There are several branches of my tree that don't contain my own research. Cousins have focused on particular surnames and I left them to it. Now, I'm visiting their research and trying to verify it.
I've hit a little bit of confusion, however.
This is what we know-
My 4th great grandfather, William RICHARDS, appears on census (1861 Gwennap) as being married to a woman by name of Catherine (Kitty) c1828 St Enoder- which would be his second marriage. They have mutual children on census- Joseph 1853, Mary J 1855 and Catherine 1857. Children are St Day.
The marriage of William to Kitty was never found, nor was her surname ever determined. Three of the children- Joseph, Mary Jane and Amelia (b.1861) were christened in 1861, St Day, but Catherine Jr was not. I speculated that she might have been christened at birth if she was sickly, but I haven't found a christening yet.
William dies in 1865 and I had a note that Kitty did as well.
Now I suspect differently. I checked Kitty's death and couldn't find it, or the children on the next census, but did find a Catherine PEACOCK 1828 Blue Anchor, Cornwall (which is practically St Enoder) living in Yorkshire with Mary J, Catherine and Amelia RICHARDS. Joseph was in the same village in his own household. Catherine RICHARDS nee PAUL married James PEACOCK in 1867, Yorkshire, with her father's name William. There are five RICHARDS nee PAUL(L) children in Redruth RD- Joseph Elisha 1852, Mary Ann 1854, Catherine 1857, Ellen 1859 and Amelia 1861. I cannot, however, determine what happened to Ellen, Mary's middle name is wrong and I've seen no other mention of "Elisha".
The next issue is that there is not a christening for the right time and place for a Catherine PAUL dau of William. There is, however, a Kezia PAUL dau of William. I did find a marriage, 1851 Redruth RD, where two of the names on the list were William RICHARDS and Kezia PAUL- but did they marry each other?
I've never heard of Kezia and Catherine being used interchangably and neither has anyone I asked. That doesn't necessarily mean anything of course, she might have changed names for other reasons.
I'm wondering if anyone with a sharper brain than I've got right now can see a christening for Catherine Jr, a fate for Ellen or any record that shows whether or not William and Kezia married each other- I've looked on Cornwall OPC and can't see any result on there for that marriage whatsoever. I'm hoping to untangle it a bit without spending money on certs as yet. With the varied expertise on this site, I thought it worth asking in case anyone had access to the PRs in case I'm wasting my time (and potentially money).
Thanks
Ayashi