Peter & James Thomas born c1850 Cinderford (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 13:01 (4205 days ago) @ samthebarber

Hi Sam,
no, not too many questions at all, only too pleased to help such a friendly gent as you !. However in future may I suggest you could have posted this enquiry attached to your earlier thread about Samuel, just to make easier reading/understanding for us all, thanks. see
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=40945

Anyhow moving on, don't know if you know but if you're not a subscriber to the "big" Census websites (I'm not), Census info can still be obtained for free from the LDS site, plus you can get many clues by using the free search aspect of Ancestry for example. The great advantage of the 1881 Census, unlike t'others, is that it's free to search AND VIEW full households on both these sites. However in the case of Ancestry as soon as you stray away from the free search it will request payment, and start making life tricky by omitting key parts of their findings. However a slightly cut-down Ancestry is available f-o-c at your public UK Library.

Hence searching Peter b1850 gives the following on LDS, altho clearly not the rarest of names I suspect this is "your" Peter altho the marriage needs checking out as should give his parents etc. That said on this site's PRs I can only see four Peter Thomas's Marriage Records and neither appear to be yours.

"England and Wales Census, 1881"
Name: Peter Thomas
Age (Original): 31
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1850
Birthplace: Cinderford (East Dean), Gloucestershire, England
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Coal Miner
Address: 6 Woodside Rd
Event Place: Flaxley, Gloucestershire, England
Disability:
Record Type: Household
GS Film number: 1341609
Affiliate Publication Number: RG11
Piece/Folio: 2524 / 102
Page Number: 2
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Peter Thomas M 31 Cinderford (East Dean), Gloucestershire, England
Wife Fanny Thomas F 27 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Ann Thomas F 8 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Elizth Thomas F 6 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Son Sydney Thomas M 4 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X3BC-84P

Similarly from Ancestry, http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&msT=1&...

In this instance I see on LDS there are several James' to look thro but on face value I think this is yours albeit clearly has moved away presumably for work ?. Again this is from the LDS (Church of LatterDay Saints, aka "Family Search" site, a truly excellent resource).

"England and Wales Census, 1881
Name: James Thomas
Age (Original): 31
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1850
Birthplace: Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Railway Shunter
Address: 72 William St
Event Place: Leicester St Margaret, Leicestershire, England
Disability:
Record Type: Household
GS Film number: 1341754
Affiliate Publication Number: RG11
Piece/Folio: 3161 / 96
Page Number: 25
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head James Thomas M 31 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Wife Ann J Thomas F 30 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Annie Thomas F 9 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Elizabeth Thomas F 7 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Mary A Thomas F 5 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Rodah Thomas F 3 Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Daughter Minnie Thomas F 1 Leicester, Leicestershire, England

As ever their quoted birthdates are prone to vary as these are what was told to the Census official at the time, so relied on people's good memories plus honesty (many people gained or lost years dependant on their "vanity" etc, particlarly as they got older or if a wife was actually older than her husband).

Again I ask you to thoroughly check out these suggestions as sadly I've got far less pleasurable chores to do this afternoon, I would much prefer to be helping you. In this instance James Thomas is a far more "common" name with several PRs on this FoD sites database, altho so far I've not managed to find either brothers' Baptisms or Marriages even by using the marvellous "advanced search" feature. Perhaps they're Non Conformists, so try GlosBMD site which is also free and very good;
http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/MainMenu.aspx

Birth Details

Child Surname Child Forename Father Surname Mother Surname Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
THOMAS Peter THOMAS THOMAS BARNARD 1849 Forest of Dean Westbury on Severn, Newnham 9 317

Marriage Details

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
THOMAS Peter POWELL Fanny Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1872 4 129
(As I'm sure you know the FoD site is PR based, ie Church Parish Records, so does not list Registry Office Records such as these).

AND:

Birth Details

Child Surname Child Forename Father Surname Mother Surname Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
THOMAS James THOMAS THOMAS BARNARD 1851 Forest of Dean Westbury on Severn, Newnham 11 157

Marriage Details

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
THOMAS James MERRIMAN Ann Jane Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1871 4 77

Hope this is correct altho I have rushed it which is never ideal son please check it out. Without wishing to be telling you how to suck the proverbial eggs, this prior thread will help if you're new to the various free-access websites mentioned above.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=35296

Sadly the supermarket awaits, horror!!!, so I'll wish you well in your continued search today. Also that you have success and fine weather when visiting the Baptist Chapel and you find your ancestors' resting places.

ttfn (as a fellow Cinderfordian used to say,
Jeff.