Morning all - well, at least it's morning over here! Can't spend a lot of time on this today as my daughter is claiming my time for kitchen renovations!
I am overwhelmed by the interest being shown and for the help I am getting - thank you!
Annie, I had previously found the entry for Arthur Harding in the R.A. and got quite excited as it all seemed to fit. I then found the 1881 Lancashire census entry which does not fit at all, so I abandoned that line of enquiry. However, perhaps I should not have dismissed this so easily, because there are a couple of interesting coincidences highlighted by your post.
First coincidence:
Arthur Harding's occupation in the 1881 census for LANCASHIRE is given as "Toll Gate Keeper, SURREY"! Lancashire is a long way from Surrey, so this is a very difficult entry to understand. I guess it's possible that Arthur had to work in Surrey and was visiting his family at the time of the 1881 census, but this does not seem all that likely. The real coincidence, though, is that the William Harding living in Surrey in 1841, who was born in 1801 and who may have been my great-grandfather Arthur's father, also had the occupation of "Toll Collector"! Although there is a 40 year gap between these entries, it is interesting that both men were "Toll Keepers" in Surrey.....
Second coincidence:
You say that in 1901 he (John?) was in Salford owning his own Grocer's shop. Now my grandfather Arthur and Minnie Allsop's marriage certificate dated 7 March 1896 shows his father's occupation as "licensed victualler", which I understand could mean either a provisions store or a public house. I wonder if Arthur senior died between 1896 and 1901, and John took over the shop? This doesn't explain why Arthur's wife's name is given as "Ellen", but as you say, perhaps Margaret Long's name was "Mary Ellen" or she had died before John was born in 1873 and Arthur had remarried?
Daisy:
I have all the info on James Allsop and I'm fairly sure he remarried - to his housekeeper, Sarah Brand - in 1876.
The info on the GOFF family is also intriguing. This is the first time I've come across this name, which I would not have thought was all that common - not as common as Harding, anyway. The juxtaposition of the name Goff with Harding in the entries you quote seems to be a bit more than sheer coincidence! The confusing entry to "John" instead of "Arthur" might be explained if his name was Arthur John and the family used his second name in preference.
Darn it, why didn't they realise we would be researching their history 160-odd years later and make things easy for us?!!
Must sign off now.
Mike
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First I'll download it here, then try posting the URL to my profile....)
