Thank you, Averil, Adrienne, Paul and Mary, for your help.
I'm looking at this particular illegitimate Mary Ann Wade b 1853 Lonan as a possible candidate for an elusive Ann/Annie Caley who married James Thomson in Liverpool:
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IGI's version:
Marriage:
Name: James Thomson
Birth Date: 1857
Birthplace:
Age: 21
Spouse's Name: Ann Caley
Spouse's Birth Date: 1856
Spouse's Birthplace:
Spouse's Age: 22
Event Date: 20 Nov 1878
Event Place: St. Peter, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Father's Name: Archibald Thomson
Mother's Name:
Spouse's Father's Name: John Caley
Spouse's Mother's Name:
Race:
Marital Status: Single
Previous Wife's Name:
Spouse's Race:
Spouse's Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M00749-9
System Origin: England-EASy
GS Film number: 1656685
Reference ID: it 6, p 109, no 218
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Ann was consistently Annie Thompson throughout the English (Liverpool) censuses. There's no evidence that she had a middle name or that Ann was her first name, so it's possible that she was a Mary Ann.
Her birthplace was given as IOM in 1881 and 1891, then as Ramsey, IOM, in 1901, and as Port Erin, IOM in 1911, which is rather odd.
Her husband James Thomson had a twin (or a brother born within a year of James), and their ages were 4 in 1861 and 14 in 1871. Thereafter, James and Annie's ages were:
1881 23/25
1891 34/35
1901 43/44
1911 55/56
This suggests that Annie was probably 2 years older than James, but the gap could have been wider. James died in Jan 1925 age 68 (birth year 1856). So Annie could have been born in 1853 and "lost" a couple of years throughout her marriage.
Looking first on the IOM in 1861 and 1871:
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1861
from census index:
CALEY Ann 4 Lon 4423 26 190
CALEY Ann J. 3 Ballaugh 4411 33 58
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1871
from census index:
CALEY Anna 15 Ramsey 5773 180 6
CALEY Ann 14 Maughold 5773 114 97
CALEY Ann J 13 Ballaugh 5772 87 1
CALEY Ann 13 Lonan 5774 16 106
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The Ballaugh girl had a father Thomas. The Lonan girl had a father James. The 15yr old in Ramsey had a father Thomas. Below is the 14 yr old in Maughold:
1871
Maughold
Ancestry's transcription:
Name Age
John Corkill 72
Jane Corkill 67
Ann Caley 14
JC landowner of 8 acres b Maughold
Jane wife b Andreas
AC servant b Lonan
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Since there's no corresponding 1861 entry for her as Ann Caley, she was either off the island or she was known by a different name. So I started looking at births of illegitimate Anns, and Mary Ann Wade b 1853 Lonan was one possible candidate. There was a John Caley (age 25 in 1851, son of Philip Caley and Esther, living near the family of the Ann Wade who was probably the mother of illegit Mary Ann Wade) who seems to have been the John who died 2 years after the census:
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burial:
CALEY, John 27 Lonan 18 Apr 1853
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so I wondered whether he could have been the father of Ann Wade's child but had become ill and died before a marriage could take place. Pure speculation, and that's why I posted the original message in this thread, in case someone recognised the family and happened to know the answer. One other thing might be relevant: as Averil said, Mary Ann Wade's mother Ann Wade married John Cleator, a lead miner, in 1856. They were living near Port Erin at the 1861 census----which would fit with Ann Thompson alias Caley giving her birthplace as both Ramsey (1901) and Port Erin (1911). If her husband had offered the information to the enumerators, he might have given the names of places he had heard his wife speak of when talking about her early years.
To further complicate this message, I'll add the details of the only legitimate Ann Caley I can find with a father named John Caley:
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Name: Mary Ann Caley Family Tree
Gender: Female
Christening Date: 01 May 1853
Christening Place: MAUGHOLD,ISLE OF MAN,ENGLAND
Birth Date:
Birthplace:
Death Date:
Name Note:
Race:
Father's Name: John Caley
Father's Birthplace:
Father's Age:
Mother's Name: Isab Corkill
Mother's Birthplace:
Mother's Age:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C03817-1
System Origin: Isle_Of_Man-ODM
GS Film number: 106735
Reference ID:
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IGI:
Name: John Caley
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 07 Mar 1835
Event Place: Maughold, Isle of Man
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Father's Name:
Mother's Name:
Spouse's Name: Isabella Corkell
Spouse's Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Father's Name:
Spouse's Mother's Name:
Digital Folder Number: 004497612
Image Number: 00019
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IGI:
children's baptisms all Maughold:
Isabella 7 Jun 1835
Elinr 28 Jan 1838 (mother Elinr Corkill---a mistake ?)
Cath Jane 17 Nov 1839 (mother Cath Corkill--a mistake ?)
John 22 Jan 1843
Esther Ann 29 Mar 1846
Paul 14 Jan 1849
William 17 Nov 1850
Mary Ann 1 May 1853
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1841
Maughold 1/7
Ancestry's transcription: Name Age
Isabella Caley 25
Eliner Caley 7
Cathrine Caley 1
Isabella Caley 6
IC ag lab
Eleanor age smudged--should be 3 ?
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1851
Port e Vullyn, Maughold
Ancestry's transcription:
Name Age
Issabella Caley 37
John Caley 8
Paul Caley 2
William Caley 5 Mo
Issabella Caley 16
Ellinor Caley 12
Cathrine Caley 10
Esther Caley 5
IC 37 sailor's wife
all b Maughold
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1861
Ancestry's transcription:
Name Age
John Caley 66
Kate Caley 20
William Caley 10
Margt Caley 8
JC 66 wid sailor
all b Maughold
8 yr old def says Margt, but could this be Mary Ann bap 1853 (enumerator's mistake in making neat copy from his notes ?)
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1871
Port e Vullan, Maughold
John Caley head wid 66 retired mariner b Maughold
living alone
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burial:
CALEY, John 67 Maughold 30 Jun 1872
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burial:
CALEY, Esther 17 Maughold 11 Jun 1863
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burial:
CALEY, Isabel 45 Maughold 31 May 1857
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And to complicate things even further, there are trees on Ancestry which have James Thomson's wife as Annie Lord b 1853 from Sulby, a daughter of an unmarried Jane Kneale who had several illegitimate children with a variety of surnames, including three named Caley. But I'm pretty sure that this isn't the right Annie.
Perhaps I'll just drop this search---I only pursued it because it seems that others who had tried to solve it hadn't succeeded, so it was a challenge.
Jean C