Hi, Marion, First to say I will also send you a private message as I am just practising and seeing how this will work. I can put more detail on there, relative to our joined family. Great to find a new distant relative. (To all other readers, it's great what can come out of Rootschat.) Generally, first, I am writing a short book about the lives of Christopher Long and Harriet Boyes, who were married in York. It is the filling out of family background and local history that makes for fascinating reading. Harriet's parents were Phineas Boyes and Elizabeth Benson. They probably met in York.. The relationship with Thomas might have been a little more complicated than direct cousins; I'm working on that, but they all came from Wombleton in the parish of Kirkdale. North country parishes were often large and contained more than one village, Wombleton is still very small. Baptismal records are under Kirkdale.
Thomas and John were both baptised at Kirkdale and were referred to as residents of Wombleton and so was Sarah, John's wife whom he brought to Victoria after returning to England. Her parents were George and Ann Cooper and he was a blacksmith. There are several misreadings being passed around as to who was Sarah but Sarah Cooper was a common name and if a relative turns up on the very edge of some family tree on Ancestry it is sometimes not well researched. Be sure, I have copies of their baptismal records.
Thanks for the details of Thomas' wife and children. I will add those to my records. I will send a family tree in a personal reply. It may be quite a few days, I have a busy week
Best wishes,
Ray