North Shields
Thomas brought the family to Tyneside and they settled in North Shields around 1800. It was his son Jonathan who raised his family there and we can trace his dwellings from census returns; the streets he lived in exist today, although much changed.
Jonathan was a Master Mariner and we know quite a lot about his career. He captained ships owned by his cousin Thomas Dobinson and spent a good many years at sea. When he left the sea he took a post at Trinity House.
His first son was Thomas Collins Storer b1826. Again, we can trace him through census returns. He is shown as a block and mast maker but when he died aged 50 he was named in newspaper reports as a boatman. He drowned in the river near the Tyne Bridge.
He was the father of George Lowes Storer, my g t grandfather of whom I know very little. On his marriage certificate in 1872 he is described as a riveter whereas on grandfather’s birth certificate he is described as shipbuilder. Yet another reference says he was a Council Inspector. It may well be worth probing a bit deeper when time permits.
My grandfather John Wm Storer was the second child, b1874, and second son of GLS and lived to the age of 86. He was a bricklayer most of his life but the information supplied by the LSC contained references to a J W Storer, shopkeeper, and it turned out that he and grandmother did in fact own a shop at one time. He was one of a large family (11) and he fathered a large family himself. My father, Harry Storer, was the second youngest. Dad was a bricklayer most of his life but went to sea as a young man and served in the RAF Air Sea Rescue Service during the war. Mother was Annie Reed Appleby and I was the first child and son b1936.
Dad’s siblings were Bill, Stan, Sid, Meg, Jack and Bob, who was the youngest. They are all gone now and most of their children still live in and around the North Shields area. Most of them know of my researching.
One link missing is the children of Aunt Meg, Dad’s only sister. She married Cuthbert Todd, a miner, and they lived near Manchester. Some of the family moved to Nottingham and so far I’ve not been able to find them.
Cullercoats
As I said earlier I grew up believing we were the only Storers in North Shields and I was greatly surprised, when I received the information from the LSC, to find numerous references to other families in and around the area.
