From: rodney watson <pilchard@westnet.com.au> > Good morning all , I am searching for the father of John WATSON who > was born in Halifax 1831..Married Mary DEARDEN 1852 (in Halifax ) > .Mary was born in Northowram around 1832 and had six or seven children > to John , one of wich was my Grandfather ..William Andrew WATSON born > 1871 Mount Egerton , Victoria ,Australia. I believe John Watson's > father's name was William , he appears on the Marriage cert of John > and Mary (Parish Church Halifax )January 12th 1852 ,occupation ? > Cudwanner or something ,hard to read the entry. John and Mary Watson > immigrated to Australia in 1858 on the ship "Young America" and there > are no William Watson's on the passenger lists so I assume if William > WATSON was still alive in 1858 then he could still be in Halifax or > thereabouts , sorry about all the assumptions...of particular interest > is William WATSON'S wife. Can any of you fine folks be of assistance?< Firstly, the occupation you say you can't read is obviously CORDWAINER, an old term for a shoemaker. Have you not looked at the IGI at FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org)? That has a John Watson baptised on 10 May 1832 at Halifax, son of William Watson and Ann. He may well have been born a year or so earlier, you never can tell from the baptismal dates. The batch no. is C007492, therefore it's an official extraction from parish records and not a private LDS submission. Clicking on Source Call reveals it to be from the bishop's transcripts for Halifax Parish Church. Next, the 1841 census for Halifax (online at Ancestry and Findmypast) shows an 11-year-old John Watson living with William Watson, aged 30, shoemaker, and Ann, also 30, plus three other younger children at Great Albion Street, Halifax. The 1841 census does not show relationships but they can often be inferred and I think you can take it that William and Ann were husband and wife and the children were theirs. Also in 1841, the ages of all adults over 15 were rounded down to the nearest lower multiple of five, so the ages of William and Ann may not be entirely accurate. However, I think this is your family and it seems to fit with the information from the IGI. What you then do is go back to the IGI and look for a marriage of a William Watson to an Ann at Halifax round about or prior to 1830 (since John was the eldest child, according to the census of 1841). This produces just one entry for the marriage of William WATSON to Ann RATCLIFFE at Halifax on 20 Nov 1828 (batch no. M007492, also from the bishop's transcripts). You would, of course, need to check these entries with the original parish registers but this seems a likely scenario. Elementary, my dear Watson! Sorry, that was a joke but I have hopefully shown you how to proceed and research on the Internet. It took me about 10 minutes. Good luck with taking it further. -- Roy Stockdill Editor, Journal of One-Name Studies Guild of One-Name Studies website: www.one-name.org Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

From: "Roy Stockdill" <roy.stockdill@btinternet.com> > Firstly, the occupation you say you can't read is obviously > CORDWAINER, an old term for a shoemaker.> Could I suggest that newcomers to family history really ought to know, or find out, what a cordwainer was, since it is a term you will come across very frequently and just about everybody will have one in their ancestry? Pronounced "cordner", a cordwainer was a worker or trader in leather goods. The name derives from Cordova (Cordoba), the Spanish town famous for its fine leather. Generally speaking, in everyday terms a cordwainer was a shoemaker, bootmaker or cobbler. You will run across the term umpteen times in parish registers, etc. -- Roy Stockdill Editor, Journal of One-Name Studies Guild of One-Name Studies website: www.one-name.org Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE