Sorry to be so long in replying - life got in the way for a day or so and I also wanted to check facts that you - larkspur and Pels - provided but also what my correspondent provided. Your comments are all great, thank you so much, but doesn't solve the problem. Firstly, yes, you are right - Charles is just plain Charles on everything (I think my correspondent mistakenly added the Wm. because Chas's son is the one with the 2 names). She was particularly interested in Charles and Ellen and their whereabouts after the 1871 census. Charles didn't marry Ellen until 1877 (in Leeds, as larkspur rightly said) but nonetheless, they are not to be found in any censuses post-1877 which made me think they emigrated. With regard to George Sr, the 1901 census in Walton on the Hill Lancs will be George Jr. and Ellen, as will the 1881 census where they are in Pudsey, N. Yorkshire. The marriage of Walter to Charlotte in Yarmouth could be that of Charles's younger brother. As I said, William(a younger brother still) is a bootboy in an hotel in Newark in 1881 so it would appear that the family probably did stick around, apart from Charles and Ellenin the UK. Railway labourers, as with a good many of the labouring occupations (e.g. gamekeepers) did have a fairly peripatetic lifestyle, surprising for the mid- to late-1850s when compared to other occupations so it is no surprise to see them pop up elsewhere. However, I believe the death notices are possibly not the right George and Ann as their dates of birth were abt 1830 and 1831 respectively. Hulbert, though not as common as - say - Taylor or Smith, is nonetheless not a rare surname in the UK. So, if you have any further views on my emigration theory, I'd love to hear them...and thanks so much for taking the time to look at this.
lydiaann
