Thanks SelDen - some great info
The John Potts Halbert line. I still havent worked out how it fits into the picture other than the obvious naming conventions.
John Potts Halbert b abt 1768 married Ann Nixon/Hixon on 28 Jan 1794 unless hes the son of William and Alison Halbert nee Potts?
I think that more than one son of the first William & Alice/Alison named one of their sons John Potts - that is, William & Alice would have had at least two if not more grandsons named John Potts Halbert, as well as their own son John Potts Halbert. So there is more than one John Potts line! Makes things interesting!
I think that the John Potts Halbert born about 1768 may be the son of William & Alice Halbert (assuming the 1763 marriage in Kelso checks out). We need to get the approximate birth years for William & Alice Halbert in Newcastle to make sure they are not too young to be the couple marrying in Kelso.
John Potts Halbert born about 1768 married Ann Hixon/Nixon in All Saints by Licence in All Saints, Newcastle upon Tyne as per your notes, with the groom being 26 & the bride 22. See here for the marriage bond etc on
www.familysearch.orghttps://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11897-19197-24?cc=1675690&wc=M6KL-XZS:129238501,129238502JPH late of Newcastle upon Tyne dies in 1826 aged 58 (in his 59th year) according to the The Edinburgh Annual Register for 1826. Ann, his widow, dies in Annan, Dumfrieshire in 1841. Some online sources seem to conflate JPH born 1768 with another JPH who married a Mary, and went on to have more children in addition to the stuff I have already provided. However, Ann Halbert outlived her husband.
Has been a long day for me so will leave your other query for another day. Basically I think you need to get a blank piece of A3 & a pencil & rubber & start an old-fashioned tree, slotting in the known, with queries for the unknown, and then work on filling the gaps. This family was clearly better off than the average Tyneside seaman/miner/industrial labourer & there are lots of bits and pieces to be found about them but it will take a bit of time to slot them together into a reasonably coherent working model which can then be improved as you find more info.
Apologies if you know this, but not sure if you are aware of the common naming pattern which is found in both lowland Scotland and NBL/DUR:
Y (male) married X (female)
1st daughter is named after X's mother
1st son is named after Y's father
2nd daughter is named after Y's mother
2nd son is married after X's father.
3rd daughter named after X
3rd son named after Y.
You can google for the full pattern. It is often used, but you can only be sure how strictly it was applied by a particular family if you find every single child and see how they were named. The limited number of forenames often meant that a father in law and son in law for example could have the same name, so the 'high priority' names could be quickly used up and others picked. Or perhaps a much missed family member died and the next same sex child was named after them, despite it not yet being their 'turn'. If a child died, a later born sibling was often given the same name. Children could be given the name of a brother or sister in law, or an aunt/uncle (for example David Carrot Halbert).
If you google for Halbert & Annan you will find quite a bit of good info about this branch.
All the best!
