Hi sue, this is where things start to get a little confusing, but the 1891 census fits with the timeline. On William's marriage cert he states his age as 32, the marriage took place in november of 1900, which would make his birth year either 1868, or 1867 if he was born in Dec. If the census was taken prior to Dec of 1891 then this also fits with his birth year being 1868. Looks mighty promising to me! Also the Lewin surname fits, if we have the right Margaret Lewin and the right James Starkey, the two being married at this time, and the fact that his brother James is 3/4 years older, that also fits. Might be on the right track here. Yipee.

As for Starkey's in USA, seems plenty went that way. May well be relations but the branch has shot off there in a multitude of directions. I did think, when I first started searching for Starkey's in NZ, given that it is a less common name, it would be easier than William's wife with the surname of Smith. Turns out to be the opposite. Go figure??

And further on this, if William and James worked their passage they would not be listed as single gov't assisted men. I am thinking that your second 1901 census is not correct, or could be if William then left from US to NZ. This happened occassionally, and plus, some records are not so correctly passed on, or well recorded or transcribed.

Something else that seems interesting to me, from all this info it seems the Lewin's were well established in Marown. Having Starkey's in the household is also interesting. If Margaret Lewin & James Starkey (being mine) married in Malew, why would they do that? Where the Starkey's originally from the Malew Parish?

And, why is it lucky that William had left by 1901? I don't know anything about the history of the Isle of Man.

Janette