Fiona,
Possibly it was me, as I remember posting on this site once before. William is my great-great-grandfather. He was baptised at Ancroft on 9 March 1823, supposedly the son of Thomas and Susannah. However, I strongly suspect that Susannah was really Thomas' daughter of that name, born in 1802, and that William's real father is unknown. Eleanor (or Ellen), the granddaughter in the 1841 and 1851 census, was Ann's illegitimate daughter - her baptism on 25 April 1841 is in the Lucker parish register. In the 1871 census, Ann was put down as her aunt and described as a 'widow' - neither is true.
Thomas died at Detchant Buildings on 24 September 1851, aged 87 according to the death certificate. I've identified the following children, born to Thomas and Helen/Ellinor/Eleanor Rae/Reay:
Mary - 23 Dec 1795, at Mousen
William - 20 Oct 1798, at Outchester. Died 1880, Alnwick.
Robert - 29 Jan 1800, at Outchester. Died 1884, Boulmer.
Ann - 9 May 1802, at Outchester. Died 1876, Belford (unmarried - lived with her daughter's family)
Susannah - 9 May 1802, at Outchester
Hellen - 14 Apr 1804, at Outchester
Jane - 17 Nov 1806, at Warenton
Thomas - 11 Jun 1809, at Warenton. Died 1880, Belford (unmarried - he lived with Ann)
James - 12 Oct 1813, at Hazelrigg. Died 1897, Warkworth.
An Eleanor Ray, aged 72, died at Newham Barns in Feb 1836 and another, age not specified, was buried at Lowick on 22 Nov 1818. I've had no luck tracing Thomas and Eleanor's marriage (or, come to that, William's marriage to Ann White, daughter of the Detchant village blacksmith). Nor have I found any record of Thomas' baptism, although I have turned up three other other Reys/Reas in the Chatton area (his birthplace, according to the 1851 census) between the 1750s and 1770s, and they are most likely relatives. Jane Reay, who was in the household in the 1841 census, was buried at Detchant on 21 May 1842, aged 87. She was a spinster, so most likely Thomas' elder sister, though possibly an aunt.
Regards
Patrick
