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I think it may be Sunderland, Tyne and |Wear as Sunderland had lots of pilots on the River Wear who brought the ships in and out of the river. (still do) I know Newcastlehas a Trinity ouse Museum on the Quayside, but not sure if same in Sunderland. Cheryl

Probably not much use, but I was moved to get the map out last night. There is indeed a Sunderland in Northumberland, just below where the A595 and A591 meet at a place called Bothel. Interestingly, to me anyway, hah ha, there is a tiny little hamlet called Stonehouse, a short boat ride across the Solway Firth and up above Dalbeattie, in Dumfries and Galloway. And there is another hamlet called Stonehouse, to the right of Carlisle, and to the right of the A689 near a place called Halton Lea Gate. Where I'm going with this is - perhaps a long ago ancestor was born in Stonehouse and this is where the name came from and also the idea of a Scottish connection. Northumberland and the Borders have been both Scottish and English at various times in their history. Unless your contact comes up with a good reason for him being born on the Isle of Islay (was it?), searching the Borders/Northumberland would seem more productive at the moment. Hope you don't think this is total rubbish, but my Waterhouse ancestor was named after the place of his grandfather's birth - they had run out of maiden names by the time he was born! Olde Crone

Hi Crone! Good of you to be interested enough to have got the map out for me during my periods of enforced absence just lately! The Stonehouse connection is certainly an interesting one and one that's worthy of following up. My contact has given me no explanation as to why the assumption is made that he was born in Scotland, other than 'Stuart' is a predomoninately Scottish name - a rather weak reasoning in my humble opinion! I'll certainly do some investigating and, as Cheryl says, the Tyne & Wear connection is certainly feasible. The 1851 census return clearly says Sunderland, Northumberland for his place of birth Lou x

Hi Lou - hope all is well. Re the weird name - you may or may not have read my thread recently. I have a GGFx4 and in all census and at his kids baptisms he is called Sandor Verrall. What a brilliant name I thought and went searching for possible maternal ancestors of his with the surname Sandor. I recently tracked down his daughters marriage cert - there in all its glory 'Name of Father - Alexander Verral' DOH So it is possible a nickname could have caused some confusion over Anthoney/ Tone/Stonehouse??

Heather Anything strikes me as possible with this one! Interestingly, Stonehouse and Elizabeth had 12 children that I know of to date and none of them have Stonehouse anywhere in their name However from the next generation down, right up to the 1930's, there are several who have been given it either as a christian name or a middle name I've even obtained birth certs for people totally irrelevant to my direct line to be certain that they were called Stonehouse and it wasn't a nickname but that seems to be how they were registered! Lou