Re: Margaret Hampton

I have now rechecked all the records I can access, and I have found three Margaret hampton's.

1. Margaret Hampton b. 1816-1821 Lonan, daughter of John Hampton & Margaret Fargher. She definitely married John Cowin, b.1812-1817, son of John Cowin & Ann, because I've found her, John & their children listed living in Lonan on the IOM 1851 census.

2. Margaret Hampton c. 1 Jun 1828 German, daughter of Matthias Hampton & Margaret Kermin (? Kermode). I don't think she's the relevant Margaret because (a) she's born in German, & (b) she married Enos Christian, in German, on the 3 Jun 1852.

3. Margaret Hampton c. 13 Aug 1826 St Marks, daughter of Matthias Hampton & Anne Caine.

I think number 3 is the relevant Margaret. Her father Matthias Hampton and her mother Anne Caine were both born in Braddan 1794-1796, and her father Matthias and her brother and sister are listed as living back in Braddan, with her father's 2nd wife Margaret and her father's uncle Matthias, on the 1861 IOM census.

Margaret's brother Matthias and her sisters Ann and Eliza were all christened in St Marks, Marown, not far from Braddan, and no great distance from Santon.

Margaret married William Callister on 16 Nov 1848 in Santon, two years after John was born, but is that really as unusual as it seems? I've found another example in the family records of a couple marrying after their first child was born. Evan Gill, the son of Evan Callow Gill and Annie Killey, was born on 4 Apr 1885, but his parents didn't marry until 22 Apr 1888. Perhaps the presumption on our part that there was no such thing as common-law marriage in the 19th century is remiss.

I don't think Jane Bridson was John's mother because her son John was clearly born in 1845. And as I said previously, I don't believe John was the kind of man who never knew his own age/date of birth because the 1911 census return prooves he was literate - he signed it with his signature, not his mark.

I think Margaret Hampton number 3, who lived in the same area as William, was John's mother. She had a common-law relationship with William and gave birth to John before she and William married.

The problem that remains is her death. There are no records of a Margaret Callister having died on the Isle of Man circa 1851-1859, and Margaret has to have died then because William married Eleanor French in 1859.

So I checked the mainland BMD. The only Margaret Callister listed died in March 1859 in West Derby, Liverpool... and William married Eleanor French on 3 Oct 1859 in Braddan.

I can't 100% proove this of course, but making sense of the available information, William returned to the Isle of Man after Margaret died, met and married Eleanor, then went back to West Derby - probably to do the work he was doing previously - and was subsequently listed on the 1861 England census.

The only question mark that remains is the 1861 IOM census listing of Margaret Skelly & family. I haven't been able to eliminate them... yet.