Hi Gordon, Thanks Gordon, all that you mentioned I have already searched into and got the relevant information. Francis' mother Mary was Ann's (who married Ball) sister. Surname Hazlehurst spelt in numerous ways. Their father William I think ends up in the workhouse later. The family in Dawley I have too. So I have all these links and the census and they all fit in as you can see. Mary Blackburn who dies in 1873, was with them as Mother in the 1871 census and the enumerator has made a mistake (why we do not know of course) but Sarah, wife of Francis should be Richards and not Richardson, after all Francis is Francis Richards on the bottom of the page. Why they should put Sarah down as Richardson I do not know. AS for Mary being married to a Blackburn is something I am looking into as she was a widow by 1847 when James Richards dies. But she may have remarried three times in all but as yet a suitable marriage to a Blackburn has not been found although I have a few that could be. I will look into this a bit more but it's an ongoing search on this one. I have this ref to a Mary: 1851 17 Wellesley St, Marylebone St Pancras , William Backarn aged 32 born Chester SHS, Mary aged 43 born Shropshire Horsehay?, Daughter Mary aged 12 born Stepney and John aged 10 born Mile End. All names match, all ages nearly match as well as places of birth. Francis is not here though nor is George Thomas . Actually Horsehay is about 1 and half miles from Dawley. which I think was Dawley magna years ago. This is the marriage in 1868 for a Francis Richards and Sarah Burgess 8th Nov 1868 The Birch Meadow Chapel, Broseley, Madeley, Salop ( Shropshire) Francis William Richards, 21, Batchelor, Moulder, Hodge Bower, Ironbridge, Father Daniel Richards, Moulder ( born abt 1844) Sarah Burgess, 21, Spinster, The Meadow, Ironbridge, Father Samuel Burgess, FurnaceTenter?, in Ironworks (Actually aged about 16years) I have checked these out and it appears very strongly to be NOT the right ones , the Francis is too young and the Sarah is too young also and there are other reasons why I discounted them, however never say never, but the details just do not add up. The only thing I can think of now is tht they did not get married or they are indexed incorrectly which is why the indexing being done by the volunteers now is so important, Thanks again Wendy

Hi Wendy Pity you didn't mention in your original post that you'd already looked in depth at the 1868 Madeley marriage - could have saved me some un-necessary research. :-) >which is why the indexing being done by the volunteers now is so important Not just the volunteer TRANSCRIBERS, of course, since some registrars are now allowing volunteer CHECKERS to add mother's maiden name, spouse's surname & age at death at the transcription-checking stage where this information hasn't been included in the original indexes. PS. I'm a volunteer for both with Lancashire BMD. Regards Gordon From: "Wendy Bennett" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 11:40 PM Subject: [ENG-MERSEYSIDE] Richards family for Gordon >Hi Gordon, >Thanks Gordon, all that you mentioned I have already searched into and got >the relevant information. >Francis' mother Mary was Ann's (who married Ball) sister. Surname >Hazlehurst >spelt in numerous ways. Their father William I think ends up in the >workhouse later. >The family in Dawley I have too. So I have all these links and the census >and they all fit in as you can see. >Mary Blackburn who dies in 1873, was with them as Mother in the 1871 census >and the enumerator has made a mistake (why we do not know of course) but >Sarah, wife of Francis should be Richards and not Richardson, after all >Francis is Francis Richards on the bottom of the page. Why they should put >Sarah down as Richardson I do not know. >AS for Mary being married to a Blackburn is something I am looking into as >she was a widow by 1847 when James Richards dies. But she may have >remarried three times in all but as yet a suitable marriage to a Blackburn >has not been found although I have a few that could be. I will look into >this a bit more but it's an ongoing search on this one. >I have this ref to a Mary: >1851 17 Wellesley St, Marylebone St Pancras , William Backarn aged 32 born >Chester SHS, Mary aged 43 born Shropshire Horsehay?, Daughter Mary aged 12 >born Stepney and John aged 10 born Mile End. All names match, all ages >nearly match as well as places of birth. Francis is not here though nor is >George Thomas . >Actually Horsehay is about 1 and half miles from Dawley. which I think was >Dawley magna years ago. >This is the marriage in 1868 for a Francis Richards and Sarah Burgess >8th Nov 1868 The Birch Meadow Chapel, Broseley, Madeley, Salop ( >Shropshire) >Francis William Richards, 21, Batchelor, Moulder, Hodge Bower, Ironbridge, >Father Daniel Richards, Moulder ( born abt 1844) >arah Burgess, 21, Spinster, The Meadow, >Ironbridge, Father Samuel Burgess, FurnaceTenter?, in Ironworks (Actually >aged about 16years) >I have checked these out and it appears very strongly to be NOT the right >ones , the Francis is too young and the Sarah is too young also and there >are other reasons why I discounted them, however never say never, but the >details just do not add up. >The only thing I can think of now is tht they did not get married or they >are indexed incorrectly which is why the indexing being done by the >volunteers now is so important, >Thanks again >Wendy