It's been several years since I have researched my tree, but I have just come across a gravestone I walk the dog past everyday and somehow missed, so I am back!
However I have a brick wall that I just cannot seem to pass, and my local library is closed where I would normally do my research, so I'm a bit rusty doing it from home. I was hoping you could shed your expertise on this.
So, I have a Dorothy MARSHALL in my tree, she married a William MARTIN in 1871 in Morpeth Northumberland (where I live) and they had a number of children. This Martin branch is well documented so I have no issues with that, it's Dorothy where I become stuck. I obviously have her from 1881 with her family and a death, and now a gravestone she shares with William and 4 of the children. Anything before marriage is sketchy.
So far I have a birth c.1848-49 in Bedlington from the census records, a father Thomas MARSHALL a farmer of Bedlington (close to Morpeth) from the marriage record. And thats it! I have a possible birth record to a single lady with the surname Marshall in Bedlington around that year, and possible census matches. In 1851 aged 2 in Morpeth with a grandmother which I guess could fit, a single mum who couldn't cope so shes living with grandparents, or just staying a couple of days. In 1861 a possible match as a servant quite away from home. Could something have happened with the parents? I cannot find anything in 1871, which would be just before she married William, who himself was working in Newcastle as an apprentice butcher. He later opened a butchers in Morpeth where the family lived. I cannot pin down a birth, and nothing for the father Thomas MARSHALL.
I'm very rusty in my research so fresh eyes would be greatly appreciated