Originally uploaded by timsunter

Address is given as High Street, Howden. Isabella was 32 years old when she died and cause of death is given as “Phthisis 3 months”. Joseph Sunter is the informant and also gives his address as High Street Howden.
Phthisis is the old term for TB.
The certificate is evidence which would indicates Joseph and Isabella were living in Howden in 1883 – just a few hundred metres from where Jane had given birth to Charles Hull Snowball.
When Isabella died Charles must surely have known Jane with her young son. I now suspect it was at Howden, rather than Bishop Auckland where Jane Ann and Charles met.

1877 Hannah Pedley Sunter Birth

Originally uploaded by timsunter

Hannah Pedley Sunter was born to Joseph and Isabella Sunter in 1877 in Bishop Auckland.
I ordered this certificate to find out where the Sunter’s were living in Bishop Auckland and to further investigate what the relationship was to Jane Ann Snowball and the Hulls. There had been a suggestion that the Hull family set up Joseph as a furniture salesman in return for taking Jane off their hands.
Isabella died early in 1883. Joseph remarried to Jane Ann Snowball later that year. This certificate shows that before the marriage Joseph was working as a ‘Grocer’s Warehousman’ and living in Edward Street, Bishop Auckland.

To read what is happening on the Census data Marion Hearfield has a wonderful website

http://www.johnhearfield.com/Swale/USwD.htm

This includes information about occupations, immigration and emigration, transport links…just fantastic. I have emailed her to say thank you. The site gives a superb feel for what it must have been like to be a Sunter in Gunnerside.

http://www.outofoblivion.org.uk/ is a National Park Website. It has fascinating information about Gunnerside and descriptions of the lead mining industry the Sunters were employed in.

Both of the above sites help to explain why “Grocer and Draper” is not such an unusual job.

http://www.gunnerside.info/index.html has loads of photographs and local history advice. Look at for the Sunter in some of the letters.

Thanks to all of those involved in these websites. Simply brilliant.

1851 William Sunter has married Hannah.  They are my great, great grandparents.  The family still live at Lodge Green where William is a Grocer and Draper.  They have a young family – Thomas (6), James (4) and Joseph (2).  William and Hannah Sunter are my great great grandparents.

1861 Thomas James and Joseph are all working as lead miners.  Joseph is just 12 years old.  William and Mary now have expanded their family with William (9), George (7), Mally (2) and Ann (2 months).

1870 final quarter – Joseph Sunter and Isabella Guy get married in the distric of Reeth, North Riding of Yorkshire (vol 9 p1031).

1871  In addition to being a draper and grocer, William is now also the postmaster at Lodge Green.  The children are growing up and Joseph, now aged 22, has married Isabella.  Together they lodge at the family home.  Joseph and Isabella Sunter are my great grand parents.

1881 There is no census record of Joseph.  However Isabella appears to be living at 106 Edge Land, West Derby, Lancashire and is a milk dealer.  There is a son, William, who is 9 and a ‘scholar’.  Hannah is her daugher, she is aged 3 and was born and Bishop Auckland.  Matty Sunter lives with her.

1883 first quarter.  Isabella dies.

1891 Joseph has remarried – to Jane Anne Snowball.  They have moved to 21 Grove Street, Stockton on Tees.  A short distance from where Lofty was to be born in Brunswick Street.  Joseph’s son William from his marriage to Isabella is now 19 and living with them.  Joseph and Anne have a young family – Grace, Dorothy, Gertrude and Cleva.  Charles is 9 years old but is away the night of the census.  Joseph and Jane are my great grandparents.

1901 Joseph has died.  Widow Jane now lives with her family in Victoria Street, Thornaby, Stockton.  Charles, her son, is 19 and is a stoker on the railways.

1911 Charles is now lodgin at Unicorn Yard, West Street.  The family which runs the lodging (and there are 20 people living there) is called Marsh.  At the head of the family is John William Marsh who is married to Jane.  They have a daughter Emma who is just 17 years old.  The positioning on the census has Charles as the first of the lodgers listed – could this be because he is having a relationship with Emma?

The answer is almost certainly yes.  Charles marries Emma in 1911.  Charles and Emma are my grand parents.

19th November 1917 – John William Sunter is born at 62 Brunswick Street.  John is my father.

Forgive me whilst I jump around a bit here.  Stick with me and it will make sense.

First of all in 1861 in the Hamlet of Lodge Green, Gunnerside, Melbecks (and each of these names are used to fill in census forms between 1841 and 1901) we have the following data:

• William Sunter, 37, head, Gunnerside, , 1824, Grocer and Draper

• Hannah Sunter, 36, wife, Blades Yorkshire, abt 1825, Grocer’s wife

• Thomas Sunter, 16, son, Gunnerside, abt 1845, Lead miner

• James Sunter, 14, son, Gunnershide, abt 1847, Lead miner

• Joseph Sunter, 12, son, Gunnerside, abt 1849 lead miner

• William Sunter, 9, son, Gunnerside, abt 1852, scholar

• George Sunter, 7, son, Gunnerside, abt 1854, scholar

• Mally Sunter 2, daughter, Gunnerside, abt 1859, scholar

• Ann Sunter 2months, daugher, Gunnerside

This is important.  Look at the whole family and then look at the next posting…Census 1871

 Rather horrifically it also appears that at 12 years old Joseph was a lead miner!

I remember from my year working in the archives that the reading of names can be very difficult.  Here is a good example.  The transpcription of the 1901 census showed Jane A Sunter as coming from Leadgale.  The 1891 Census transcription has it that she is from Seadgate.  In fact I believe the answer is a mix of the two.  There is a Leadgate in Consett, not far from Stockton on Tees and relatively near to Charles Sunter’s birthplace at Howden Le Wear.

Interestingly, Charles is missing from the household in the 1891 Census, even though he must have been 9 at the time.  The reason for this may well be that the Census is based on who is staying at the house on Census night.  It is quite possible that Charles is simply not present on that night.  A search through the Ancestry.co.uk website doesn’t throw up any further suggestions of where he might be.

New now in the family tree search is my great grandfather, Joseph Sunter.    The listing on the census is:

• Joseph Sunter, 42, Furniture Salesman, Yorkshire, Gunnerside

• Jane A Sunter, 28, Durham Seadgate

• William Sunter, 19, Catcher on Shipyard, Yorkshire Gunnerside

• Grace E Sunter, 6, Scholar, Yorkshire Redcar

• Dorothy H Sunter, 3, Yorkshire Redcar

• Gertrude Sunter, 1, Yorkshire Redcar

• Cleva I Sunter, 1/12, Durham Stockton

• Elizabeth Snowball, Sister-in-Law, 27, Dressmaker, Durham Seadgate

The family is living at 21 Grove Street, Stockton on Tees.

And here it is.  The 1911 Census entry for 14 West Row Stockton on Tees.

Whatever did we do before Google?  Now a Google Search confirms that Unicorn Yard and West Row were in the same place.  Google Earth shows that the location of this, and John’s birthplace in Brunswick Street are very close to each other.

Things to note:

1. The head of the household and lodging house keeper is John William Marsh.  His wife is Jane Marsh.  They have been married for 26 years and are aged 45 and 40 respectively.  These are my great grandparents.
2. Living with John and Jane are their surving two children (out of five) both daughters – Amy Dawson (25) and Emma Marsh (17).  Amy is an out of work servant.  She has been married for 6 years and has had three children, one of which has died.
3. There are 20 residents listed in the household – eight of whom are unemployed.  The list of trades seems to confirm the type of grim property it was.
4. The first of the boarders listed is Charles Sunter.  Can it be mere coincidence that he is first listed?  More likely there is already a relationship between Emma and Charles leading the family to list first.  Charles is a ‘fireman locomotive’, although out of work at the time of the census.  He is 29 years old and born in Howden Le Wear, County Durham.
5. Emma and Charles are my Grandparents.
6. The information suggests that John William Sunter is named after his grandfather, John William Marsh.

Lofty was born at 62 Brunwick Street Stockton on Tees.  Google Earth shows that the street is still there and, unsurprisingly, it looks like a very industrialised area.

Jane Marsh, who registered Lofty’s birth lived at Unicorn Yard.  There is no record of this on Google Earth, however, near Brunswick Street you can see Blue Post Yard, Ship Inn Yard and Hambletonian Yard.  Could it be that Unicorn Yard was near here?

A simple Google Search throws up this comment which describes a pretty tough area with homes in multiple occupation – as many as 30 in some cases.  Picturestockton.co.uk has a picture of the yard c1900, which,it says lead to “..Black Bull Yard. This yard leads from the High Street between the Unicorn Inn and Doggarts shop, down towards the river.”

“HMS Mars of the Majestic Class battleships. Mars served with the Channel Fleet in the winter of 1906 and again in 1907. At the outbreak of WW1 she served with the 4th Division of the Home Fleet. Mars then served as a guardship in the Humber in August 1914. With her turrets removed at Belfast she became a transport ship and covered the evacuations of Anzac and Cape Helles in January 1916. This evacuation was a major event with 83,048 troops, 186 guns and 1697 horse drawn vehicles with 4,695 horses and mules. It was expected this evacuation would produce about 30,000 casualties, and Hospitals were prepared for this number at the end only 2 men were wounded in the evacuation. On her return HMS Mars became base ship at Invergordon.   HMS Mars was finally sold for breaking May 1921.”