Ethel Mary IMESON was one of eight or maybe nine children born to James William and Ruth née PINDER. The “William” in her father’s name floats in and out of sources and so is not as helpful as it might be when it comes to sorting out the mess.

Here are James Wm’s sources (as James) on the Shared Tree.

‘Red’ James is the only one of the trio born to married parents, Israel and Sarah Ann (born KAY). Aiskew and Bedale are joined at the hip.

‘Green’ James is Ethel’s father and the 1939 Register listed above as a source gives his birthdate as 4 January 1868. His mother is Ann, daughter of Thomas Imeson and Eleanor WILKINSON. She gave birth to two children before she had James but neither Clara nor Thomas William lived more than a few weeks or months. James of Moreton-on-Swale was baptised at nearby Ainderby Steeple.

The one true father of Ethel worked for much of his life as a platelayer for the North Eastern Railway. In 1911 the family was living in one of the Railway Cottages at Muston Crossing, where Ethel had entered the world in 1896.  (She had an older sister, Hannah Elizabeth, who presumably played the part of Bobbie.)

But there is more. Great-grandfather of the Imeson children, David PINDER was a gatekeeper for the NER for most of his working life. The census enumerator found him in 1891, retired and living at Railway Gatehouse, Gashouse Lane, Bridlington.

There is not so much romance attached to David’s son Frank. He was just a railway labourer. He married Alice BARKLEY and they had eight children together. Ethel’s mother Ruth was their firstborn.

On the Shared Tree, to add insult to the injury of being lumped with wrong forebears, Ethel has been given in marriage to William HALLAH. What sort of a name is that? Oh, wait. This poor chap has two sources attached, both of them saying he is a HULLAH. Correct.

William, a farm waggoner at the time he courted Ethel, was about twelve years her senior. He died in 1947, aged 63.

Blue hints indicate Sarah TRUEMAND went to Ireland with her husband, and searches raise the possibility that they went on to the United States. But an 1881 Census return  (Bishophill, York) looks solid. Birth registrations of their children indicate they are grass is greener folk. I last saw them in 1891 – in Moss Street, York, when Michael was a labourer on the North Eastern Railway.

On the Shared Tree, Richard MASON waits patiently for his wife and the announcement of his passing.

John Fawcett POTTER the Elder hasn’t married Elizabeth Ann ROBERTS on the Shared Tree yet. See A Perfect Picture.

Sea 45 · Off the Brigg