Page 274 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

Kate
F
DAUGHT ER-IN- LAW
Tom
M
7
GRANDS ON
This grouping which is derived from John and Hannah (née Tasker) also seems in good shape in terms of the likelihood of survival. This is currently the largest grouping of Soothills with 22 males known to be living at the time of the 2011 census. So this is a sizeable increase from the 15 males in the 1961 census. But what has happened to the females in this grouping? In the 1961 census, 15 females (seven who were born a Soothill and eight who became a Soothill by marriage), while in 2011 there were 23 females (seven who were born a Soothill and 16 who became a Soothill by marriage). So this is a comparable increase to the males. However, the female total may be a bit inflated by the inclusion of first wives who may or may not be still using the name of Soothill after their divorce.
Essentially there are two sub-groups with John Alan (and his sons) together with Benjamin as one sub-group. They are perhaps unlikely to have met or know of the others in the other sub-group. In contrast, the rest will almost certainly know of each other with varying amounts of current interaction. So what is the relationship between these two sub-groups? Taking the oldest male in each of the sub-groups, namely, John Alan and Jack, one finds that these are third cousins once removed with the common ancestors of John and Hannah Soothill. So how is this grouping doing in terms of maintaining its numbers?
While in the 1961 census there were 15 Soothill males identified, around one-half seemed unlikely to be further active in terms of producing more children. The main hopes rested with seven – John (b.1944), Graham (1950-1986), Brian (1936-1998), Arthur (1936-2004), Keith Newton (b.1939), George Peter (1947-2011) and Keith
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