myroots
Tracking William Moorehouse Stoney born c.1771 in Yorkshire: a criminal past?
posted Sunday, 15 January 2006
Was 4xgreat-grandfather William Moorehouse STONEY transported to Australia? This question has been challenging me for the past couple of days.
Catherine Alice STONEY was my 3x great-grandmother, born in 1829. Her parents were William Moorehouse STONEY (named on her marriage certificate of 1849), and Mary Ann ROWNEY. William and Mary Ann married at St Giles Camberwell in 1825 according to the IGI.
I tracked Catherine, aged 12, in the 1841 census transcript at The Genealogist, living with parents William and Mary at Sion Place Lambeth. William is aged 70 (birth year c. 1771), and described as an Agent. Mary, a dress-maker, is 50. Son William is 15. This suggests that William was around 54 years old when he married Mary, who was born around 1791.
William is described as a 'gentleman' on Catherine's marriage certificate of 1849 (to Aaron WALES). Two years later, in the 1851 census, he is a 'retired grocer', living with Mary at 1 Cottage Row, Newington. Mary is still working as a dressmaker, and they have only one child - Emma, aged 30 - at home with them. William's age is given as 76 (birth year 1775) and his birthplace as Shipton (or Skipton) Yorkshire. Mary was born in Newington.
William died in 1857 (I haven't received the certificate yet). So apart from his wavering occupations and slightly changing ages shown in the censuses, details of his later life seem fairly straightforward. The mystery comes in his early days, the 70 years before he appears in the 1841 census. Whilst there are a number of William STONEYs born in Yorkshire in the 1760s and 1780s, none seems to match William. There are, however, a number of records in the IGI for the christening of a William MOOREHOUSE in Skipton, Yorkshire, in August 1769, son of Thomas and Mary (formerly IBBOTSON) - so did William add the STONEY to his name at a later date, perhaps on remarriage of his mother? Or was he an illegitimate son of a Miss STONEY by a Mr MOOREHOUSE?
The mystery continues with the account of a trial at the Old Bailey in 1819, when William would have been around 48. Tried for deception and fraud, he was found guilty of acquiring money by false pretences and sentenced to transportation for seven years. The early days of the trial were also reported in The Times of 8 October 1819 (accessed via Ancestry's newspaper collection). If he had completed the full term of sentence, he would not have been able to return (supposing he had the wherewithal to do so) until 1826, a year after the marriage of William Moorehouse STONEY and Mary Ann ROWNEY in London in 1825.
So are these records all about the same man, or different men? Was he William MOOREHOUSE, or William Moorehouse STONEY? Was he a bit of a rogue, or the 'gentleman' referred to on his daughter's marriage certificate? More research to be done!
Catherine Alice STONEY was my 3x great-grandmother, born in 1829. Her parents were William Moorehouse STONEY (named on her marriage certificate of 1849), and Mary Ann ROWNEY. William and Mary Ann married at St Giles Camberwell in 1825 according to the IGI.
I tracked Catherine, aged 12, in the 1841 census transcript at The Genealogist, living with parents William and Mary at Sion Place Lambeth. William is aged 70 (birth year c. 1771), and described as an Agent. Mary, a dress-maker, is 50. Son William is 15. This suggests that William was around 54 years old when he married Mary, who was born around 1791.
William is described as a 'gentleman' on Catherine's marriage certificate of 1849 (to Aaron WALES). Two years later, in the 1851 census, he is a 'retired grocer', living with Mary at 1 Cottage Row, Newington. Mary is still working as a dressmaker, and they have only one child - Emma, aged 30 - at home with them. William's age is given as 76 (birth year 1775) and his birthplace as Shipton (or Skipton) Yorkshire. Mary was born in Newington.
William died in 1857 (I haven't received the certificate yet). So apart from his wavering occupations and slightly changing ages shown in the censuses, details of his later life seem fairly straightforward. The mystery comes in his early days, the 70 years before he appears in the 1841 census. Whilst there are a number of William STONEYs born in Yorkshire in the 1760s and 1780s, none seems to match William. There are, however, a number of records in the IGI for the christening of a William MOOREHOUSE in Skipton, Yorkshire, in August 1769, son of Thomas and Mary (formerly IBBOTSON) - so did William add the STONEY to his name at a later date, perhaps on remarriage of his mother? Or was he an illegitimate son of a Miss STONEY by a Mr MOOREHOUSE?
The mystery continues with the account of a trial at the Old Bailey in 1819, when William would have been around 48. Tried for deception and fraud, he was found guilty of acquiring money by false pretences and sentenced to transportation for seven years. The early days of the trial were also reported in The Times of 8 October 1819 (accessed via Ancestry's newspaper collection). If he had completed the full term of sentence, he would not have been able to return (supposing he had the wherewithal to do so) until 1826, a year after the marriage of William Moorehouse STONEY and Mary Ann ROWNEY in London in 1825.
So are these records all about the same man, or different men? Was he William MOOREHOUSE, or William Moorehouse STONEY? Was he a bit of a rogue, or the 'gentleman' referred to on his daughter's marriage certificate? More research to be done!
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