Hi David:
Realize this reply is after the fact but I just now read through the queries on Gartlands. Joan Briton was my 2nd cousin. Owen Gartland and his wife Mary Clark were our great, great, great grandparents. Mary's father was William Clark and her mother was Margaret Perrey (Parry?). After Margaret's death William married Dorothy and they had 2 children.
I don't know if you know this or not but sadly Joan passed away in December 2012. I met her through researching the Gartlands. Not only was she a great source of information but her communications were very entertaining.
Things were not great for Owen and Mary. He was arrested for stealing a flannel shirt in 1855 and sentenced to 2 months hard labor. Mary died in 1869 and for some reason 4 of their 6 children ended up in the Sunderland Union Work House. The youngest Elizabeth was only 6 years old at the time. A distant relative from the Clark side believes she has found documentation that Owen also was in the workhouse. In the 1871 Census he was a lodger in a rooming house. After that he drops off the face of the earth. As far as I can find my great, great grandfather James and his sister Mary Ann, your great, great grandmother are the only 2 of their children that did not go to the workhouse. James went to live with Mary's brother William. The only information I have on Mary Ann is she was a servant in the 1871 Census.
Do you have any information on what happened to Owen or the other children? Also, my information on your great, great grandmother is lacking. Do you have a public tree I could looke at for more accurate info on her?
Thanks,
Kathy McClelland