Hi David

I used the search facility to look for any mention of a William James Crebbin b circa 1863 who was the husband of Clara Herbert Gelling (daughter of Edward Gelling and Judith Webster). I came across your 2007 thread of messages and couldn't help having a go at trying to solve the mystery of your Martha Crebbin b circa 1873. Perhaps you've solved it by now.

One tree submitter on Ancestry has this Martha Crebbin ( bap Feb 1871 Rus, dau of William Crebbin and Elizabeth Shimmin) marrying Richard Harrison in 1890, and this looks to be correct. The other Martha Crebbin born around this time (Nov 1869, illegit dau of Elizabeth Crebbin) is probably the 21 yr old servant in Castletown in 1891.

Then I looked at the BMD entry for the marriage of John Costain in Jun Q 1903, and his wife's name is given as Martha Cubbin, not Crebbin:

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England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915
about John Costain
Name: John Costain
Year of Registration: 1903
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: West Derby
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8b
Page: 579

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England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915
about Martha Cubbin
Name: Martha Cubbin
Year of Registration: 1903
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: West Derby
County: Lancashire
Volume: 8b
Page: 579

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So it looks as though there may have been either a transcription error on the BMD record, or else she actually was Martha Cubbin. If the latter, then either her father's name was misread as William Crebbin, or she was illegitimate with a Cubbin mother and a father called William Crebbin.

If you've already solved it, let us know the outcome.

Going back to my search for William James Crebbin b 1863ish, I can't find a convincing census entry for him. I don't even know if he was born on the island. I got his name from the Douglas 1896 birth of his second son from Brian Lawson's index. His wife and 2 sons were staying with Clara's parents in 1901. Clara's father's 1913 obituary in Manx Notebook refers to Clara as "Mrs Capt Crebbin", and her elder son was born in India in 1894/5, so perhaps William James was fighting in the Boer War at the time of the 1901 census. Does anyone know who his parents were ?

The only census entry which looks likely is a William Crebbin, nephew, b England, age 7 in 1871, because his future wife is living nearby at Cooil.

1871
Braddan (Holyhead - sic) 2/29
Ballacubbon
Robert Craine head mar 31 farmer b Braddan
Catherine wife 33 b Braddan
Catherine Crebbin wife's mother 70 annuitant b Braddan
William Crebbin nephew b England

Jean C