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I may have found William and Ellen in the 1901 but the birthplace is not Bethnal Green, I don't know England very well so I have no idea where Bow is in relation.

William McEwen Head 30 b London Bow  French Polisher
Ellen Wife 28 b London Shoreditch
Ellen Daughter 8 b Essex Westow
Elsie Daughter 2 b Essex Westow

Address looks like: 88 Higham Street
Walthamstow, parish of St John, Essex 

RG13/1631/94 p 50 schedule 308
ED 56 RD West Ham SD Walthamstow

Just an update now I've found a little more information.

BARKER, William J. (b. c1842) & UNKNOWN, Sarah S. (b. c1843) - children:
Ellen May "Nelly" (b. c1865)
William Joseph (b. 2 Jul 1866)
James (b. c1868)
Elizabeth C (b. c1879)
Amy S (b. c1861)

BARKER, William Joseph (1866) & WARWICKER, Emily (28 September 1870) - children:
William Charles (b. 17 May 1893)
Emily (Dolly) (b. 6 August 1896)
Maud Elizabeth (b. 2 June 1898)
Lillian Ellan (b. 17 November 1900)
Fredrick Edward (b. 5 March 1908)

BARKER, William Charles (c1893) & CARPENTER, Edith Elizabeth (c1896) - children:
R M (LIVING)
N E (LIVING)

BARKER, N E (LIVING) & CUNNEA, Daniel (1931)

BARKER, R M (LIVING) & HICKLING, Joseph Arnfield (1903)

I may have found William (c1842) with his mother in the 1861 Census however there are not enough details to confirm this information. He is the only William Barker born at that time in Shoreditch but it is possible there are records missing.

I have found William (c1842) with his wife Sarah and children Ellen, William and James living in Hackney in the 1871.

William and Sarah in the 1881 living with William, James, Elizabeth and Amy at 58 Banner Street, St. Luke, London. I haven't been able to find Ellen May.

In 1891 William and Sarah live in Shoreditch with their three daughters, Ellen, Elizabeth and Amy but sons William and James are missing. It's possible James died in 1890 in Kingston (v.2a p.227) I'll know more if/when I get a copy of the death certificate. It's also possible that William is boarding and works as a shopman RG12/2229 Folio:125 Page: 1.

In the 1901 Census I find William (1866) again, now living at 64 Queens Road in Shoreditch with his wife Emily and their children William, Maud (transcript error puts her name as Maria), Emily and Lily. His father William (c1842) is at 69 Acacia (difficult to read so could be mistaken on that) in Wood Green, Middlesex. It lists him as a widow which means Sarah died between 1891 and 1901. Still no sign of James however the sisters Ellen, Amy, and Elizabeth are living together at 34 Church Road in Hackney and working as Tailors.

I'm not sure where to go from here except to tighten up the details by tracking down BMD's for everyone listed here. Hopefully BMD's of William (c1842) will give more details about his parents. I have a possible birth record:
Name: Barker, William
Record Type: Births
Quarter: March
Year: 1841
District: Shoreditch
County: London Middlesex
Volume: 2
Page: 342

I won't be able to order any BMD's for at least a few weeks (and then have to wait a few more weeks for them) but will hopefully have more information eventually. :-) Anyone else looking for this line of Barker's? Or does anyone have any information they can add?

I'm very new to RootsChat but I've been with Genes Reunited for a few months now and was very excited when I successfully connected with a second cousin and found out that my grandmother also frequented that site. I haven't had much luck using the message board part of the site because as mentioned, there seems to be a lot of general chatting going on, but the search and tree matching features are fantastic. Of course I'm new to RootsChat so I've not had a chance to learn how they compare. :-)

Thanks Johnathon, it certainly helps to confirm Hoxton = Shoreditch.

I'm not actually after a lookup. In a few days I'll have access to the UK census' on Ancestry.com (when my new credit card arrives). I was hoping to connect with other users who are searching for BARKER's of Kent. Perhaps this thread belongs in the county section for Shoreditch? or London but not in the lookup requests?