I'm starting a new thread on this because I'm now pretty sure that the William James Crebbin I'm looking for isn't the William Crebbin b 1862 Rushen, son of William Crebbin and Elizabeth Shimmin.
Copying parts of my message from the Martha Crebbin thread:
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Looking 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 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 7 nephew b England
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Later:
I've now found the parents and siblings of the William Crebbin who was the 7yr old nephew in Braddan in 1871 with his aunt Catherine Craine and grandmother, Catherine Crebbin nee Kinley. They were William Crebbin and Johanna Maria (Cunningham ?), married Liverpool 1861.
1871
Lancashire, St Clements 57/33
1881
Lancashire, Toxteth Park 57/11
1891
Lancashire, Toxteth Park 49/29
William James isn't with his family in any of these censuses. If this is the right family, perhaps he'd joined the army (or navy ?---showing my ignorance here. Does the fact that he was "Captain Crebbin" in 1913 suggest army, navy or either ?) by the age of 16, and was out of the country for all the censuses.
Jean C