George Johnson

AUDITED 16 Oct 2026 - IN DURHAM CITY 1818-25: three baptisms at the chapel of his 1791 baptism name George & Mary (olim Fairbrother). Parents still NOT PROVEN. CORRECTED 16 Aug: wife is Mary Ann FAIRBROTHER, not Mason. DURHAM CITY, 1818-1825 - 16 Oct 2026. Besides RG 4/1759, the Catholic chapel in Durham City (Old Elvet) kept two other baptism books, and both were read in full on the image: TNA RG 4/3450 (1808-1821) and RG 4/474 (1821-1839). Three entries name this couple with the wife's maiden name: William, born 6 Sep 1818 ("Gulielmus Johnson, Filius Georgii et Mariae Johnson (olim Fairbrother)"); Maria, born 18 Jul 1821; and George, born 2 Jan 1825 ("Georgius Johnson, Filius Georgii et Mariae Johnson (olim Fairbrother)"). Maria and George are not entered as people: nothing later about either has been read. The Anna born 12 Apr 1823 in RG 4/1759, whose entry gives no maiden name, is very probably theirs as well: no other George and Mary Johnson baptises a child in these books between 1808 and 1839. The names Mary and Ann were given again at Esh in 1826 and 1828. WHAT THIS CHANGES. The family lived in Durham City from at least 1818 to 1825, at the same chapel where George, son of William and Eleanor Johnson, was baptised in 1791. The 13 Oct note said no record joined the two; this places him there. WHAT IT DOES NOT CHANGE. No Johnson stands godparent at any of the five baptisms, so no record yet names George's parents. William and Eleanor remain candidates and are NOT entered. WHAT WOULD SETTLE IT: his 1846 burial, giving age at death; a burial of William or Eleanor Johnson in Durham City; or a Johnson marriage in Durham that he witnessed. Registers K1080, K1081. AUDITED 13 Oct 2026 - CANDIDATE PARENTS NAMED, NOT PROVEN: William and Eleanor Johnson of Durham City (1791 baptism). 1841 census: Hill Top, tailor, 50, born Co. Durham. CORRECTED 16 Aug: wife is Mary Ann FAIRBROTHER, not Mason. CANDIDATE PARENTS NAMED, NOT PROVEN - 13 Oct 2026. A baptism at the Catholic chapel in Durham City (formerly the Jesuits' chapel) names a George Johnson who fits this man on every point tested so far. The register is TNA RG 4/1759, read on the image: "Die 1. Junii [1791] natus et die 2. ejusdem mensis baptizatus fuit Georgius Johnson filius Gulielmi et Eleanorae Johnson: Patrinus fuit Joannes Bell, matrina Margarita Johnson." In English: born 1 June and baptised 2 June 1791, George, son of William and Eleanor Johnson; godparents John Bell and Margaret Johnson. The same register gives William and Eleanor children Ann (1786), John (1789), George (1791) and Eleanor (1794 and 1796). WHAT FITS. The 1841 census, read on the image, finds him at Hill Top, Lanchester, as "George Johnson 50, Tailor J., Y". A man born 1 Jun 1791 was 50 on census night, and "Y" means born in Co. Durham. His wife Mary, 48, is marked "N", so the column is genuinely recording birthplace. He was Catholic, six miles from Durham City. He named children Ann and John, as the Durham family did. WHAT DOES NOT YET FIT, OR IS MISSING. None of his daughters is named Eleanor. No record yet read joins the Durham George to this one. The baptism gives no abode, and none of the Esh Laude baptisms of his children (1831-39, all five read with their godparents) names his parents. Johnson is a common name. William and Eleanor are therefore NOT entered as his parents. WHAT WOULD SETTLE IT: his 1846 burial, giving age at death; the Esh Laude register for 1795-1828 (TNA RG 4/2280), for the godparents at the 1821-28 baptisms; or a burial of William or Eleanor Johnson. ALSO SETTLED BY THE 1841 CENSUS: he was a TAILOR. That matches the George Johnson, tailor, of Manchester, who married Mary Ann Fairbrother at Manchester St Mary on 26 Sep 1815 (FreeREG transcription, not yet read on the image). That marriage is very probably this family's missing marriage. It is not entered here, pending a read of the image. FURTHER CORRECTION to the 30 Jul note below: it says the 1841 households are "still unread". The 1841 household is now read (see above). Registers K1029-K1032. CORRECTED 16 Aug 2026 - HIS WIFE IS MARY ANN FAIRBROTHER, NOT MASON; AND THE DURHAM CATHOLIC REGISTERS ARE ONLINE, NOT MICROFILM-ONLY. Seven baptisms of his children at Esh Laude St Michael's name the mother Fairbrother, 7 of 7. Two claims in the 30 Jul note below are superseded. 1. THE SURNAME. Seven Roman Catholic baptism entries at Esh Laude St Michael's, Lanchester, Co. Durham name the mother of his children FAIRBROTHER: Mary (1826), Mary (1828), Mary (1831), Margaret (1833), Mary (1835), Mary (1837), Mary Ann (1839). Durham Records Online records 425217, 407709, 419739, 412606, 423665, 409647, 409118. The 1839 entry reads "Mary Ann Fairbrother", which is the tree's given name exactly. MASON came from the 1807 Kensington marriage detached below as a graft, and it fell with it. [874]'s name row was corrected the same day. 2. THE AVAILABILITY CLAIM, and this one cost eighteen days. The note below says the Durham Catholic registers are "DRO microfilm only and not online at any price", and names Croxdale Chapel. BOTH ARE WRONG. The register is ESH LAUDE ST MICHAEL'S, and it is transcribed, indexed by father's forename, and online at Durham Records Online at $2.25 a record. Seven were bought and read on 16 Aug 2026 for $15.75, and they evidenced seven of the eight children of this family. AN AVAILABILITY CLAIM IS A MEASUREMENT WITH A DATE, NOT A PROPERTY OF THE RECORD - write "not found online as of <date>, searched at <hosts>", never "not online at any price", because the second reads as settled fact and nobody re-tests it. 3. STILL TRUE, KEEP IT: this family has NO SOURCED MARRIAGE. The seven baptisms name the parents; none of them is a marriage record. The uncited 1826 marriage event is still contradicted by [875] William, born 1821, who is also the ONLY child of the eight with no Esh Laude entry - see ancestry/documents-read-index.md K144 for that controlled negative. --- THE 30 JUL 2026 NOTE, VERBATIM. Superseded ONLY in the two sentences named above: "Our George's wife is Mary Ann Mason" and the "not online at any price" claim. Everything else in it stands, including the graft detachment and the 1861 census negative. --- Audited 30 Jul 2026 (research 29 Jul) - Johnson branch, Q5. The 8 Dec 1807 marriage of George Johnson x Mary Mason at St Mary Abbots, Kensington was READ FROM THE IMAGE (Ancestry coll. 1623 rec. 30126917; London Metropolitan Archives DL/T/047/010; St Mary Abbots register 1800-1813, Bishop's Transcript; image 32184_218916-00268; local copy ancestry/sources/kensington-1807-johnson-mason-marriage-stmaryabbots.png). The record is a KENSINGTON-RESIDENT couple married BY BANNS - both parties described 'of this Parish', which banns require - with London Johnson witnesses (William Johnson, Eliza Rivers, Mary Johnson). NOTHING in it links to Brancepeth, Co. Durham, 250 miles north. The marriage has therefore been DETACHED from this family as a graft. CORRECTION TO THE EARLIER OBJECTION: the register records NO AGES - pre-1837 English registers do not - so the 'groom 16, bride 14' argument was an inference from tree dates, not a statement of the record. The graft is disproved by residence and banns, not by age. CONSEQUENCE, recorded so it is not lost: this family now has NO SOURCED MARRIAGE AT ALL. The surviving 1826 marriage event is itself contradicted by the eldest child born 1821 and remains uncited - it must NOT become 'the' marriage by default. 1861 CENSUS NEGATIVE, so nobody re-chases it: the single George Johnson at Brancepeth, Durham is NOT him - age 52, b. abt 1809 Leeds Yorkshire, coal miner, wife Selina 28 of Halifax (FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:M788-P2S; RG09 piece/folio 3736/36 p.31 line 14). Our George's wife is Mary Ann Mason and his son John Joseph was b. 1831. That is not evidence of absence - he may have died, moved, or been enumerated under a variant - but it shows how crowded 'George Johnson' + Durham is. The 1841 and 1851 Brancepeth/Lanchester households are still unread; the real unlock remains the offline Durham CATHOLIC registers (Croxdale Chapel), which are DRO microfilm only and not online at any price. Memo: ancestry/johnson-branch-research.md Q5