{"id":2098,"date":"2022-03-13T11:15:24","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T11:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2098"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:24:22","slug":"william-weight-advice-on-variations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/","title":{"rendered":"William Weight : advice on variations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>William Weight married in his 40s, died in his 80s, and doesn\u2019t seem to have left much of a mark on the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But having taken a photo of his and wife Isabella\u2019s grave, at Beacon Edge Cemetery, Penrith, I \u2018owe\u2019 it to them to carry things through and tell their story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It illustrates the need for anyone researching a less-common surname to consider all possible variations if they hit a brick wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">William Weight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Puzzling over the photo, my first thought was \u2018William Wright\u2019. Based on \u2018that\u2019s a common surname\u2019. But it didn\u2019t look like an R.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when some digging in online records showed it was William Weight, it didn\u2019t get me much further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>1891 Round Thorn, Shap. Isabella Weight is on her own, living on her own means. Born Warcop abt 1812.<\/li><li>1881 Shap. William Weight, born Carlisle about 1805, income from houses.Plus Isabella.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s where it got harder<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Always try variations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are stuck with a gap in census returns for an ancestor, there are things you can try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you know where they were living, you can try their first name, plus year of birth and location, plus a family member.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also consider how the original census enumerator might have misheard or mis-spelled the name. And the same with the person who transcribed it for the genealogy site index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are using The Genealogist, you can add a key word, such as occupation, to narrow down the options. Though in this case, the occupation is too vague to be of use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Found them!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>1871 Shap. William is a retired farmer, plus Isabella. <strong>Transcribed as \u2018Wright\u2019.<\/strong><\/li><li>1868 March . House and field for sale, about 1.45 acres of land, and outbuildings, at Newton Gates Apply William Weight, the occupier.<\/li><li>1861. Newton Gate, near Penrith. William, landed proprietor and Isabella, born Kirkby Stephen. Entered on original document as <strong>\u2018White\u2019 by the enumerator.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li><li>1860. At St Andrew\u2019s Penrith, William Weight, Newton Gates, to Miss Isabella Atkinson. If right, it\u2019s a \u2018late\u2019 marriage. William was about 55, Isabella about 47. No use looking for children.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Isabella Atkinson, aged 36, was a domestic servant in Kirkby Stephen in 1851.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a William <strong>Wight<\/strong> baptised St Mary, Carlisle, in 1804. Which could be another variation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>And that\u2019s it<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, there is no \u2018story\u2019. People were born, grew up, made their way in life, married (or not), carried on with things, and finally died without ever stirring the ripples of the local universe.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is disappointing for anyone hoping to find out more about them. But given the stories that made the news, in the past as now, were largely dramas, crimes, tragedies\u2026 perhaps that\u2019s not such a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beacon Edge Cemetery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This post is one of a series on people buried at Beacon Edge, above Penrith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others include publican <a href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/07\/thomas-dixon-penrith-publican\/\">Thomas Dixon<\/a> and the local <a href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/17\/bonesetter-a-family-occupation\/\">bonesetters<\/a>, the Dennison family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And <a href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/16\/charles-gilder-and-hydropathy\/\">Charles Gilder<\/a>, a yeast merchant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>William Weight married in his 40s, died in his 80s, and doesn\u2019t seem to have left much of a mark on the world. But having taken a photo of his and wife Isabella\u2019s grave, at Beacon Edge Cemetery, Penrith, I \u2018owe\u2019 it to them to carry things through and tell their story. It illustrates the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[399,186],"class_list":["post-2098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-history","tag-beacon-edge","tag-penrith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>William Weight : advice on variations - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"William Weight : how anyone researching a less-common surname should consider all possible variations if they hit a brick wall.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"William Weight : advice on variations - Cumbrian Characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William Weight : how anyone researching a less-common surname should consider all possible variations if they hit a brick wall.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cumbrian Characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-13T11:15:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-15T14:24:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/William-Weight.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"HarrietP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GnaOxdown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GnaOxdown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"HarrietP\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"William Weight : advice on variations - Cumbrian Characters","description":"William Weight : how anyone researching a less-common surname should consider all possible variations if they hit a brick wall.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"William Weight : advice on variations - Cumbrian Characters","og_description":"William Weight : how anyone researching a less-common surname should consider all possible variations if they hit a brick wall.","og_url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/","og_site_name":"Cumbrian Characters","article_published_time":"2022-03-13T11:15:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-15T14:24:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/William-Weight.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"HarrietP","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GnaOxdown","twitter_site":"@GnaOxdown","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"HarrietP","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/"},"author":{"name":"HarrietP","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7"},"headline":"William Weight : advice on variations","datePublished":"2022-03-13T11:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-15T14:24:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/"},"wordCount":495,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/William-Weight.jpg","keywords":["Beacon Edge","Penrith"],"articleSection":["family history"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/","name":"William Weight : advice on variations - Cumbrian Characters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/William-Weight.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-13T11:15:24+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-15T14:24:22+00:00","description":"William Weight : how anyone researching a less-common surname should consider all possible variations if they hit a brick wall.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/William-Weight.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/William-Weight.jpg","width":400,"height":600,"caption":"William Weight, Beacon Edge, Cumbrian Characters, name variations,"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/13\/william-weight-advice-on-variations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"William Weight : advice on variations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/","name":"Cumbrian Characters","description":"Family history is so much more than names and dates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ca7d1ea06be5c263e8aaedf7f4af34c7","name":"HarrietP","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"HarrietP"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Harriet-CoA-avatar-1.jpg"},"description":"Journalist and amateur genealogist","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/harrietpears\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GnaOxdown"],"url":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/author\/harriet\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2100,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098\/revisions\/2100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}