Finding proof in less obvious places

I was working on a family of sisters who lived with their aunt in the 1841 and 1851 census, which I believed to be as a result of the fact that their mother had died.

1851 Census

Name of Streem Place, or Road, and Name or No. of House	Name and Surname of each Person who abode in the house, on the Night of the 30th March, 1851	Relation to Head of Family	Condition	Age of		Rank, Profession, or Occupation
				Males	Females
Snaburgh	Willamina Spence	Head	W.		50	Crofter
	James       Do	Son	U	28		Mason’s server
	Thomas A. Do	Son	U	21		Do
	Agnes Henderson	Niece	U		22	Generally Useful
	Joan          Do	Niece	U		21	Do
	Jane M.     Do	Niece	U		18	Do

Their father wasn’t with them in any of the census, because even in 1841, the earliest census we can use, they were already with their aunt and uncle.

I know their parents because Jane, the youngest sister, died in 1864 and so I had the parents names from there.

No.	Name and Surname. Rank or Profession, and whether Single, Married, or Widowed.	When and Where Died.	Sex.	Age.	Name, Surname, & Rank or Profession, of Father. Name, and Maiden Surname of Mother.	Signature & Qualification of Informant, and Residence, if out of the House in which the Death occurred.
16	Jane Margaret Henderson Domestic Servant (Single)	1864 July seventeenth 1h am Snabrough, Parish of Unst	F	31 years	Henry Henderson Fisherman Ursula Henderson M.S. Sinclair (deceased)	Peter Henderson Brother (present)

Here we see that her mother is already deceased. I have a suspicion that her father, Henry Henderson is the same man as I have in another family. He was married at quite an advanced age (compared to average) and this makes me think that perhaps he was widowed and then remarried.

The fact that the informant on Jane’s death record is someone called Peter Henderson and is listed as her brother gives me a very strong suggestion that this is the same father because with his new wife, he has a son Peter. This would actually be Jane’s half-brother, but I don’t think that distinction was so important back in those days.

Normally, you might find some of the family together in census records to help prove these relationship, but the daughters are all living with their aunt – their mother’s sister, so that doesn’t help to figure out who the father is.

The two marriage records that one might use to see if they are the same man, are both pre-1855 and so I expect them to have very sparse amounts of information. I have the transcriptions from Ancestry, and hadn’t looked at the images as I didn’t expect to gain anything. However, I decide perhaps now is the time to do that.

1822	Contracts of Marriage
Nov 23	Henry Henderson in Failzie & Ursula Sinclair in Houlnon were married by the Rev. James Ingram 28 Inst. before these Witnesses Laurence Lamb, Houlnon.

1842,43	Contracts of Marriage
Dec 22	Henry Henderson, Widower in Valend & Margaret Pennant, Vinstrick were married by the Rev. James Ingram. Andrew Pennant, Belmont, Roger Gray, Hammer of Lund, Witnesses.

And there it is! One word which helps prove it all, “Widower”.

So the proof to join these two families together knowing now that the father Henry Henderson was the same man in both cases came from two unusual places; an informants name and relationship; and some actual useful information from an Old Parish Marriage record.