strays on the canals

[humpy]

Hi All

I am trying my best to research my family and boatmen play a large part in it My Grandmother born in 1895 in Tipton was the daughter of John Godfrey ( boatman) and I have managed to trace back from there three generations. This is where I get stuck. In the 1851 census I have the following:

Thomas Godfrey     37   boatman
Sarah                      37
Maria                       11
Jane                         5
Elizabeth                 7
John                         3
James Wm               9 Mo
Living in Ladywood Birmingham
I have been trying to move to the 1871 census to find further information regarding Thomas and Sarah but come to a dead end. I looked in the BMD and I found death notes for both of them in 1866. The question is was there an accident about that time or could there be another simple reason. Of course I might be barking up the wrong tree, so any advise would be useful.
I was born and raised in Tipton  and lived opposite Burnt Tree Primary school
in Whitehouse Street where I spent my formative years.

My Interests

Humphries
Jones
Turner
Godfrey


All of Tipton

[Gaille]

Have you seen this website?

http://www.glamorganfamilyhistory.co.uk/maritime/81Intro.html

Its a list of ships/boats in port on the night of the 1881 cencus - may also be of use to anyone who has 'lost' foreign sailors in the family, there are a lot of foreign nationals listed - I saw Spanish, German, Swedish, Italian, American nationals there, as well as Irish, Scottish & Welsh, IOM, and Channel Islanders, and I only had a quick look-see thru it last night!

I was sent it yesterday as it lists on of my family surnames on one of the ships.

If you go from the various counties there are a lot of Canal boats and the families that lived on them listed in the various ports (there were quite a few in Cheshire area)

There isnt a search engine as such on the site that I could find, but the control + F search does work on the individual pages.

Gaille

[canal woman]

many thanks for the link.
will enjoy having a look!

[kitschap]

The Elizabeth Ralph that you mention sounds like the sister of my GG Grandmother. Elizabeth was the daughter of John Ralph, boatmand, of Tipton, b. 16/4/1837 (died 1881-91), and Mary Ann, nee Astley, n Dec 10th 1839 in Castle Place, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (died 1905).
My father was named Ralph after the family connection.

[kitschap]

Dear Stuart

I think my reply "The Elizabeth Ralph that you mention sounds like the sister of my GG Grandmother. Elizabeth was the daughter of John Ralph, boatmand, of Tipton, b. 16/4/1837 (died 1881-91), and Mary Ann, nee Astley, n Dec 10th 1839 in Castle Place, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (died 1905).
My father was named Ralph after the family connection." was a bit confusing, and I apologize.

In fact there are two Elizabeth Ralphs that might fit.

The older Elizabeth was born in c1835.
Her parents were John Ralph, born c1905, place of birth "not known" and Elizabeth, also born approx 1905 (give or take 5 years, I guess). I do not know either set of parents. He was described as a "boatman" in the 1841 (living at 5 Wharf St, Shelton, Stoke on Trent) and 1851 (living at 12 Lower Green, Tipton) censuses.

Their children were (ages estimated from censuses):
Joseph c1830
Lucy c1832
Elizabeth c1835
John 16/4/1837-bef 1891
Anne c1840
William c1843
Samuel c1845
Mary c1847
Thomas c1851

John Ralph the son married Mary Anne Astley (1839 to 1905) on 20/10/1859
They were living at 5 Wharf St, Shelton in 1871. In 1881, Mary Anne is living in Graces house, Ellesmere Port, described as a Mariner's wife - no John. in 1891 she is a widow.

Their children are
Elizabeth b1854
Sarah Ann b  1860 (my GGrandmother)
Eliza 1867
David 1870
Mary Jane bet 1873 and '76
Isaac 1876

As you may guess, I have much more to learn about this branch of my family. I should be glad of any further information.

[Abiam2]

Hi,
I have enjoyed reading this thread very much.  It has made me wonder if my brick wall could have been a boatman.

I cannot find George Richard Cooke born 1858/9 in Hall Green, Cheshire this comes from the 1881 census he also claims to be born in Odd Rode.

It is the possibility that his father also called George Cooke (from George junior's 1880 marriage certificate) could have been a boatman that has crossed my mind.  George senior was deceased by 1880.  George junior was not a boatman and I can follow him from 1881 right through to the 1911.

So if anyone has any Cookes please get in touch,
Thank you,
Abiam

[jane harrison]

hello mrs noah
i am from the harrison line of boat people. do you know of the hale boat family?
the only ref i can find is that 3 out of 4 children(my gran included) where all christened in braunston, my great grandad was called robert hale.
regards
jeannette smith

[Midnight_rambler]

Hmmm, is this thread still active?

I've been trying to pinpoint whether I have Romany links in my tree, and in the process I have uncovered some mariner/boatman connections. I really don't know too much about canal men, nor which canals my ancestors frequented, but I do know that they often appear to reside in Milton by Sittingbourne. Here are some more specifics:

William Chapell b. 1803 in Milton is listed as a mariner in the 1861 census. His wife is Sarah Sillis b. 1813. Their son, James Chapell, b. 1842, is listed as a brickmaker. He later marries Emma Smith (b. 1847 in Hoo, Kent), daughter of George (b. 1812, Hoo) and Harriet Smith (b. 1816, or so, in Stoke,) and I believe her brother, George Smith b. 1839 Hoo is listed as a boatman in a later census... (at least one of the Smiths was.) He also lives with a mariner, Benjamin Redshaw, in the 1871 census.

Does anyone have any links to boatmen near Milton/Sittingbourne, or know which canals run by there? Also, do you know if there is a link between brick moulding/making and boats? Because a few of the same people in my tree have been listed as both.

Any help would be much appreciated!

[canal woman]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm indeed this thread is still being used, and i know that a lot of people look at it to see if by any chance their folk are mentioned.

To be honest with you I have no idea about Kent or any canals in Kent.

This thread started because people researching Canal Boatmen found that the only way to find their folk was to chase up and down the Canals, and as the main body of Canals is in Central England it helped if we kept our eyes open and then passed on information....................

When you talk of Mariner/Boatman
I have the feeling that you are probably talking about men that went to sea.
I might be wrong,, but living near to the sea ,it is more than likely that your ancestors were Sailors.................... 
The Canals were the inland sea and they were Canal Boatmen that used them.

As far as Brick moulding goes .pass..................have no idea.................

If the Smith born in 1816  was the daughter of a Canal Boatman then you would need to research the Trent and Mersey Canal............... see what Churches there were along thebanks and see if you could locate any more of the family and then bring them up to the 1841 census..........where there would be reference to the mens occupations.

 To be honest I think you need to do a little more research into the structure of the family and then branch outwards ................ it would be more rewarding to do that.

 Mrs Noah.