Thomas Wolstencroft Rathbone

My GGF by "adoption".

Name
Thomas Wolstencroft Rathbone
Date and place of birth
c.1819, Runcorn
Names of parents
Thomas Rathbone and Mary Wolstencroft
Date and place of baptism
Not known
Details of each of his or marriages
1856 married Elizabeth Pasley, bonnet-maker
Occupation(s)
Bootmaker, Shoemaker, Cordwainer
Military service
Not known
Addresses where they lived
Brook Lane, Sheffield and 107 Walkely Street, Sheffield
Date, place and cause of death
1901, Sheffield
Date and place of burial / cremation.
General Cemetery, Sheffield in family grave with his wife and grandson
Details of will / administration of their estate
Not kown
Memorial inscription
"Thomas Rathbone died June 4th 1901, 83 years
Elizabeth Rathbone, wife of the above, died Dec 11th 1903, 66 years"

[Merry]

Is that his second marriage in 1856? He seems to already be married to an Elizabeth in 1851.

I'm not sure, Merry - A contact who has a copy of his merriage cert to Elizabeth in 1856 told me that it was his third marriage! His first was to an Esther Dean, she is not certain of the second, but it was presumably to another Elizabeth

[Merry]

Yes, I should have said 'not first' rather than second!

[Merry]

Hmmm, if he was b about 1819 then it would be most llikely all his marriages took place after 1837 (not 100%, but most likely). I can't see one to Esther Dean nor a likely looking marriage for the other Elizabeth (she was only 21 in 1851), nor a likely looking death for the other Elizabeth, so it's all a bit of a mystery.

I wonder where your contact found evidence of the first marriage?

[Merry]

There's a Thomas and Esther Rathbone in Leeds in 1841 both aged 20, he is a shoemaker, both say born in county, but that could be a mistake, and a death for Esther in Leeds in 1849 (I think it was), which doesn't give him a great deal of time to marry Elizabeth and move to Sheffield before the 1851 census.

[Margaret in Burton]

If you look at that 1851 census there are two Rathbone children. One born in Leeds the other in Sheffield.

[Merry]

This is complicated (there's a surprise! )

In 1851 with Thomas and Elizabeth is Elizabeth Rathbone aged 7 and born Leeds but there is only a registration for a Sarah Jane Rathbone in Leeds. I presume this is Esther's child. There's also a Sarah Ann Rathbone listed, whose age I can't determine but looks as if it may be measured in months (possibly one month) and who doesn't seem to be registered as a Rathbone (maybe because this Elizabeth and Thomas were not legally married?). As they are all lodgers, I can't say these two are 100% connected to Thomas and Elizabeth, but would imagine they are.

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Margaret in Burton

If you look at that 1851 census there are two Rathbone children. One born in Leeds the other in Sheffield.

I'm on the lap top and still in bed! lol I was finding it difficult to scroll down

[Margaret in Burton]

Ancestry has a marriage for a Thomas Rathbone in Dec qtr 1856. it says the district is illegible.

Well I can read it. It's Sheffield 9c 334.

Checking the other marriages for that it comes up with Elizabeth Pasley