Hi Trish, thanks so much for taking a look. Sorry, I should have provided a bit more information.
As far as I can tell, he was a mariner all his life, starting as an apprentice in 1825. On April 16, 1844, he marries Ann Hester, at Christ Church, Watney Street, London. In 1851 he obtains his Mates Certificate, which provides his date of birth as August 15, 1809, in Sunderland, Durham. A second record of his time in the Merchant Navy also confirms his date and place of birth as August 15, 1809, in Sunderland.
The Mates Certificate shows that he was likely at sea when the 1841 and 1851 censuses were taken. I cannot find him in the 1861 census (maybe at sea), but I have found his wife Ann and their children living at 35/36 Wellington Street in Stepney. His Mates Certificate of 1851 also shows his address at 35/36 Wellington Street in Stepney. At the time of his marriage in 1844 he is living in St George in the East. So, sometime between 1825 and 1844 he moved to London.
The marriage registration records his father as John Steel, a carpenter. When all James and Ann's children married, they gave their father's name as James Steel, mariner. He dies on June 26, 1872, at 240 Oxford Street in Stepney. He was buried on July 4, 1872, in Tower Hamlet Cemetery in London.
My thinking is that he must have siblings, as I don't think it was too common to have just one child back in those days. He did start sailing at a young age that's for sure, but probably not too uncommon in those days either.
Thank you so much for any help, even just trying to figure out which parish he would have been baptised in would be helpful!
Erik
PS, He does show up in the 1871 census with his family. He is 61 years old and living at 240 Oxford Street.
