farnley Tyas and about ¼mile outside the parish boundary.
Sarah Myers:
- None [FS][FMP][FR]
- Daughter of John and Peggey Myer, born 18 February 1814 registered at Lane Particular Baptist, Bramley By Leeds [ANCc]
Sources for the above:
- [FS] Family Search: Search across all collections finding no records
- [FSa] Family Search:England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
- [FMP] Find My Past: Search across all collections finding no records
- [FMPa] Find My Past:Yorkshire Baptisms (Bishop’s Transcripts at Borthwick Institute for Archives)
- [ANC] Ancestry: Search across categories finding no records
- [ANCa] Ancestry: England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936
- [ANCb] Ancestry: West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1910
- [ANCc] Ancestry: England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
- [FR] FreeReg: No records found in geographic range
For each of the above we could then try and check for a death or burial and exclude them from further consideration.
Census Searches
Given the marriage report the following are probably no longer relevant:
We can try to find each of the possible Sarah’s in the 1851 Census and check their place of birth and calculated year of birth. This check will not enable us to say definitively whether we have found the Sarah who married James Keighley, but might flag up good “possible candidates”.
They could be single or married in 1851 – without the birth certificate we do not know if any particular Sarah was a spinster or a widow when she married James. It is possible that she was single in 1851, was then married and widowed and thus married James under a different surname to that in the 1851 Census.
Searching for the name of each Sarah with year of birth = 1811 +/-2 in the 1851 Census – restricting our search to Yorkshire finds:
- Sarah Myers – 7 found in 1851 all married – none with a matching place of birth.
- Sarah Riley – 8 found in 1851; 6 married, 1 widow (a pauper) and 1 single (general maid) – none with a matching place of birth
- Sarah Brown – 20 found in 1851; 1 single (sister in law to Head of Household)