Same couple or not and how to prove it

[c-side]

There could well be - it's not an uncommon name in these parts - in fact, neither name is uncommon.

That's why I have this small doubt over the two couples being one.  95% stacks up as being the same people - twins in the family, relatively unusual names occuring in both families (Benjamin and Aaron don't crop up a lot) and gaps where children should be but it's that last 5% .......

I shall grit my teeth and be brave and look at Earsdon records on Wednesday (anyone who's ever researched old Earsdon PRs will understand what I mean  )

I will report back

Christine

[Ruskie]

If both surnames are common then perhaps easier for a mix-up to arise? 

Yes, the forenames do add weight to the couple being one and the same ...

Good luck for Wednesday - sounds like you might need it.

[c-side]

Well, I don’t think I’m any further forward.

If my theory on the couple being the same people is correct then Ann Stokoe and Catherine Stoker would be sisters.  Ann married in Jan. 1747-8 and Catherine married in the same church 6 months later yet one is clearly shown as Stokoe and the other as Stoker.  The writing looks to be the same in both cases though one is quite faded and I had to make them smaller to fit both on the same page for comparison.

I think I’ll have to leave each Robert and Margaret where they are for the time being and look for other ‘clues’

Thank you all for your input.

Christine

[Cavanaghs]

Hi C-Side,

I don't think it's so unusual for surnames to be quite fluid at the time you are looking at so I wouldn't be too concerned about the use of both Stokoe and Stoker. They could very easily be referring to the same family. I think it was quite common at the time for scribes to use different spellings for even common words in the same text. And then there's the question of speed and accuracy. I often miss off the last 3 letters of my own surname, but not always. It varies.

As has already been said, you could increase your certainty by drawing up pedigrees of all the other Stoker/Stoker families in the parish. Could the Catherine Stoker have been born c 1724 to another Stoker or Stokoe family group or not?

Have you looked at naming traditions in your family and the other families of this name in the parish?

It seems to me that the Catherine baptised in Bedlington is related to your family in some way, given the use of the unusual first names. So worth looking at her line

Are settlement certificates etc available for Earsdon / Bedlington parishes? If there are they may reveal something of the origins and movements of the Stokoe / Stoker family.

HTH!