In early April 1871, Thomas Sowersby GELL was enumerated at the George Inn in the small village of Hollym. Aged 22 and single, he worked as a Billiard Marker, probably in nearby Withernsea. (His father headed the household but was described as an agricultural labourer/shepherd, not an innkeeper.) Thomas was a local hero. Less than two months before the census he had saved a man from drowning.

Thomas married a Filey girl, Augusta Emma HULLOCK, in November the following year. They had three sons. They gave the middle boy the name of a more famous sea captain than George PEARSON but, sadly, Arthur Horatio died before his first birthday. Curiously, the other boys were both called William – and both were living with their maternal grandmother in Scarborough in 1881.

They were fatherless. I haven’t been able to establish when Thomas died. Two online trees can’t agree (1875 or 1879) and a believable death registration source hasn’t surfaced yet. Augusta remarried in 1883 but I don’t know what happened to her.

The Hullock and Gell families have representation on the FamilySearch Shared Tree but some duplicate IDs need to be addressed. Find Thomas here.

Water 49 · Martin’s Ravine

Any advance on ten eyes (five faces in the water)?