I am trying to help a friend, she would love to know more about where her family come from and initially I wasn’t expecting to find a Black Country Connection, however it appears there is one, although whether anyone will ever unravel this is another matter.
What are the facts?
I have a birth certificate for Mary Ann Goulding born 1889, 399 Atherton Road, Hindley Green, Wigan
Her father is William Thomas Goulding and her mother is Lois Goulding, late Hayden, formerly Smart.
One would conclude we are looking for a Lois Smart, who married a Hayden and was probably widowed and then married William Goulding. OK so far?
This is where it fries my brain!!
The 1891 Census shows
William GOULDING Head Married 1866 Coal Miner Wigan, Lancashire
Lois GOULDING Wife Married 1864 Bilston, Staffordshire
Mary Ann GOULDING Daughter 1889 Hindley Green, Lancashire
Living at Taylors Row, Featherstone, Pontefract.
Well that looks pretty good, doesn’t it and Lois was born in Bilston...... Black Country!!
Only due to further difficulties I started looking deeper. So then I found this, also on the 1891!
Joseph GOULDING, Head 1838 Colliery Labourer Wigan, Lancashire
Mary A GOULDING, Wife Married 1833 Wigan, Lancashire
Isabella GOULDING, Daughter Single 1874 Coal Pit Bank Employee Durham
Lois GOULDING Daughter Married 1862 Worcester
Mary A GOULDING Daughter Single 1889 Hindley, Lancashire
James WHITEHEAD Boarder Single 1867 Coal Miner Durham
John LEYLAND Boarder Single 1870 Coal Miner St Helens, Lancashire
They are in Atherton Road in Hindley Green. (That's the road on Mary Ann's Birth Certificate.
There is a Lois, birthplace Worcester in the house, which doesn’t tie in with the birthplaces of the others in the family and she is down as a daughter but with the same Goulding surname. So surely a daughter in law? Plus there is a Mary Ann aged 2, who must be Lois’s daughter, not the daughter the Head and his wife, as they are too old. But no William in this house.
I can’t find the GOULDINGS at all in 1881 Census
But in 1871 I found, in Stanley Street, Wigan
Joseph GOULDING Head 1839 Lancashire
Mary A GOULDING, Wife 1833 Lancashire
William T GOULDING Son 1865 Lancashire
Peter GOULDING 1867 Lancashire
Joseph GOULDING Son 1871 Lancashire
Matthew SMITH Step-Son 1852 Lancashire
Peter SMITH Step-Son 1855 Lancashire
Isabella CHADWIK Mother-In-Law 1804 Lancashire
Agnes MORRIS Lodger 1855 Lancashire
No Lois in the household, so I think that confirms Lois in 1891 is a daughter in law and there we have William T Goulding.
So, going back to the 1891 Census, has Lois been put on it twice? In her in laws house and also with her Husband?
I believe Lois dies in 1898, there is a death for Lois Golding in Pontefract
GOLDING, Lois
Registration district: Pontefract
County:Yorkshire
Year of registration:1898
Quarter of registration:Oct-Nov-Dec
Age at death:37
Volume no:9C
Page no:70
And in 1901 William has married Martha King, I have the marriage for that and here they are.
At 2 Chapel Street, Featherstone
William GOLDING Head 1866 Coal Hewer Wigan, Lancashire
Martha GOLDING Wife 1875 Newhill, Staffordshire **NOTE** Newhill doesn't exist, I believe this should be Newhall, which takes us back to Burton on Trent!
Mary A GOLDING Daughter 1889 Engly, Lancashire
Jany? GOLDINGDaughter 1892 Featherstone, Yorkshire
Samuel GOLDING Son 1897 Featherstone, Yorkshire
Bella KING Daughter 1900 Featherstone, Yorkshire
Joseph GOLDING Son 1901 Featherstone, Yorkshire
I also have the family on the 1911 Census
My biggest problem is, who is Lois Smart?
Are those two entries on the 1891 for the same person? She appears to have been born around 1861 but in Bilston, or Worcester?
Looking at the BMD there are just two Lois Smart’s born in the 1860s, both of them registered in Dudley. One in 1861 and the other in 1862.
I’ve tried the Census, there is a newborn Lois Smart on the 1861 Census living with her parents in Netherton. This was looking good, until I followed it through and she is still with them in 1881, unmarried but the Lois Smart I’m looking for married James Haydn, at Christchurch Burton upon Trent in 1880.
James Hayden died in the first quarter of 1881 and I can’t find his widow Lois on the 1881 Census just a few weeks later.
In 1884 I believe Lois Hayden married William ‘Golden’ in Durham.
So this totally rules out my Lois from being the one in Netherton. I believe the Netherton Lois to have married Henry York in 1885, at Dudley. And I can then follow those two through the Census.
However, there is one other Lois Smart and she was also born in the Dudley Area, in 1850. She lived with family around the Cinder Bank area and married a John Taylor. She can be found in 1881 giving her birthplace as Netherton but living in Burton upon Trent and has been living there for at least a year, as her one year old son was born there. This seems almost too big a coincidence, that the Lois I am looking for has also turned up there in 1880 and got married. Surely there is some family connection?
I am thinking that my only way forward is to either get myself to Stafford, to look at the records for the wedding of Lois Smart and James Haydn, or send off for the certificate.
As I said at the start, I am doing this for a friend and don’t want to be wasting her money.
Is there something blindingly obvious that I am missing? Is there anything else I can look up before I have to start spending money?
Has anyone managed to keep awake long enough to read all of this?
And finally, the Lois Smart registered in 1862, died, according to the GRO about 1868, aged about 2 but oddly wasn't registered until 1870!
that explains why William Thomas 'Golden' marries Lois Hayden up in Durham. The whole family moved there for a while. So that information makes me fairly certain that is their marriage and 'Golden' is just one of the usual errors of the time.
