Hi Mike
Yes there is so much more data available online than there used to be. Even with access to all these parish register images though, it was pretty difficult to pin down who belonged to who.
For all my research I’m mostly using the parish register images, although some are from archdeacon’s or bishop’s transcripts. Most of these are available at familysearch, but the parish registers have also been transcribed at findmypast. These I’ve then supplemented with some wills I’ve come across and checked that census entries don’t contradict them. So, the data I’m using is scanned source data, which I guess is about as verified as you can get without viewing the registers yourself.
I would be very interested to know the source for the James Cubitt Siely birth in 1785, as I can find no evidence of this, either on familysearch or FreeReg. Indeed, although it doesn’t absolutely rule it out, Andrew didn’t marry Mary Cubitt until 1789 in Norwich St. Andrew. I believe that the James buried in 1862 (age 88) in Walcot was Andrew’s brother James, baptised James Sillie in 1775 in Walcot. The James that married Martha Gold in 1802 in Happisburgh was again this same James, without the middle name Cubitt.
I also have a fairly full history for 1811 James, who was the son of 1775 James, with him marrying Elizabeth Nicolds in 1836 and Martha Postle in 1846, with the son James baptised in Ridlington in 1837, as you say.
James Siely, baptised in 1828 in Stalham, was actually the illegitimate child (with twin brother Walter) of James born 1797 (son of another of Andrew’s brothers John) and Mary Finch. They had a number of children before eventually getting married in North Walsham in 1853. The fact that one of the Australian James’ son was called Walter might also seem to bear out this James as being the one who emigrated. According to my previous Australian contact he also had a couple of other sons with the names William and James Woodbine, William and Woodbine also being the names of other brothers of this James. I also found an obituary for James at
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165397441 which gives his age as 81, again tying in with the 1828 baptism.
