RootsChat.Com

Just correcting a date error in my previous post. Of course the birthdate of the Thomas Wilson born to William Wilson and Euphan Sommervill is 1771, not 1871.

Yes, Chempat, his birthplace on the 1861 census is just 'England'.

Kay99 - Thornybridge is an interesting idea. Can you point out where the census writer changed his mind? I can't see it. Thanks for posting the extract - great idea.

I have an 1851 census which shows my 3x G Grandfather, John Gibson’s, birthplace as ‘Hoxaybridge, Yorkshire’, but there's no such place. I’ve been wracking my brain and searching through lists of Yorkshire towns that might sound like this, and coming up blank until I suddenly wondered if there might be a place called Hawksbridge, as this seems to me the most likely error a census taker might make. It's not a transcription error - the original says the same, quite clearly. At the time he was living in Kirkwall, Orkney, where he died in 1866.

His birth year seems to be 1776-1778, from the censuses and his death certificate where his age is shown as 88.  Based on this certificate his father’s name was also John Gibson, farmer, but his mother is shown as ‘unknown’.

I know he lived in Peebles where he’s named on ‘heads of families’ lists for 3 years 1834-1836 working as a ‘steward’ on two farms there. His children were born at Manor, Peebles, between 1826 and 1836.

I have no marriage record either, which I know might help. His wife was Ann Kerr, born at Muirkirk, Ayrshire.

So, I discovered a Hawksbridge Lane (apparently the only one in the UK), near the village of Oxenhope, Bradford District, in West Yorkshire, and a Hawksbridge Cottage. I’m thinking this might have been a farm once and maybe this is my ancestor’s birthplace.

I’d appreciate any tips or local knowledge that could help me in my search for some documentary evidence of his birth or anything else, as otherwise I’m at a brick wall. And I’m not in the UK so I’m limited to online material.

Thank you, Forfarian, for such a detailed reply. Of course  you’re right - the censuses give an age, not a birth year. The 1841 census has him 65 years, and the 1851 one has him 78 years and born in Edinburgh. He went to Orkney with the 9th Royal Veterans’ Battalion and was there in 1810 when he married. He remained in Orkney till he died. His headstone has him as 82 years old when he died in 1853.

Maybe I’ve been placing too much faith in the military records. I know I have the correct Thomas Wilson in these because of references to his health circumstances plus other details that match up. There is a Thomas Wilson born at St Cuthberts in 1871 to William Wilson and Euphan Somervill - I had found this one already but discounted it because of the military documents. Now I'm thinking this is most likely him. I wonder why he wouldn’t have given his correct age when enlisting. Would there have been any advantage in pretending to be 20 when in fact he was about 24? Such a frustrating puzzle.