Should I just give up?

[Suee]

Thank you for accepting me into the forum. I hope I'm posting correctly.
I would welcome advice to whether to give up or not please. I have been searching for my 2x Gt. Grandfather for more than 10 years now and have very little information about him.

His name was Hugh John Hughes. I have no idea of his date of birth or his place of birth but I'm quite sure it was Wales.
I have a marriage cert for his marriage to my 2x Gt. Grandmother Catherine Smith nee Sanderson. They married on 11th August 1873 in Fleetwood, Lancashire. It says full age and that his father was Robert Hughes, a farmer. They were both widowed. Their son Henry Wynn Hughes, my Gt. Grandfather, was born I think October 1873 in Fleetwood. On Henry Wynn's baptism record he's John Hughes, not Hugh John. Occupation, a joiner. By the 1881 census, Catherine is living with her children from her first marriage and Henry Wynn. Hugh John isn't on it. Catherine seems confused as to her status on it, she said her name was Smith, that was crossed out and Hughes added and she said she was a widow and that's also crossed out and married added.

I did a DNA test 6 years ago and have four matches from the same family in America, the closest being 2nd cousin 1x removed. Funnily enough, they have a chap who was born in Wales in 1878 and those who have a tree haven't been able to get a father for him. It seems odd to me that we have a Welsh ancestor too and we're completely stuck. I've spent years going through census records and births but if I had come across him, I'd have no idea if he was the correct one. I've even wondered if Hugh John Hughes was a fraud and that wasn't his name at all, he appeared in Fleetwood, Lancashire and disappeared again.

Apologies for the long first post, should I just give up and leave him as a brick wall? (I have all the information about Catherine)
Thank you for reading.

[rockyfowler]

Never give up it takes a lot of time to crack some rels
Found his marriage on Lancs site

Marriage: 11 Aug 1873 St Peter, Fleetwood, Lancs.
Hugh John Hughes - Full Age, Joiner, Widower, Church Street, Fleetwood
Catherine Smith - Full Age, Widow, Church Street, Fleetwood
Groom's Father: Robert Hughes, Farmer
Bride's Father: Christopher Dilworth, Deceased
Witness: John Porter, (X); Mary Salisbury
Married by Licence by: J Pearson
Register: Marriages 1842 - 1874, Page 239, Entry 478
Source: LDS Film 1470815
Have you sent for his sons Henry Wynn birth cert ?
Best RF

[Suee]

Thank you so much for replying. You're not kidding about it taking a long time to crack some of the ancestors.
I've had HJH and Catherine's marriage cert for years plus their son Henry's birth cert and baptism record. As I said in my OP, he's Hugh John Hughes when he married Catherine and on Henry's birth cert and just John Hughes on Henry's baptism record so he obviously dropped the Hugh..... who wouldn't
Thank you again.

[catchum]

Are you still searching, a contender for your Hugh. Bearing in mind that when he married Catherine I believe "several porkies" were being banded around. For a start Catherine's maiden name was Sanderson (Not Dilworth), she was illegitimate, the daughter of Mary.

Hugh.
Baptised 13.8.1835 LLANGERNYW, Denbighshire. Parents Robert & Catherine.

1841-ref 1402 43 2
Robert Hughes Male 40 1801 Denbighshire, Wales
Catharine Hughes Female 45 1796 Denbighshire, Wales
Hugh Hughes Male 5 1836 Denbighshire, Wales
Richard Hughes Male 4 1837 Denbighshire, Wales
Anne Hughes Female 0 1841 Denbighshire, Wales

1861- ref 4359 66 12-- Hugh Hughes Lodger Unmarried Male 21 1840 Builders labourer LLANGERNYN Denbighshire, Wales

1871-ref 3997 72 7--Renshaw Street, Hulme, Chorlton, Lancashire, England
Hugh Hughs Boarder - Male 35 1836 Joiner Denley, Wales (Image records DENBY)

1871- census Piece 5677 Folio 98 Page number 13
Hugh's mother Catherine Hughes with her son Richard (possibly Hugh's brother) and Catherine's brother Richard Williams