ROBINSON, JAMES AND ELIZA
Eliza is my great grandfather's aunt.
Although this needs better verification to be certain, this marriage register of Eliza Crawford to James Robinson appears valid.
Eliza would be a daughter of my great great great grandfather. We do not know who her mother was. She is recorded here as being involved in a bleaching works. Textiles were a major industry of the era and area so this is not surprising and suggests an early stage of a family tradition through to Hugh Crawford, my great grandfather and some of his family. Her father, Hugh, is recorded as a sawyer.
James is recorded as a stonemason, as was his father Thomas.
Now this is where it gets intriguing. While we can only surmise, did this James come from the same family as the Robinsons of the great linen store in Belfast known as Robinson and Cleaver? If so it also raises the question of whether there was a connection between them and the Robinsons who were central to the Christian Science Church being established in Belfast. That in turn greatly influenced our Crawfords. Not only did that lead to my own origins with my grandparents Annie Wells nee Crawford marrying Cuthbert in South Africa, but we find Annie's youngest sister Daisy working for Robinson and Cleaver and even living with the Robinsons at Stormont for a while.
