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Thanks, casalguidi for bringing my attention to this. Most welcome!

Wall family - I have a long screed of research info for you, but it's all relevant, so do bear with me...

Joseph James Cornhill was my 1st cousin 4 times removed - my 4th g-grandfather, William Cornhill b 1779 in Oare in Kent, was a serving soldier in the 7th Foot, and had two sons - William Jnr b 1826, from whom I descend, and Joseph b 1825. Both were born in Wokingham. William and Joseph spent most of their youth away from Kent, with their mother Martha in Wokingham, and did not return until about 1840 when their father left the army and returned to his roots in Faversham with wife and two sons, where he promptly died in 1841. (Martha had two daughters as well, whom she left behind in Wokingham, but that's another story!)

Joseph and William were both bakers. Joseph set up shop in Whitstable, William in Oare and Faversham. 

Joseph James was the eldest son of Joseph and his wife Sarah Edenden/Iddenden, and was b about 1848.

He married Hannah Darby in 1868 - and she is almost certainly the lady you are looking for.

Joseph James and Hannah had several children, of whom John T was the last to be positively identified (via the census), b 1880 in Southwark. John T appears to have died in qe Sept 1883. However in qe March 1883 a Jessie Cornhill was born, who may have also been the child of Joseph James and Hannah. I have never sent for certificates to establish the child's father, but it looks probable.

Joseph James also had a brother, named Wallace. Wallace was also a baker and was living in London with wife Sarah Ellen nee Strong and 7mth old daughter Sarah in 1881. He returned to Kent, and in 1882 Wallace William was born - Wallace Jnr died in qe Dec 1883 in Medway district. Sarah his mother died shortly afterwards in qe Sep 1884 in Medway district.

Following these infant deaths and the death of Wallace's wife, both brothers disappear from England altogether, never to be seen again in the census or BMDs.

Joseph James's wife Hannah Cornhill (nee Darby) moved in with Lewis Golder and was living as his wife in 1891 and subsequent census returns. This can be positively established by the first names of the children listed as Golders that were actually Cornhills.  I have never found a marriage, and still can't.

The child Ellen aged 4 and born in Herne Bay shown in the 1891 return is a problem child. An Ellen Cornhill was registered in Medway in 1886. An Elsie Golder was registered in Blean in 1886. In 1891 she is listed as Ellen b Herne Bay. In 1901 she is listed as Elsie b Herne Bay. So which one was she - Ellen Cornhill or Elsie Golder? Not sure it actually matters, to be honest!

The fact is that Joseph James Cornhill left his wife and children and went to Australia with his brother Wallace, probably in 1884. I have found no definite records of their emigration/immigration. But the subsequent records in NSW of the re-marriage of Joseph James (who declared himself a baker on the marriage cert) to Ada Roope/Rope in 1891 in Mudgee, NSW, and the records of his descendants, seem to indicate that he invoked the 7-year rule to declare himself free to marry, having already fathered at least three children with Ada. Wallace didn't remarry and appears to have died in 1902 in Gunnedah, NSW.

Joseph James's wife - Hannah Cornhill nee Darby - spent the rest of her life living with Lewis Golder as his wife, and bore him at least one child - Ellen/Elsie, born in 1886, long after Joseph James and Wallace had absconded.

Hannah Darby appears to have been the daughter of Edward (D?) Darby, a baker in Deal b about 1816, and his wife Mary (?) - see the 1861 census. She appears aged 10. At that time Edward and Mary had a 20 year old daughter so may have been married before 1841.  All the family born in Deal.

Mistranscribed in 1851 as Edward Danby, baker employing 1 man in Deal - but there's Hannah at 7 months, wife's name confirmed as Mary Ann, and an eldest son aged 12, which pulls the likely marriage back to 1838 or before. Nothing on Free BMD for Darby or Danby and a Mary Ann, unfortunately. So it could have been pre-1837 or just never recorded, as registration was not compulsory during that period.

If you want to work backwards from Hannah, then parish records for Deal would seem to be the next step, to look for a marriage of Edward Darby (or perhaps Danby?) to a Mary Ann.
 

Thanks, John - one day I will get to Bedford myself and stop relying on you!

You're right, of course - the witnesses often give surprising information that is enormously helpful. I have 99% positively identified several of my antecedents by finding marriage witnesses (usually family members) that were the final piece in the jigsaw.

For instance, my 3xg grandmother on my mother's side evaded me for years. Married in Witham, Essex, to Thomas Abbott as Esther Monteith, widow, she defied finding. I was eventually reduced to trawling the records for any Esther born at the right time, and came up with Esther Emmens.  The witnesses at Esther Monteith's wedding were William Emmens and his wife Hepzibah, who were Thomas and Esther's neighbours in Mill Lane in 1841 and 1851. William turned out to be her brother. Later census searches showed Esther living with other Emmens relatives after she was widowed a second time, and put the tin hat on her origin.

There are lots of Arnolds in Isleham, Tom - just no James of the era you sugest that I was able to find.

However, I did find Susan Arnold's marriage to Henry Musk:

9 Nov 1843
Henry Musk, of full age, widower of Pound Lane Isleham, s/o John, lab
Susan Arnold, minor, of Pound Lane Isleham, d/o Diersley
Witnesses:  Charles Westley and Geo Fletcher

So it looks as if your Susan Arnold is the one baptised 3 April 1826, d/o Diersley and Mary (Sorry - I said 1825 before, but I mistranscribed it!)  Of course, she could have been born earlier - Derisley and Mary baptised James and Ann (possibly twins as they ran in the family) in 1821, and then no more till Susan in 1826, who appears to have been their last. So she could easily have been actually born in 1823.

Interestingly, when you look at the census returns, in 1841, Dazeley and Mary are in Pound Lane with James (a turfman) and Susan aged 20.  In 1851, Dazely and Mary have moved to East Fen Drove, where James and Susan aged 30 and 32 plus four children are listed with them as the "lodger" and his wife and family - all born Isleham. James is listed as a Turf Cutter and Dazely as a Pauper. Cjhildren are William 10, Ann 7, Mary 5, Pament 1.

Pamment is interesting, as it is a very well established Isleham family name. James and Susan had two tries for a Pamment - baptised Mar 10 1848 (buried Sept 5) and Mar 17 1851 - so the name must have been important to them. Her maiden name, perhaps?

So back to the marriages in Isleham gives us:

Oct 12  1839 
ARNOLD James, minor, bachelor of Pound Lane Isleham, s/o Deirsley lab
PAMMENT Susan minor, spinster of Church St Isleham, d/o of Thomas lab
Witnesses: William PAMMENT, Geo FLETCHER

And the baptism records DO give us this James, baptised 18 Dec 1821 s/o Derisly & Mary

So where was Susan, d/o Diersley and Mary, in 1841?

There is a Susan Arnold, living-in as a female servant aged 15, at Heath Farm in Chippenham, with farmer Thomas Kent and his wife Susanna.

And a Henry Musk, aged 21, living at Sounds Farm in Chippenham, with parents John and Allice and brother Joseph 15. There is a one-year-old baby in the house, Anne Maria. So perhaps Henry had already been widowed by then? 

I found his baptism on the IGI - 07 Nov 1819, Cambridge, s/o John and Alice Musk. 

So it looks as if you have confused some issues somewhere - your Susan who married Henry Musk is the daughter of Derisley Arnold and his second wife Mary Sanxster.  There WAS a slim link between the Arnolds and the Cadmans - a Derisley Arnold was witness at the wedding of John Cadman and Susanna Pareman in 1789, and one of the several Derisley Arnolds and John Cadman were baptised on the same day in 1761, so probably grew up together.  All the big Isleham families were heavily intermarried and closely related, like all Fen communities.

If you need any further help from the records, do come back to me - I have them on file.

Wendy

They are indeed, Victor - many thanks.

Glad to see you found your way here, Janet.

If you've managed to plough your way through all the messages, you'll see the unfolding of the story I gave you in a nutshell on G-R earlier in the week...

It was the DNA test that Judi mentions that finally gave us the proof that the Thurleigh and Ravensden Armstrongs were linked not only to most other branches but also to each other - ergo, that all our suppositions that William 1792, who founded the Thurleigh branch, was an undocumented (i.e. unbaptised) son of John and Sarah of Ravensden were correct.

If one of your guys can tie in the Upper Gravenhurst Armstrongs to our lot, that would be a real breakthrough!  Then there would only be Samuel and his Busby Armstrong descendants left unlinked.