Andrew Dwyer: Why Did You Leave Ireland?

 

Why Did Andrew Dwyer Leave Ireland?

I wondered if it was because of the famine. I have to admit that I got a bit side tracked learning about the Famines in Ireland, it makes for interesting reading. Reading about the potato famine really brings it home to me how lucky we are to live where and when we do. I’ve learned that the Famine was not a single event, and it is sobering to read the statistics. 1845/49 - The Great Irish Famine lays waste to the Irish landscape, one out of every nine inhabitants die

This from: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/famine.htm.

Since its introduction to Europe in the late 16^th century growing potatoes spread. In Ireland the potato slowly took the place of other staple crops like oats and barley and even green vegetables to become, by the 1840’s, the chief food crop.  By 1845 more than half the population of Ireland was largely dependent of the potato for food and as a crop to sell.

It was particularly cold and wet during the growing season in !816 giving rise to the first significant crop failure This deterioration continued into 1817 causing near famine conditions. Conditions that were worsened by an outbreak of typhus. An Irish diarist Amhlaoibh Ó Suilleabháin, noted of 1817 that

	… we had seventeen weeks of continuous rain which rotted the ripe corn and that already cut on the ground, and left the rest un-ripened. I myself saw oats, still unripe, being cut on the first day of the new year in 1818, the year of the plague when thousands of people died, as a result of eating rotten half-ripe food. ... And the potatoes were wet, tasteless, and without nourishment."

 More crop failures in the 1820s and 1830s were documented by diarist Amhlaoibh Ó Suilleabháin, as in this sad entry from July 26 1830

 The initial success of the potato as an easy crop to grow meant that farmers and their families were more well fed and successful which in turn led to a rapid population increase country wide. Iin 1838 Ireland as whole had a population of about 8 million, and the population of Kilkenny was about 200,000. Poverty was widespread and it was estimated that up to half the population was illiterate. That same year in July the very unpopular Poor Law Act came int law, opposed by both sides of the parliamentary denomination divide (Catholics and protestants)

In simple terms the Poor Law Act was an attempt to compel those who were destitute to earn their ‘relief’ by working at a workhouse, becoming over the next few years the primary means of supporting pauper families across the whole of Ireland. he Kilkenny workhouse was in operation by 1842

 

The Kilkenny Workhouse

https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/the-kilkenny-workhouse-mass-burials-an-archaeology-of-the-great-irish-famine.

While I have no idea if Andrew and his  family were inmates of a workhouse the very idea of them may have been enough to leave Ireland and seek a better life in England.

The fact that the first time that Andrew shows up in a public document is his marriage to Susanna in 1854 leads me to conclude that he was likely an adult when he came to England. As Susanna’s parents were also Irish I did wonder if Andrew was in Bristol before London, but sometime between the birth of Susanna’s sister Julia Croker in 1846 in Bristol and the 1851 census Susanna and her family went from Bristol to London’s West Ham., which is where Susanna married Andrew Therefore, I think it is reasonable to conclude that Andrew and Susanna Croker met in London.

So, I still do not know if the famine was the cause of him leaving.

On the trail of Elijah Watson

 On the trail of Elijah Watson: What can we learn along the way

Elijah was the son of Nicholas Watson and Hannah Birchall one of my paternal three times great grandparents. That makes him my two times great uncle.

According to records Elijah was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, England June second 1831.

Six-year-old Elijah appears on 1841 the Burslem, Staffordshire with his parents at Snow Hill. There is also an older Nichol Watson, aged 20, potter, as well as siblings Emey (Emma), age 10, Robert age 4 and Andrew age three. In the same house but listed as a separate family are Mary Williams and ‘Hervey’ Williams, Potter. The question as to who the younger Nichol Watson is will have to wait for another day

Moving forward to the 1851 census the only Elijah I can locate, now aged 16, occupation potter, is with a differently named family than the previous 1941 census. John Werroell, 38 and his 49-year-old wife Hannah. Children Henry and James Williams, aged 23 and 20, and Elijah 18, Emma 16, Robert 15, Andrew 14 and George 11, all with last name Watson.

The different family names on this census sent me off on a hunt for John Werroelll who was actually John Worrall, the result of a mis-transcription by the transcriber. First though to order the death certificate of Nichol Watson who died in 1842, fingers crossed it’s the right man.

Now to find a marriage of Hannah to John Worrell, and there it is.. Hannah married John on September 13th 1846 at St. Paul, Burslem, Stafford, England.

As to who the sons with the last name of Williams are, well for the time being I will not be searching for them or for any more details of John Worrall.

The entry in the 1861 census is a little unclear so I have enlarged part of it, which shows Elijah 28 as head, then his brothers Robert 24 and Andrew 23. Then, and this is curious entry a half-brother Henry Williams 34, his wife Fanny 30 and their son Henry aged 8.

Looking back to the 1851 census there is a 23-year-old Henry Williams just described as son.

So off I go to see what is to be learned from this couple. Henry Williams married Fanny Hill August 1st 1853 at St John, Burslem, Staffordshire. Henry’s father was John Williams. Though Fanny and Ellen’s mother was Ruth Hill. I think there is nothing to be gained in searching any longer on this tangent. 

FreeBDM has an entry for a marriage of Fanny Fee to William McClelland, the same couple who were witnesses at Elijah’s wedding 

Elijah and Ellen married at St Mary’s Church a Parish in Manchester March 8^th 1864. 

The Parsonage Gardens is now the site of St. Mary’s Church  Built in 1759, St. Mary’s was the first new church in the expanding Georgian city. When much of the resident population left the centre of town after 1870, many of the churches were deserted. Several were demolished, and St Mary’s was the first to go. The last regular services were held on the last Sunday of 1887, and the church was finally closed after a service on October 4th 1890, at which the last Rector, the Rev. Richard Tonge, officiated. The Parish was then united with St Ann’s. The image and above quote are from from  https://www.mang eogsoc.org.uk/egm/1_8_Machester_Churches.pdf

The search for Elijah, now aged about 38, on Ancestry which is my preferred genealogy site, on the 1871 census proved something of a challenge.

After a fairly convoluted search I was finally able to locate him. It was frustrating to be able to easily locate him on the 1871 census on two other sites, namely My Heritage and Family Search, but not on Ancestry. I found the right page in the 1871 by a very roundabout route. I could view an image of the census on My Heritage so back to Ancestry’s webpage I go and search the name of someone else entirely, and success.  The problem was that despite being listed as a male his name was mis-transcribed as Eliza and not Elijah. I have amended the record so hopefully other searches will be able to locate him much more easily than I did.

I had previously messaged Kathy, another Ancestry member who is also researching Elijah. Kathy has kindly shared information about him including the results of emails she received. The email provides a possible answer as to why Elijah took his young family from Staffordshire to Devon. 

Thank you for your email. I have checked the list of pottery workers, as listed in the book The Art of the Torquay and South Devon Potters (ISBN 0 9515 4 6 - 1996) and Elijah Watson is listed as working at either the Watcombe Pottery or the Torquay Terracotta Company (TTC) in the 1880s. His job title is Potter. Also listed are Isabella Watson - Saleswoman, and Marshall Watson - Turner. All three are listed as having worked at Watcombe or TTC in the 1880s. No other Watsons are mentioned.

I am not aware of any signed pots by Elijah Watson, but that is not to say that such pots do not exist.

And this one

I can find no evidence that Elijah Watson was an artist. He seems to have simply been listed as ‘potter’ in the various records online through family history sites such as Ancestry etc., except for the 1871 census where he is listed as ‘Potters’ Turner’. That role involved taking the pots from the thrower, who formed them, and turning away the excess clay, adding bands or rouletting by pressing tools into the surface before it was sent to be fired and any decoration added. It was skilled manual work but not artistic.

Elijah was born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, the centre of the British pottery industry. He seems to have moved to Devon to have worked at one of the potteries that opened there in the late 19th century. The Devonshire potteries recruited a lot of workers from Staffordshire in the late 19th century as there was not a history of pottery-making in Devon at that time. He is mentioned as a worker at either the Torquay Terracotta Company or the Watcombe Pottery in the 1880s on this website. https://torquaypottery.info/about/ancestry In the census record for 1881 his children are too young to work. It might be possible to trace them and his widow in the 1891 census.

Kathy also allowed me to share other information from her tree including letters of Michael Fee who tells his sister about family members including this gem.

Ellen, born on January 1th 1841- now turned 29 was married on 7 march 1864 has one child, a little boy four years old last March. Her husband is named Elijah Watson. He finishes fancy jugs & teapots & many other fancy things, for they live in the potteries – Staffordshire at a town called Hanley near Burslem & 37 miles from here.

So on to the 1881 census and Elijah is now  about 48, the census entry gives his wife as Jane, and step children James and Hanna Curtis. Then their Ernest,2, Beatrice 1, and Ellen 10 weeks. There is also servant Lizzie Henley aged 15

Jane was actually Elizabeth Jane Mann, she first married Samuel Thomas Curtis in September 1860 at Newton Abbot, Devon. Samuel   died in March 1875 and Jane married Elijah   in April 1877.

When Elijah died 17 Feb 1877 at St Mary Church he left a not unsubstantial sum of two hundred and nine pounds, seven shillings and 10 pence, to his widow Jane, but only if she ‘remains a widow’ 

 

Wrong Thomas JAMES!

 Not the correct Thomas James.

When I checked the emails last night before going to bed there was an email from the UK RGO telling me that a certificate, I had ordered was available. I couldn’t resist, so at just past midnight I logged into the site and downloaded the pdf. of a death certificate of a Thomas James

My hopes that it would verify that he was my three times great grandfather were dashed. Unlike other certificates the name and address of the notifier had proved without a doubt I had the correct ancestor, but not this time. The notifier of the dearth of this Thomas Watson was a, Coroner of Bedford Square, this Thomas died in the St Giles Workhouse Infirmary.

I had high hopes when I ordered this   death certificate that it would provide me with enough details to verify that this chap was my three times great grandfather. Disappointingly the notifier of the death was The Coroner of Bedford Square. This poor chap was found dead in the Infirmary, St Giles Workhouse on November seventh 1843.His occupation was a ‘boot closer’ and the corner reported his death as due to natural causes. The date his death was register was 25 days after he died.

My next step was to look for more information. I posted a message to a Facebook group I subscribe to and went to bed. Next morning among the helpful replies was one with the details of a likely candidate on the 1841 census, but living with a wife called Caroline, my Thomas was married to Elizabeth, confirmed by the 1841 census.

Disappointing as it was to receive this incorrect certificate it has at least ruled him out of the search for my three times great grandfather.

Nicholas Watson and Hannah Birchall: part one

 

Beginnings (again)

Nicholas Watson and Hannah Birchall; part one

When I’m researching an ancestor one of the things, I really enjoy is finding out about the places they lived, and the events that might have affected their lives.

Nicholas Watson, my three times great grandfather was born in 1797 in Leith, Midlothian, Scotland. He married Margaret Oliver on 19 Jul 1818 Inveresk, Musselburgh, Midlothian, Scotland.  Despite much searching I have only found one mention of a child, also called Nicholas, born 28 APR 1819 Inveresk, Midlothian, Scotland.  Musselborough had its potteries, and it is likely that Nicholas worked in one because his occupation on the later 1841 census was ‘potter’. Nicholas moved his small family to Burslem, Staffordshire and it was there that Margaret died 13 May 1831, aged 32.

Nicholas married my three times great grandmother, Hannah BIRCHELL, ten years his junior, at St. John the Baptist, Burslem, on Saturday April 28^th 1832, one week after Easter. Several other of my ancestors married on Christmas Day, which I initially thought was quite romantic. In reality it was more of a financial consideration because at that time this was one of the very few days, if any, that could be taken off without losing a day’s pay, obviously not so in this case.

He signed himself as Nichol and she with a cross. One of the witnesses was William Birchall, who is still to be researched. The name of the other witness is so far illegible.

Below is an extract of talk by Mervin Edwards local historian and author who describes Burslem and St John’s.

St John's in Burslem has a long history as a community church…It is thought by some that the original community in Burslem was centred around the church, in the valley below the ridge on which Burslem developed during the Industrial Revolution. The land around the church would have been marshy and poorly drained, but it is difficult to believe that the early church in Burslem did not serve a community that lived or worked nearby.

The exact age of the church is uncertain, but records and the evidence from an archaeological dig in 19991 suggest that its foundations date to between the 12 & 14th century.

 …the church and the town centre in Burslem are like a husband and wife whose marriage has broken down - they are together, yet apart. Nevertheless, the links between these two sites in Burslem are indisputable. Enoch Wood (1759 - 1840) served as churchwarden at a time when the church vestry committee wielded quite an influence on the civil life of Burslem, whilst the importance of the church to the town is seen in the decision to build a new "link road" in the late 18th century. This was New Church Street, now known as William Clowes Street. The old road to the church, Bourne's Bank, is mentioned in 1689 at latest.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, St John's community involvement increased, with choirs, boys brigades and other groups attached to the church. It is now well and truly on the tourist trail - note the interpretative panel outside - with people wishing to visit the church that Arnold Bennett wrote about and that Reginald Haggar painted. Just for good measure, it can also boast the oldest structure still in use in the city. The tower almost certainly dates back to the 1530s, being older than Ford Green Hall (1624) by a distance. http://www.merver.co.uk/history.html

Troublemaker. aka Black Sheep:James HARVEY & Susannah LUCAS

had initially thought that the prompt was Black Sheep. Because this story has been a troublesome one to write its sub title will be Black Sheep

This prompt could easily be applied to an ancestor that I have already written about.

So where do I start this time? Well there’s the great aunt who was cited for adultery. She isn’t a direct ancestor and all I know are the bare facts. Besides I don’t feel that it is my place to write about her. If she’d been my grandmother…well that would be different, but she wasn’t. Thinking about it, my family has quite a few ‘black sheep’, but show me a family that doesn’t.

So maybe I’ll write about ‘lost sheep’ instead.

Previously I wrote a story about a third great grandfather, James Harvey, in week 22, Uncertain when both James and his wife Susan Lucas were not in the same household on the 1841 census as their children.

James and Susannah marriage took place at Barking Tye, Suffolk, which is about 20 miles 23 km from Wilby.

Is it too much of a coincidence to discover on the 1841 census for Wilby, that Thomas Aldous who Susan goes on to marry on 11 February 1848, eight years after James died, lives right next door to a David Harvey and his family including a child called James and a daughter called Harriot, both of which seem to be family names. Interesting it maybe, but I cannot find a link, yet.

There is a possible James on the 1841 census, but in Worlingworth, Hoxne, which is only about three and a half miles from Wilby (about 3.5 Km), but no sign of Susannah  

On yet another Suffolk census, this time at Brandeston, about ten miles from Wilby is another James Harvey

I thought I was on to something with an 1841 census search for Susannah in Worlingworth which is about 25 miles from Wilby. When I looked at the actual record it was for a nine-year-old Susan Harvey. Again, is that too much of a coincidence to find Harvey in a family of Lucas’s?

The search for my troublesome ‘lost sheep’ is somewhat disheartening, but I do hope one day to be able to solve the mystery of where James and Susannah where on census night

Small: John HALL & Martha WHYMENT

I have already written about those of my ancestors who appear in the few photographs I have of them, so I do not know if they were tall or small, and their families were definitely not small. So, what to write about for this week’s prompt?

I suppose the prompt could be about the small amount of information that I have about more distant ancestors such as William Hall’s parents, John Hall and Martha Whyment who were one of my maternal three times great grandparents. 

The only piece of evidence, as yet, that I have is a parish marriage entry

 I’ve learned from previous experience it’s important to unpick ALL the details on certificates.

John Hall was a widow when he married spinster Martha Whyment. They were married by banns at St Guthlac, Crowland. Witnessed on Tuesday 11 October 1796. Their witnesses, who signed their names rather than with an X, were Ann Ashby and Sheb Beckwith.His name appears on two other marriage entries so is unlikely to be a family member. As yet there has been no proven connection with Ann Ashby. Martha was described as a ‘sojourner’, which means that she was from a different parish. After many years of search, I have still not been able to locate any birth details for her.

I can find the births and deaths of two children born to John and Elizabeth Warren. William who was born in 1787 and died later that year and possibly Robert who has yet to be verified.

John and Martha had another nine children. Between 1797 and 1816.

Martha 1797–1826, William 1799–1804, Thomas 1801–1802, Charles 1802-1802, Sarah 1803–1809, William 1805–1880, Samuel 1807–1809, Elizabeth 1813- ? and Samuel 1816–1816  

Supposing that Marth’s age was twenty she married John in 1796 she would have been born c 1776, making her aged 40 when their last child Samuel was born.

According to another researcher, who had access to parish records, it is thought that John was born in 1763 and died c 1836,  Martha's birth and death dates are still being debated, but is is thought she died in 1826

So, there it is a small, the small amount of information that I have about John and Martha.

 

 

 

 

Large: William HALL

It’s getting harder as the weeks go by, and my ancestors get further away, to write these stories. This week’s prompt is no exception. So, I went to my ‘large’ blue book, as mentioned in week 13, to check which of my ancestors was still waiting to be written about. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Elizabeth Hinson, this time it’s her husband William Hall, a great great grandfather.

I don’t have an exact birthdate for him, but he was baptised 28 March 1805, St Mary, St Bartholomew and St Guthlac, Anglican Church. 

I had always thought that a baptism and christening were the same thing. But they are not, though these days the two terms are interchangeable, and happen at the same time. In the past a baptism was to ‘wash away sins’ while the baptism was a naming ceremony and a welcoming into the church. In the Church of England these ceremonies were usually on a Sunday. Interestingly in an emergency almost anyone could perform the baptism in order to save the soul. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/churchrecs#Baptisms

William and Elizabeth’s lives are documented in Elizabeth’s story, so I thought I’d write a bit about Peterborough and Crowland.

The first census William and his family appear on the 1841, which was ten years after the first infirmary had been built in the town. English census prior to 1841 only recorded the number of people in a dwelling but not the names. By 1851 the population was almost 9,000, going on to reach 17,000 in just twenty years.

Peterborough’s streets were lit with oil Lamps from 1795 which were replaced by gas lit ones in 1830.  A corn exchange, for the selling and buying of grain was built in 1846. The 19th century saw the establishment of an iron foundry and brick making works. A rapid increase in the population was driven by the arrival of the railway in 1845. Town improvements included piped water and sewage system were completed in 1880, and Peterborough’s first public library opened in 1892. 

William and Elizabeth’s lives are documented in Elizabeth’s story, so I thought I’d write a bit about Peterborough and Crowland.

The first census William and his family appear on the 1841, which was ten years after the first infirmary had been built in the town. English census prior to 1841 only recorded the number of people in a dwelling but not the names. By 1851 the population was almost 9,000, going on to reach 17,000 in just twenty years.

Peterborough’s streets were lit with oil Lamps from 1795 which were replaced by gas lit ones in 1830.  A corn exchange, for the selling and buying of grain was built in 1846. The 19th century saw the establishment of an iron foundry and brick making works. A rapid increase in the population was driven by the arrival of the railway in 1845. Town improvements included piped water and sewage system were completed in 1880, and Peterborough’s first public library opened in 1892.