Hello Kay, No wonder you have found problems ascertaining the parentage of your Sarah. I cannot find any trace of her on census records prior to her marriage to John RUMBELOW but that could be because Ancestry do not appear to have many records of Ely (there only appears to be one page available) on the 1861 census. I, too, have done what Paula has and traced back the William & Alice OAKEY who were witnesses at your Sarah's wedding. Obviously he does not appear in the 1861 but as Paula has found he is in the 1851 census of Stuntney with father Thomas who is shown as married but no wife present, brother John aged 2 and a visitor Eliza CROSS. I think the only way you are going to resolve this is to consult the parish registers of Ely and look at the baptisms for a Sarah O(A)KEY and her actual marriage record in the registers which should give you her father's name & profession hopefully corroborating her marriage certificate. At the moment just because William & Alice OAKEY were witnesses to Sarah's wedding I would incline towards Thomas as being your Sarah's father but the parish registers should confirm that Janet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kay & Dave" <kayanddavesimpkins@googlemail.com> To: <eng-cambridgeshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 9:06 PM Subject: [ENG-CAMS] Sarah O(a)key >I am struggling with Sarah Okey (Oakey, Hokey, etc) she was my husband's > Great Grandmother. > > The problem is ascertaining her father, I have put copies of the relevant > certificates and census I have managed to find here: > > http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u196/donny_gal/Sarah%20Okey/ > > In 1841, I found a Thomas Okey with two sons, Thomas aged 25 and James > aged > 15, I then found a James b. 1815 in 1851 but do not believe he is the > correct one. I find Thomas snr in 1851 but both Thomas James disappear. > Sarah from both later census records, marriage and death certificate > appears > to be born in 1851, and I have that BC showing James as the father, and > Elizabeth Minnett as the mother, I have found another Sarah born in 1854 > and > 1856 everyone from Ely. I have found a birth of a Sarah to Thomas and > Mary > Ann Cross in 1845, and a death of a Sarah in 1848, which is before the > James > Sarah was born so cannot be his. Mary Ann Okey nee Cross (who married > Thomas) appears with her parents in 1851, but no children. Thomas and > Mary > Ann reappear in 1871 (Sarah Okey married John Rumbelow in 1870), John and > Sarah appear on the same page as James and his family in 1871. > > The wedding certificate shows Thomas as the father, however, it is one > obtained from the local office which has been translated by the clerk > there, > the accuracy of this I have found to be dubious previously, I now get my > certificates direct from the GRO which photocopy the entry onto the > certificate. I believe rightly or wrongly that James is her father and > that > the older style J and the older style T are very similar and the end of > the > name is not dis-similar mas to mes. > > Does anyone have anything else relating to Ely which could help, if I > could > find James b, 1825 and/or Thomas b 1815 in the 1851 and/or 1861 it may > help. > > Thanks > > Kay > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-CAMBRIDGESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message