Page 51 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

Halifax but Mary’s place of birth is not known. They married in Halifax in 1830. They had five children who were all born in Halifax – four older boys, Joseph (1832-?), George (1837-?), William (1839-1845), and John (1842-1870), while their youngest child was Ann (1844-?). All of the children who survived to adulthood married but, curiously, there is no evidence of any issue. The eldest, Joseph, married Dinah Whitaker (1844-1924) in Keighley in 1892. Dinah was 12 years younger than Joseph who was then 60 years of age when he married. The date of Joseph’s death is not known, but Dinah lived to 80 years of age dying in Leeds in 1924. Perhaps Joseph had married earlier and had become a widower, but this is mere speculation. However, it is perhaps unusual for a man to marry for the first time at the rather mature age of 60 years.
The second eldest, George (1837-?) in Halifax, got married in Bradford in 1859, but again there is no evidence of any issue. Similarly, John (1842-?), born in Halifax, married Esther Crompton (b.1843) in Halifax. Both had short lives with Esther dying in 1869 and John, a year later in 1870. Again there seemed to be no issue. William and Mary’s youngest child, Ann (1844-?), also born in Halifax, married at 20 years of age in Halifax, but there is no further information about her.
William Soothill, father to the five children, died aged 41 years in 1847, while Mary lived to 87 years of age dying in 1893. The 1861 census shows Mary has married Joseph Holt – with Mary’s children, John Soothill (1842-1870) together with his sister, Ann (1844-?), shown in the census as living in this household headed by Joseph Holt, the stepfather. Joseph Holt, according to the 1861 census, has already had three children – Samuel Harrison Holt (1836-?), Maryann Holt (1841-?) and Richard Holt (1845-?). Presumably Joseph’s wife had died around the same time as William Soothill, so allowing the widow and widower to get together.
The lack of offspring from William and Mary’s children is curious. While John and Ann are shown in the 1861 census as living as stepchildren in Joseph Holt’s household, William and Mary’s other boys, Joseph (1832-?) and George (1837-?), seem to be missing from the census. Bearing in mind their ages and the death of
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