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Since everyone has been so helpful with my other queries, I wanted to present the trickiest yet - the man I'm after is known to me only as 'William Harrison'. He was born 8 September 1892 and married Marion Ryding (b. 1891, name misspelt as 'Dryding' on the marriage record) in North Shields in 1914. The issue with him is that he appears to have changed his name at some point before 1911, and it's unclear what his birth name was.

The earliest record that I can be 100% certain is for him is the Royal Navy Register of Seamen, which contains quite a bit of information on his activities from 1911-1920. Most relevant to my search to get to the bottom of his real name, it reiterates his DOB from the 1939 census (it's 9 September here, but one day out is an acceptable error for me) and indicates that his place of birth was Gateshead. It also indicates that his prior occupation was as a 'miner'.

He's not in the 1921 census as according to family stories he ran off to Australia (?) for a few years, before eventually returning in the mid-1920s.

I'm very sceptical of member family trees on Ancestry as they're often poorly researched, but one of them is interesting as it indicates that William was born William Dodds, son of Luke Dodd and Isabella Miller. I've written to the tree owner to ask how they made that connection, but haven't heard back (they're a DNA connection to William, which makes me wonder if that's how they figured out the Dodd connection). The tree also contains a bio of William that's interesting but contains contradictory information (like saying he took 'Harrison' from his mother's maiden name, but then giving his mother's maiden name as 'Isabella Miller').

There may be nothing anywhere here can help with, but I was just wondering if there might be something I'm missing behind whether William Dodd and William Harrison are the same person. I've asked for the marriage certificate, which I'm hoping will contain some helpful information, but we'll see...

Any information illuminating this confusing picture would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm working on a family tree for an elderly cousin, and have found one family particularly difficult to learn the particulars of. We have the following members/relationships:

William McGregor (b. 1840, South Shields, d. 1890, South Shields) - sometimes known as 'George' McGregor (more on this later)

Married Catherine Brown (b. 1841, Sunderland) on 17 Oct 1858, St Hilda's Church, South Shields

Three children:

Fanny McGregor (b. 1858, South Shields, d. 1863, South Shields)
Mary Ellen McGregor (b. 1859, South Shields, d. 1926, South Shields)
Catherine McGregor (b. 1861, South Shields, d. 1897, South Shields)

Married Margaret Liddle (b. 1847, Scotland) on 3 Nov 1864,  St Hilda's Church, South Shields

Eight children:

John Robert Liddle McGregor (1866–1896)
Margaret Christina McGregor (1868–)
William McGregor (1870–1870)
Frances Liddle McGregor (1876–1925)
Jane Ann McGregor (1879–1963)
Ada Emily McGregor (1881–1972)
Lily McGregor (1883–1885)
Lily Agnes McGregor (1886–1932)

(All the children with Margaret were born in South Shields, except for William who was born and died in Hull.)

The main mysteries here are the fates of the wives. I have a marriage record for Catherine and she's living with William in the 1861 census. I presume Catherine must have died to free up William to marry Margaret, but I can find no corresponding death record. The nearest is for the death of a Catherine McGregor aged 21 in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1861, but that can't be her since I've found a newspaper report from 1862 where William was charged with assaulting Catherine. So she was alive and with him in 1862, but I can't find any trace of her after that newspaper report about the assault.

In some ways, Margaret is even more mysterious. I have a record of her marriage to William in 1864, but I can't find a single census record where they were living together. In the 1871 census Margaret was living as a boarder with her children in Hull, and her profession was given as 'vocalist'. She gives her status as married. Unfortunately there's a report from Hull in 1869 of William badly beating Margaret, with him being charged to prison time and her asking for a separation - that's presumably why she was living separately from him in the 1871 census, and making her own way as a vocalist. There's a gap of six years in the births of her children, so perhaps the birth of Frances in 1876 indicates that they were back together then? Confusing things even more is that Margaret gives her status as 'widowed' in the 1881 census, but that's absolutely untrue since I have newspaper reports definitively confirming that William died in 1890. She would also go on to have further children throughout the 1880s who were considered to be William McGregor's. For example, in the 1891 census Lily Agnes is listed as living with her paternal half-sister Mary Ellen - that clearly indicates, to me, that she was considered to have the same father by close family.

As for William, the last census I can find him in is the one from 1861 - I can't find any trace of him from the censuses of 1871 and 1881. He's easier to track through newspapers as he was a relatively famous quoits player at the time, and there are lots of mentions of him. Bizarrely, I can find references to him as 'George McGregor' in reports of his death from 1890. His daughter Jane also gave her father's name as 'George McGregor' when she got married. I have no idea what that's about!

So I guess the questions I'm most looking for help with are:

1. Can anyone find out what happened to Catherine Brown after 1862? None of her children were living with her in the 1871 census (Mary Ellen and Catherine were with extended family), which leads me to believe she had likely died by then.
2. Can anyone find out what happened to Margaret Liddle after the birth of her last child in 1886, or indeed any information on her early life? All I have on that score is that she was born in Scotland in 1847, and her father's name was John Liddle. She wasn't living with any of her children in the 1891 census, which leads me to expect she probably died between 1886 and 1891.
3. Can anyone find William/George McGregor in the 1871 or 1881 censuses?

I've already researched this particular messy family situation quite extensively, and understand that there may be no further stones left to turn. Nonetheless, I'd be really interested if any users here can turn up any extra information I may have missed!

Hi all,

I posted scans from a mystery album here a few days ago and people were very helpful to the point of being able to ID the family pictured. I have another mysterious album I picked up from a junk shop, and thought I'd share it here in case any of the other posters to the site could help me figure out its origin.

The album is scanned in its entirety here:

https://imgur.com/gallery/76PKzA0

Not pictured but on some of the photos are strips with text at the top - several of the photos have 'Causewayhead' (followed by a number) at the top. At least one of the photos has a similar label at the top but reading '69 Union St'.

With this one, there is very little go on beyond the photos themselves (i.e. there are no labels). I don't expect to discover the identities of any of the people pictured, but I would be very interested if anyone here could help with the following questions:

1. What purpose were these photos taken for? They're clearly not ordinary family photos, and I'm curious about whether they might have been passport photos/taken for some other ID purposes.
2. To when can these photos be dated? I'd guess somewhere between 1900 and 1918, but would welcome others' thoughts on narrowing this range.
3. Most of the photos are of women but several of the women are wearing decidedly unconventional/unusual clothing - for example, one woman is wearing what appears to be a suit and tie. Does anyone else see significance in this? I don't know if this is illuminating at all, but I find it quite intriguing...

Hi, could anyone help me with dating this photo? I know they're relatives but am not sure who they are exactly, so as accurate a date as possible would really help me out! Also, would you say the baby is more likely to be a girl? I know it's hard to tell since girls and boys were often dressed the same, but it looks like a girl to me...

Thank you.