In several posts last month, I railed against the misappropriation of Colley children in Doncaster, Ecclesfield, Hull and Scawton, and their placement with Skipsea Colleys on the Shared Tree.

A few days ago, while looking through newspapers for coastal Colleys, an inland community caught my eye. Wadsley was the home of one of the Wrong Williams – the Cutler of Ecclesfield. A George Colley, in the same trade and possibly a close relative of William, lost his daughter Elizabeth in sad circumstances.

If the Shared Tree is a reliable source in this instance, the younger sister referred to was Olive/Olivia, aged five and the last of eleven children born to George and Mary ARTRAM. The Colley line has no past beyond George’s father (William!) but the Artrams lead the way to a dozen earlier generations.

George married Mary just two weeks before William the Skipsea bricklayer/mason married Elizabeth Whiting (of Beeford).