Hi Barbara,
First the census ref for the other James and Elizabeth - HO 107/1029/7. They have children ranging from 11 to 3 which is why I decided that they were not compatible with the children with the missing parents.
As for how certain I am that this is 'our' young James - I'm not - yet. I am as sure as it is possible to be that we have the right man in later census records when he is in Northumberland as there is continuity from one to another in ages, children etc. Also there is no competition for this surname in the area we are looking at. James gives his place of birth in all of them as Carlton.
IGI (extracted) shows two James Durrants in Carlton Colville born about three years apart - one has parents George and Sarah and they can be found on '41. The one we are looking at has been earmarked as a possible simply because of the recurrance of family names and it is intended that this should be 'filed' for now until we gather more of the Northumberland information.
Before we do that though I was curious as to the reference to the father because it could indicate that he was still alive and somewhere else, so far undiscovered.
Christine
