My great great great great grandfather James Baines was born in North Clifton, Nottinghamshire in the 1820′s. He can be found on the 1851 census living with his parents, John and Ann, in North Clifton, where he worked as a Blacksmith. By the 1861 census he was a widow and lived with his brother and family in Newark. His son William, my great great great grandfather, was living with his grandparents, James’ parents John and Ann, in North Clifton.

Ten years later, in 1871, James can be found living with his second wife and their three children in Eagle, Lincolnshire. In the same year William was living in North Clifton with his widowed grandmother Ann.

On Christmas Day 1876 William married Mary Ann Duckworth in St Leonard’s Church, Newark. On his marriage certificate his father James was recorded as deceased – yet over 30 years later, in 1911, James, now 88 years old and a widower, was living with William and his family!

On previous census records, 1881, 1891 and 1901, James lived with his family in Swinderby, Lincolnshire.

When William was living with his grandparents, did he know his father? What happened to Williams mother, why did she die at a young age (I believe her name may have been Elizabeth, but I’ve not been able to confirm this). Was William lying on his marriage certificate, or was he always told his father had died? Perhaps he had a reason for wanting nothing to do with his father?

There’s a story to this – but perhaps we’ll never know the truth.