I'm having trouble finding my 2x Great-Grandparents before their marriage in 1897. I have the certificate which has them marrying in Cheadle, Staffordshire. From that I have:
Thomas HUDSON - age 25 bachelor. Profession Labourer. Father's name William JOHNSON (Chimney Sweep).
Mary Matilda LEWIS - age 24 spinster. Father's name Matthew WARD - deceased (Seaman)
From the 1901 census (Cheadle) and 1911 census (Ashbourne, Derbyshire) I have Thomas' place of birth as Uttoxeter or Hanbury in Staffordshire. Mary is listed as being born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. Mary's occupation is also stated as Hawker in the 1901 census and her age seems to change by 5 years.
I have a possible Thomas on the 1881 census under the surname JOHNSON (place of birth and father's name/occupation matches, also mother's name is Rachel and I've found a marriage between a William JOHNSON and Rachel HUDSON in the year that Thomas should have been born) but, as yet, this is speculation.
The main problem is that I've had no luck finding a likely Mary under either the name of LEWIS or WARD. There's obviously various people named Mary Lewis and Mary Ward around the country in the right time period but none seem to fit with dates of birth, likely places etc. There is a possible Traveller/Gypsy link in this side of the family (yet unproven) which may explain but I want to make sure it's not just something I've missed. If any one has any tips or suggestions of what I can do next to try and solve this I'd be really grateful because I've been stuck on it for a while now.
