I have been trying to unpick the Gordian knot of family relationships in Lyddington in the 19th century.
Thomas Brewster was one of the sons of Thomas Brewster (1813-1875) and Jane Skelhorne (1822-1909) [I do acknowledge that the spelling of the Skelhorne surname is often mangled to Skellum etc in the records]
Thomas married his first cousin, Mary Maria Skelhorne in the hamlet of Hungarton, Leicestershire on May 23rd 1881. They returned to Lyddington where they had a son, Henry, who was baptised on May 6th 1883. ***
Mary Maria Skelhorne is a delightfully fascinating lady! She was the daughter of Robert Skelhorne (Jane's older brother) and Ann (?) Knighton.
The baptismal records show that between 1873 and 1878 she had three children (2 boys and a girl) who, in the 1881 census were living with Mary Maria's parents. In that same census Mary Maria was living with Thomas Brewster.
Mary Maria then gave birth to four more children between 1884 and 1890. The baptismal registers show that she was recorded as the Mary Maria Brewster, the only parent. Scrutiny of the GRO indexes show that three of the children had the second given name Hinch.
As Maria Maria Brewster she was living with Henry Hinch (a single man) in 1891. In 1901 she appears as Mary Mary Hinch - and in 1911 she is declared to have been married for 30 years. Mary Maria Brewster and Henry Hinch in fact married in 1916. They both died in the later months of 1917.
*** The question arises: What happened to Thomas Brewster after 1883. There must have been knowledge in the locality as his widowed mother was living in the house next door to Mary Maria and Henry Hinch in 1891.
I have been unable to find any reference to him in any of the online databases - and several offline ones either. I did have one thought:
Marriage between first cousins was still frowned upon (although more common than might be expected). In some areas it would have been compulsorily annulled. Is that the case here - and are there any records of such happenings?
Another flight of fancy idea: the biggest and most radical change to employment and the economy in the locality was the building of the 13 mile Oakham to Kettering branch railway line. This attracted thousands of workers to its construction. Could Thomas have ended up under the foundations of the 82 arch Harringworth Viaduct?
Alan