Margaret Hooper, born Inverkeithing, 1803 or 1813

[CaroleW]

There was a 20yr age gap between Margaret & Thomas - She was 56 when she died in 1842 & he was 79 when he died in 1845.

I find it very strange they had a child in 1803 - then waited all those years to marry.  I am assuming Thomas wasn't previously married?  If he had other children they would presumably have been included in his will.

[Deirdre784]

Margaret Crawford was born on 5 Jan 1783 in Inverkeithing to Andrew Crawford and Mary Young, making her 59 when she died, not 56 as on her death certificate.

Thomas was baptised on 7 August 1767 in Spitalfields (Middlesex), son of Benjamin and Elisabeth Hooper.

I’m not aware of any previous marriage on either side (the parish record doesn’t state it, and no known family were witnesses) nor of any other children.

Thomas joined the navy as a hospital mate in 1789, and apart from a brief spell (seemingly when he was living in Scotland) remained in the navy until he retired.

[CaroleW]

1841 entry shows Thomas as “born in county” (ie) Gloucs.  Do his Navy records show Middlesex?

[Deirdre784]

I thought that initially and is transcribed as that on Ancestry, but the image says ‘N’ same as his wife, but doesn’t clarify where for either. 

[CaroleW]

It’s the original image - not the transcription - that shows him born in county (Y) & Margaret S for Scotland

Piece 378 book 7 page 3

[Deirdre784]

Yes sorry Carole, that was the page I was looking at but quite hard to read (on my phone) and I now realise I was looking at the wrong people in the image.

But I do believe he was born / baptised (30 Aug 1767) in Spitalfields, his parents Benjamin and Elizabeth only moving to Bristol in the late 1700s. Amazing burial records show Benjamin in 1808 buried at Sts Philip and Jacob, listing cause of all the entries (mainly old age or decline).