Dunbar m Stoker m Stoker 1880-1901

[emmteeyess]

I’ve just received an unusual marriage cert for a Robert Stoker marrying a Margaret Isabella Stoker (I’d assumed cousins or inlaws marrying). It’s a photocopy of the original register not a transcript.
The details read across – married Register Office, Sunderland, 9th March 1901
Robert Stoker, 43yrs, Widower, boilermaker, 15 Willmore Street Sunderland, (fr) John Emmerson Stoker (deceased), chainmaker.
Margaret Isabella Stoker, 34yrs, Widow, -- , 15 Willmore Street Sunderland, (fr) James Dunbar (deceased), Brushmaker.

So Margaret Isabella should have been a Dunbar before her first marriage.
Robert’s first wife, Ellen, died April 1900 at 15 Willmore St.
Robert and Margaret are living there on the 1901 census with 4 children that I think are Robert and Ellen’s. Census says Margaret was born Sunderland.

The problem now is I can’t find any records/indexes in the sources I know for a Margaret Isabella Dunbar marrying to any other Stoker first, or even any Margaret Isabella (anything) marrying a Stoker, if she married someone else first. Assuming her age was 34 in 1901, so born in 1867, I’ve searched 1880-1901.

Can anyone here find any suitable previous marriage(s) for Margaret Isabella Dunbar to explain how she first became a Stoker because I’m still no further forward?



Cheers, MTS

[Megan Roberts]

Like you I can't find a Dunbar / Stoker marriage, so:

Was she married before she married Dunbar? or Could it be that although she knew who her father was, her mother was not married to him, so she had a different maiden name?

Have you tried looking for her and her father in the 1871 census?

Another approach might be to try and work out who was Mr Stoker the deceased husband. There were 37 "Stoker" deaths in the Sunderland registration district between 1891 and 1901. Eliminating females and children leaves:
Edward 1835 - 1901
Ernest 1867 - 1894
John 1825 - 1893
Richard 1844 - 1901

I think that it would be worth checking these out in the 1891 census to see if there are any clues.

[emmteeyess]

Like you I can't find a Dunbar / Stoker marriage,

Good, so not just me then!

.... Could it be that although she knew who her father was, her mother was not married to him, so she had a different maiden name?

That's going to be awkward.

Have you tried looking for her and her father in the 1871 census?

Another approach might be to try and work out who was Mr Stoker the deceased husband. There were 37 "Stoker" deaths in the Sunderland registration district between 1891 and 1901. Eliminating females and children leaves:
Edward 1835 - 1901
Ernest 1867 - 1894
John 1825 - 1893
Richard 1844 - 1901

I think that it would be worth checking these out in the 1891 census to see if there are any clues.

I've only received the marriage cert today, so I'd not thought of these things but those are good leads - thank you.
At least it's not Edward 1835 - 1901 because that's my g.grandfather and I know his wife's details!


Cheers, MTS

[elsinore]

Robert and Margaret are living there on the 1901 census with 4 children that I think are Robert and Ellen’s.

Is this Robert's marriage to Ellen?

Robert STOKER m. Ellen CARR Gateshead 1893 Q1 10A 994

If so, then 3 of the 5 children on the 1901 Census (John, Thomas and Ada) were born before that marriage. So, were they Robert's children from a previous marriage or Margaret's?

Peter

[emmteeyess]

Is this Robert's marriage to Ellen?

Robert STOKER m. Ellen CARR Gateshead 1893 Q1 10A 994

No, Peter, thanks. I've got Robert's marriage cert to Ellen Tunstall 02 Feb 1880 - and all their children listed as mmn Tunstall.

Cheers, M

ps further to post #3 I can't see a Margaret Isabella Dunbar born in Sunderland 1865 to 1870 - so not as declared on 1901 census - D'oh!

[elsinore]

Yes, just found them all on the GRO (mmn TUNSTALL)!

Like Megan, I've tried all the usual permutations, so beginning to widen the search!

Peter

[Megan Roberts]

You might think I have gone slightly potty, BUT in the 1871 I have found a family in Liverpool that could be Margaret Dunbar - her father is an Engine Fitter.

Class: RG10; Piece: 3761; Folio: 90; Page: 53

[emmteeyess]

You might think I have gone slightly potty, BUT in the 1871 I have found a family in Liverpool that could be Margaret Dunbar - her father is an Engine Fitter.

Class: RG10; Piece: 3761; Folio: 90; Page: 53

Yes, I saw that, seeing as she wasn't listed in Sunderland Births, but I don't have any more details to confirm it, and her age is a couple of years too young.

Cheers, MTS

[Megan Roberts]

Overnight I have had another random thought ....

Margaret may never have been married before. They were obviously living together before the marriage - she could have gone there originally as a housekeeper to look after the children when Ellen died. Calling herself a widow would have made it more respectable to live in that if she was unmarried.

Then maybe after Ellen died she just started calling herself Stoker.

[almach]

Have either Robert or Margaret been found in 1911? If so, I'm wondering where Margaret gives as her birth place. Do you know when they died?

Is this Margaret's death registration? Margaret I Stoker, Dec 1921, age 54, Hartlepool 10a 166