Curtis and Frederick Metcalfe

George Metcalfe married Mary Rhodes at Christ Church, Knottingley, on 5 June 1855. George is recorded as a Waterman/Mariner and over the next 8 years, he and his wife Mary had at least 4 children. Census records confirm that Sarah Ann, Amelia, Lucy and Faith were all born into this marriage while there is a possibility of a 5th daughter, Elizabeth, but as yet I have not located any evidence to confirm this.

We know from census records that Mary was a Widow by the time of the 1871 census and according to my Knottingley cemetery burials, a George Metcalfe aged 38 years was buried at Knottingley cemetery on 23 January 1863. George and Mary’s daughter Faith was born in the September qtr of 1863 so her father would have died some months before she was born.

The 1871 census records Mary with a son Fred(erick), born 1869/70, but there doesn’t appear to be a birth registration on the GRO index. If it is correct that Mary’s husband George had died in 1863 it’s clear that he could not have been the father of Frederick.
As a means of confirmation, on the 5th Apr 1874 there is a record of baptism at Christ Church, Knottingley for Faith Metcalf, daughter of George & Mary – Mariner, and also on the very same date there is a record of baptism for Fred Metcalf, the son of Mary, with no details of the father recorded.

The 1891 census records Fred Metcalf, aged 21, at Shepherds Bridge, Knottingley, with his wife Jane, aged 22, of Wakefield. The 1901 census records a ‘married’ Jane Metcalfe at the home of Ross Haller, Union Row, Knottingley, where she is recorded as a Boarder and is working as a Bottle Packer at a Glassworks. With peculiar similarity, a ‘married’ Fred Metcalfe is recorded working as a Chemical Works Labourer and living as a Boarder at the home of William Miller, Ocean Terrace, Knottingley.

It’s a bit complicated but not too difficult to follow until you begin searching for the marriage record for Fred and Jane. The only record I can find is for Curtis Metcalfe and Jane Williamson who were married at Christ Church, Knottingley, on the 8th March 1891, however, I cannot find any census record of a Curtis Metcalfe.

I have a feeling that Fred and Curtis are one and the same but I have yet to find that one piece of information that offers confirmation. To fuel my belief, there is a birth registration in 1869 for Curtis Metcalfe which, if it turns out that they are the same person, would explain why I have not been able to locate one for Frederick Metcalfe.

Curtis Metcalfe, a 37 year old Labourer, died in 1906 and he was buried at Knottingley cemetery on the 22 October in grave no. 2339. His burial record offers no additional clues as to his correct identity at this time.

So, are Frederick Metcalfe and Curtis Metcalfe the same person? Let me know.