Tracing Thomas Halberts Ancestry

[SelDen]

Good luck with your message to the NDFHS. They are all volunteers so may not always be able to respond immediately but hopefully will be able to get you a copy of the Halbert tree.

Just a small point- William Halbert senior was dead by Dec 1803 according to the notice his son George put in the paper. See reply#23 above.

[SelDen]

Should have added that probate probably granted in 1804 for William's will, but seems he died late 1803

[Revolution]

Thank you. Hopefully I get a response soon from the society.

Im running with a few different ideas to try and explain why there is no Thomas Halbert listed anywhere for that period.

Could the person registering the baptisms have confused Thomas name and was meant to transcribe William and Sarah Halbert? It still doesnt explain why Thomas birth wasnt registered yet the other siblings were.

[SelDen]

Could the person registering the baptisms have confused Thomas name and was meant to transcribe William and Sarah Halbert?

This is a possibility that I have wondered about - see my post of 11 October. In this scenario, the William who was married to a Sarah would be a son of William senior & Allison Potts, baptised in the 1760s before the series of Castle Garth baptisms start. Have you found William junior's marriage to Sarah?

Did your researcher find any other baptisms for a William Halbert with a wife named either Sarah or Margaret?

I noted these in reply#22 before I got sidetracked by the descendants of George Potts Halbert the Master Mariner.

William born 5 Dec 1792 bap 6 Jan 1793 s/o William & Sarah Halbert, father a Taylor
Baptisms, St John the Baptist, Newcastle upon Tyne

Alice born 1 April 1794 & baptised 23 April 1794 daughter of William Halbert junr & Margaret Halbert, Tailor, St John
Brunswick Chapel, Wesleyan Newcastle upon Tyne

George Potts Halbert baptised 9 March 1802 son of William Jun’r Halbert & Sarah Halbert
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel, Newcastle upon Tyne

It is a bit odd that if this is the same couple (with Margaret being an error), all the baptisms are in different churches of different denominations, and then if you add the Thomas Halbert born 1806 & baptised 1814 to the family, then there are some gaps to fill, plus yet another church. I think that William & Sarah need further exploration, to see if any more gaps can be filled in.

[SelDen]

It still doesnt explain why Thomas birth wasnt registered yet the other siblings were.

Not sure which Thomas you are referring to?

If William & Allison Halbert who had children baptised in Castle Garth Chapel are the same couple who married in Kelso in 1763, then there are a number of years in which they could have had children who do not yet show up in baptisms in Newcastle (they may be somewhere we haven't looked yet, or they have may been baptised outside Newcastle).

We know from John Potts Halbert born 1768, & some of the burials that Janis found in her index for the Ballast Hills burial ground, that William & Allison Potts had at least a couple of children prior to the Castle Garth baptisms.

We know from William Halbert senior's will that William & Allison had the following surviving children at the time the will was written:

John
William
Joseph
George
Elizabeth
Alice
Isabella

I have pulled the following list of children together - if you have more, can you plse slot them in so we know where we are. William (listed above) must fit in somewhere between 1763 and 1770, I think.

Children

Elizabeth daur of William and Allison Halbert died 27 July 1771, aged 5 years
[so born about 1766]

John Potts - born about 1768 - see his marriage licence and we know he died in Edinburgh in 1826 aged 58 (see earlier posts)

George s/o Wm & Alison Halbert bap 2 June 1771
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

George, son of the above died 10 Dec 1773, aged 18 months
Burials, Ballast Hills

This burial date seems too late to me (needs to be checked), as another George Halbert, s/o William & Alice was baptised in Castle Garth Chapel 21 March 1773 and this would fit with the following death:
Gateshead - 14th inst [July 1822] at the Windmill Hills aged 49, Mr George Halbert formerly of Newcastle
Durham Advertiser, 27 July 1822

Elizabeth bap 19 Mar 1775 d/o William & Aley Halbert
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

   On Sat last at St Nicholas’ Church, Mr Matthew Corner, of Gateshead, builder, to Miss            
        Halbert, daughter of the late Mr W Halbert, of the Castle Garth, in this town, draper
   Newcastle Courant 22 June 1805

   Elizabeth Halbert of this parish married Matthew Corner, Gateshead on 15 June 1805
   Marriages, St Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne

Joseph, son of William and Allison Halbert died Oct 4 1776, in infancy;
Ballast Hills, Burials

Alice d/o William & Alice Halbert bap 27 Feb 1778
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

   Possibly?
   Alice Halbert of this parish married Edward Aikine Davidson of the chapelry of St John on 16       
        May 1804, witnesses John Thompson & Thomas Brown (both frequent witnesses)
   St Nicholas Marriages, Newcastle upon Tyne

Joseph s/o William & Alice Halbert bap 2 Jan 1780
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

Robert s/o William & Alice Halbert bap 18 Nov 1781
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

Robert, son of the above, died March 30 1786, aged 4 years and 5 months;
Burials, Ballast Hills

Isabella d/o William & Alice Halbert bap 2 Apr 1783
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

Ann d/o William & Alice Halbert bap 20 Nov 1785
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

Anna, daur of the above died Nov 14 1789, aged 5 years
Burials, Ballast Hills

Jane d/o William & Alice Halbert bap 7 Oct 1787
Baptisms, Castle Garth Chapel - Family Search

[Revolution]

Hi

Sorry, the Thomas I was referring to was my Thomas Halbert b1806.

I don't have access to ancestry to get my info while at work but will respond to the questions you have raised when I get home.

Thanks again

[SelDen]

If the 1814 baptism for the 8 year old Thomas was for your Thomas, then his baptism was recorded.

If it is not your Thomas, then your Thomas may still have been baptised somewhere, we just can't find it.

I have seen a posts on another forum which claimed that Tame Poto was the illegitimate son of a Mr Halbert & his servant Mary. No sources provided. It is a possibility that your Thomas Halbert was illegitimate, which could make him harder to identify. If he was the son of a male Halbert he is probably baptised under the name of his mother - will be tricky to find.

A related train of thought - a Sarah Halbert was baptised 13 January 1822 daughter of Alice Halbert, in St Andrews, Newcastle upon Tyne, no father mentioned. The mother Alice Halbert could be the daughter of William & Margaret [sic] - seems to be the only unmarried Alice of the right age at the time. If so, this suggests that "Margaret" was a mistake and should have been Sarah.

The illegitimate Sarah born abt 1822 seems to have been in the workhouse in both 1841 and 1851, which is very sad and also unusual - wonder if she had a disability?

[Revolution]

Theres lots of misinformation about Thomas - mainly from New Zealand sources. Ive even found a family tree with Thomas father as Robert and someone has started tracing the female line with no dates but just a series of random names.

The book about his son Wi Pere says Thomas Lindsay Halbert father was Robert Halbert and Thomas was born in 1802.

The problem with this is the family (no offence to their memory or descendants) did not research this part of their book. They utilised other data including MacKays book written in the 1940s. I have the manuscript notes for MacKays book which relies on THII knowledge 60 years after the fact. While some of the info doesn't seem perfectly match it does provide some help.

With the lack of any concrete data about Thomas it does become a possibility he may have been an illegitimate child. If he was baptised under his mothers name then its going to be very difficult to find it.

[SelDen]

On the bright side, the Thomas Halbert born abt 1806 and bap 1814 has not yet been otherwise accounted for. Hasn't been found in the UK census and no burial yet found. So he remains a strong candidate.