• General Notes

  Married in Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland.  Transcript of marriage (No 153 in church register) gives no personal details.  (See p1215 of 1412, Sunderland 1769-1842 on familysearch website).
  
  DoB probably 24 Oct 1792 (IGI), and parents = William Robson and Sarah Dawson.  First child then named after both grandmothers (Sarah), not mother (Dorothy).  There is also a possibility that he was the William born 08 Nov 1793, parents = William and Mary (nee Robson!), so a look at the original registers is probably a necessity to see if there are other clues available.
  
  Died in Hartlepool in Aug 1838 - St. Hilda's has burial record of a Wm Robson from Sunderland, aged 45, on 22 Aug 1838, which is a good fit with other facts. Living in South Terrace at the time.  Age and date of death put DoB between Aug 1792 and Aug 1793, confirming Sarah Dawson as his most likely mother.
  
  Marriage records of children (between 1839 and 1859) state that he was a sailor or mariner, later a master mariner, but do not state that he was deceased (although he was certainly dead by the time of the 1841 Census, according to his wife).  As the later marriages were around twenty years after his death, the "Master" Mariner description may well be an embellishment of the truth.

Details of William's family with Dorothy Lillyman