Hi Valerie It's all very curious isn't it? The 1881 census is helpful- William LEE Head 46 Bolton, Lancashire, England Stripper & Grinder Cotton Factory Ellen LEE Wife 40 Rumworth, Lancashire, England Thomas HIGSON Stepson U Male 19 Rumworth,Coal Miner PETER HIGSON Stepson Male 16 Rumworth, Coal Miner JOHN HIGSON Stepson Male 15 Rumworth, Coal Miner Henry HIGSON Stepson Male 12 Rumworth, Scholar Rebecca LEE Daur 8 Rumworth, Scholar James LEE Son 6 Rumworth, Scholar Esther LEE Daur 4 Rumworth, England I know this is the right family because in Peter Higson's household after his death was his mother Ellen Lee 70. In 1871 there is an Ellen Higson + Wm Leigh marriage (Bolton) which must be them. And in the Deane baptisms (I now have the CD) Peter, John & Henry were all baptised to Thomas & Ellen Higson between 1864 and 1869 (couldn't find Thos jnr, but 3/4 ain't bad). I can't find a Thomas Higson + Ellen X marriage, but a Higson-Higson combo would be unexceptional in Deane Parish. There is a Thomas Higson 32 death in JQ69 which would be appropriate. I think I'd better leave it at that. Annie Martin/Higson appears to have been in a stable relationship with John Higson, and maybe she thought she would be compensated only if she claimed to be married (and perhaps she was?) - there is at least one case of a clear de facto relationship in which the man's "wife" was not eligible for a widow's compensation from the miners' relief fund. Good on Annie I say. Valerie - can you suggest any way we could get access to Deane burial registers for that period? Presumably the church has them still? For Jim Riding - Jim, I am aware of all the online and other library lists of Pretoria victims (there is one prepared by wigan schools as a teaching aid) - they are littered with errors. We are working with at least 4 primary lists dating to the time of the disaster, plus extensive input by Dr Trevor Griffiths at University of Edinburgh, who, in the 1980s, researched the socio-economic impacts of Pretoria on the local community. Much of his research contributed to his excellent book on the Lancashire Working Classes 1880-1930, and most importantly, he had access to the Mayor of Bolton Relief Fund documents. There is now a 100-year rule on access to those documents, and as the last payment was in the 1970s..........!!! Regards Peter Wood