I am really struggling which this branch of my family tree. My Grandad Fred Harris frequently referred to his family and their life in Ringley. I was always told that his father, my Great-grandfather, was Thomas Harris from Honiton Devon birth around 1863 and his mother (spouse of Tom Harris was Emily Stoneham from near Chepstow. Through my research I established that Emily (1864-1903) was born in Shirenewton. I don't think she ever married Thomas (Tom) Harris as I am unable to trace a marriage.
On the 1881 census she was living with her parents George Stoneham and Eliza Painter and she is shown as a servant 'out of position'. This led me to wonder if she was pregnant at the time. Sure enough, she had a child William Henry Waite in 1882 who was baptised at Itton Monmouthshire on the 7th January1883. His father is given on the baptism record as 'Samuel F Waite'. Again, I have traced him and recorded him on my tree.
In 1884 a daughter Annie Matilda Waite was born and Baptised on 22nd October 1886 in Caldicot Monmouthshire. I always knew my Grandad's sister as Annie Harris. In 1886 Sidney Frederick Waite was born and although his birthplace is given as Chepstow but I have not yet found his baptism record.
In 1889 Sidney died in Salford, Manchester. On the 1891 census Emily suddenly appears with Thomas Harris, although looking at the census image his name can be read as 'James' Harris. This may be a handwriting problem of the enumerator as I was always told my Great-grandad was Thomas and this how he appears on subsequent census records. Another anomaly on the 1891 census is that his occupation is given as a 'hatter'. I have never heard this mentioned and always understood him to have manual jobs such as a tunnel runner, and a sewerage contractor. Perhaps this was also a transcription error and the employment was a 'hewer'. In the 1891 census William (Waite) and Annie (Waite) are shown as having the surname 'Harris'. A son 'Harry' is shown as having been born in 1889 ( the year Emily's son, Sidney Waite, died, in Salford). His full name is Matthew Henry Waite and he is shown as being born in Chorlton, Manchester. On the census he is shown as 'Harris'. The next child 'Eliza' was born in 1891 ( the year of the census) in Stretford, Manchester. and she is three months old.
My Grandad, Fred, never mentioned the 'Waite' connection but I do vaguely remember my Grandma (Bertha) writing to someone named Waite, in Canada. I think this may have been William Henry (Emily's 1st child) but I have not confirmed this. To all intents and purposes all my Grandad's siblings were referred to as Harris.
When Annie (Waite) subsequently married in 1906 in Prestolee (next to Ringley, Lancs, her father was given as Samuel Waite deceased. Her brother Matthew Henry Waite married in 1914 but I do not have information on how the father was recorded.
I cannot trace Thomas Harris before the 1891 census. I have followed the records of several Thomas Harris's born in Honiton around 1883 but keep coming to a dead-end.
Secondly, I can find no death record for Samuel F Waite either in England or Wales. I am at a loss! I can find no marriage record for either.
My Grandad always described his father as a religious man who insisted they attend Church each Sunday and he always had his children Baptised. It therefore seems at odds that he did not marry Emily.

I did find a promising link I found was an Eliza Harris born 1830 in Cotleigh. her father is named Thomas. Also one of Thomas's( my Great-grandfather's) children is subsequently named Eliza,. All this may be coincidental.

I am hoping that someone my have a suggestion re any further information on Thomas Harris