William Stoliday (1836-1930), Mary-Ann Carr (1827-1866) and Ann Dove (1845-1917).
My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunts.
Born in 1836 in Salhouse, Norfolk, and baptised on 4 December of that year at All Saints’ Church in the village, William Stoliday was the son of my 3rd great-grandparents William Stoliday and Sarah Rose.
He became an agricultural labourer, like his father, and was married twice. His first bride was Mary Ann Carr, who was born on 13 February 1827 in Southwood, Norfolk, the daughter of agricultural labourer William and his wife Elizabeth. She was actually baptised Maria and recorded under this name in some subsequent census records. William and Maria (now Mary Ann) wed at All Saints Church in Freethorpe, Norfolk, on 22 October 1855 just a few months after she’d given birth to an illegitimate daughter, Martha. It’s unclear whether she was William’s daughter but I’d suggest it was likely.
William had at least one child with Mary Ann – William Henry Stoliday in 1857 – and they were shown as living in Salhouse with her illegitimate daughter Martha in the 1861 Census. However, Mary Ann died in 1866 and was buried back in her home parish of Freethorpe on 7 February. Her daughter Martha would later marry and live until 1940.
William went on to marry Ann Dove of Martham in the church of St Nicholas in Great Yarmouth on 24 December 1870. The marriage record listed him as a fisherman, which if true is the only time I can find reference to it. Ann was the daughter of agricultural labourer John Dove and his wife Charlotte, although I’ve not found baptism and civil registration records for Ann and her siblings or John’s marriage record. William and Ann were missing in the 1871 Census but turned up in 1874 with the birth of their daughter Anne Elizabeth Stoliday in Northumberland. It’s possible this is where William had gone for work on the fishing vessels and it’s significant that his son William Henry continued to live there until his death.
In 1881 the family were recorded in Ormesby, Norfolk, William working as an agricultural labourer again and Ann as a laundress. Ten years later he was listed working for himself as a market gardener although the electoral registers described him as a farmer, living in the hamlet of Cess by the River Thurne, to the south-west of Martham in Norfolk.
The Yarmouth Independent of 19 June 1909 advertised the sale by auction of the market garden that William occupied but was giving up at the Old Manor House, Ormesby St Michael. Consisting of just over two acres, the advert noted that more than half was given over to fruit trees and bushes and raspberry canes. Included was a ‘quaint and commodious’ house of four bedrooms and two sitting rooms, piggeries, a barn, stables and coal house.
By 1911 nearby Hemsby was home for the couple, but Ann died in 1917 in Caister and was buried there on 27 November that year. By the 1921 census William was living alone and retired, his address given as the Widows’ Houses in Caister – modest cottages which still stand and were originally built for the local needy.
He lived to a grand age, dying at Lingwood Infirmary in Norfolk on 24 February 1930. He was buried in Caister Cemetery on 1 March, described as a retired gardener.
William and Mary Ann Carr had at least one child:
- William Henry Stoliday (1857-1920). William was born in Lingwood, Norfolk, in 1857 but spent much of his adult life in and around Byker in Northumberland working as a bricklayer and labourer. He married widow Amelia Sophia Baker nee Neale in 1908. She was born in Swanton Morley in Norfolk in 1869 and had lived in the county with her first husband and children. In Northumberland, Amelia and William had children but he died in 1920. Amelia lived in Newcastle until her death in 1940.
William and Ann had at least one child:
- Ann / Hannah Elizabeth Stoliday (1873-1884) was named Hannah when her birth was registered in Newcastle Upon Tyne in Northumberland in 1873 but was recorded as Ann in other documents. She was buried in Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk, in February 1884.
Sources: Birth, marriage, death and burial records including civil registrations from the General Register Office, census returns and other records at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and Norfolk Family History Society.
British Newspaper Archive (titles in text).
1896 Kelly’s Directory.