19 May 2021

I’ve been thinking about John and Jane Peak some more and trying to connect all the pieces of evidence. I’d like to find Jane Peak in the 1861 census. She married Thomas Porteus in 1862 but by 1871 she was a widow again. I found the death of a Thomas Porteus in 1868 which seems to fit¹.

I wanted to link the Jane Peak who was repeatedly arrested with Jane Porteus and looked in the British Newspaper Archive. In the Shields Daily News, Monday 7 August 1865 I found this notice:

NOTICE. THAT I THOMAS PORTEUS, will not be Answerable for any DEBTS that my wife JANE PORTEUS may contract after this date.

So it seems she was still in trouble or being fined in some way!

While looking at the the records for Thomas and Jane I noticed that I had two different references for their wedding in the GRO.

The first is:

1862; Apr-May-Jun Quarter; Registration district Tynemouth; Vol 10b; Page 296

Ancestry says Thomas Porteus, Jane Peak, Mary Chambers and William Haughton are on that page.

The second is:

1863; Jan-Feb-Mar Quarter; Registration district South Shields; Vol 10a; Page 583

Ancestry shows Thomas Porteus, Jane Peak, Alice Sharp and Robert Nichols on that page.

Both references seem to be correct based on the images.

There is a notice in the Newcastle Journal dated 3 June 1862 announcing the marriage at Wallsend and I have a copy of the marriage register entry showing their marriage on 2 June 1862.

The first GRO reference is surely the correct one, but I have ordered copies of both to be sure.

While looking at the marriage register entry I noticed that one of the witnesses was Joseph Mordue. I believe that Jane’s mother was Margaret Mordue so perhaps Joseph is a cousin or uncle.

I searched the newspaper archive for more mentions of Jane or Thomas Porteus. I found a notice of the death of his wife Dorothy in North & South Shields Gazette and Northumberland and Durham Advertiser of Thursday 18 September 1862:

DEATHS. At King-street, same day [12th inst.], age 40, Dorothy, wife of Mr. Thomas Porteus, miner.²

This is after the marriage to Jane Peak so either there are two men called Thomas Porteus or he married bigamously! That could explain the second marriage entry!

I found a marriage between Thomas Porteus (father William) and Dorothy Potts (father Roger) in Tynemouth, 1855³.

In the 1861 census there is a Dorothy Porteus age 49 living alone in Bedford Street, Tynemouth. She is recorded as a Seaman’s wife, born in North Shields⁴. She seems to be too old and Thomas was an engineman or miner.