Genealogy Chat

Thanks to Diane and Brenda but I am sure that these are both later than the John Telford I am trying to find. I think he was born before 1842 and was definitely married in 1864. Thanks anyway, I guess I shall just have to keep looking.

The vital records index shows John William Davidson Telford bap 16 Mar 1887 mother Elizabeth Te lford at Brampton there are 7 other listings for surname Telford btwn 1895 and 1904 Bren

There is a birth for a John Telford for June 1843 quarter. This is on FreeBMD place Wigton, which it says is for Cumberland ref. 25 188

I'm stuck on my great-grandfather and I'm beginning to tear my hair out, so if you can save me from going bald I would appreciate any help or guidance. His name was John Telford who married Sarah Ferry in Durham in April 1864, John being 22 years of age and Sarah 18 years. They were both resident in Edmondsley at the time of their marriage and John's occupation was shown as collier. John's father is named as George Telford and his occupation is shown as husbandman. I haven't managed to find John's details anywhere other than the 1881 and 1901 census returns, both for addresses in Durham. On these he is shown as aged 41 and 61 respectively, which doesn't seem to tie in with his age at marriage. Both census returns show his place of birth as Midgeholme, Cumberland which I believe came under the registration district of Brampton (records now held at Carlisle) I have telephoned the Carlisle office but the lady who answered was unwilling to help unless I have some proof other than census information. The comment being that people were not always born where they think they were born!! She added that they needed the St. Catherines House Index reference to be able to do anything and if he didn't appear on that to contact Edinburgh as they have a lot of problems with people who were actually born 'north of the border'. I've never had a problem with local registry offices before and found that usually they are willing to search over a three year period but obviously not in this instance. I'm reasonably confident that he was born between 1840 and 1842 but I must admit that I have only found one Telford born in Midgeholme on the familysearch site and that was an Annie Telford (Armstrong) aged 12 in 1881, the adopted daughter of Thomas Armstrong living in Midgeholme.