I need help please!!!

[purplemoon]

I've been tearing my hair out for several days now trying to figure out one of my families so thought I'd turn to you lovely people here to see if you might be able to shed any light on my findings. My month's free trial on Ancestry is almost up so I need to try sort this one out fairly quickly before I lose access to the full census details. Please bare with me as this could turn out a bit lengthy!

My gt grandmother is Evelyn THOMPSON b.1892 in Middlewich, Cheshire. Her parents are William and Bets(e)y (nee FRADLEY) THOMPSON who married in 1890 in Middlewich.

I can't find any census details for them in 1891 but by 1901 William has disappeared off the scene (died/divorced?) and Betsey is now living with James BURGESS (can't find any marriage details and have searched from 1890-1990) in Warrington, Lancs with step-daughter Evelyn THOMPSON (age and their son John BURGESS (age 1).

If I have the right William then he shows up on the 1901 census aged 35 and living as a boarder with his BIL Joseph SPROSTON in Middlewich. I've yet to confirm that this is my William though (parents Thomas and Martha THOMPSON of Middlewich).

Now, going back to Betsy FRADLEY - I can only find one birth record to fit the time period which has her b.1872 in Wolstanton, Staffs (6b 142) and I believe that her parents might be John and Elizabeth FRADLEY both born in Stone, Staffs c.1835/6.

I can place John and Elizabeth on the 1861 census living on a boat on the canal in Burslem, Staffs but by 1871 they have moved to Barnton, Cheshire but are still living on a boat. This poses me a problem as Betsy was born the following year in 1872 but her birth was registered at Wolstanton, Staffs - could they have gone back there to register her?

Do you think I'm on the right tracks? I'm thinking maybe I should order Betsey and William's marriage cert to check on parentage but I still need to find them on the 1891 census - can anyone help with that please?

I would also like to find out whether Betsey and James BURGESS ever married - is it possible that she just took his name? - but Lancashire and Cheshire BMD's have both drawn a blank so far, as has Ancestry!

Many thanks for reading and I appreciate any help/insight anyone can offer me with this as I'd like to fill in the missing blanks if possible

[Keziahemm]

Hi

This any good 

1891

William Thomson  Head  M  26  General Labourer  Cheshire Middlewitch
Betty Thompson  Wife  M  20  Staffordshire Stone
Thomas H. Thompson  Son  2M  Cheshire Middlewitch

Queen? St., Middlewitch
RG12/2842  folio 23  page 12


Have also found William Thompson aged 24, Bricklayer, living with parents Thomas and Martha in 1891 - RG12/2842 folio 67 page 4, Towns End, Newton, Middlewitch.  Will post details if you need them.

Have looked at 1901 - the William boarding with Sprostons is also a bricklayer, so this could be him 

Getting the marriage certificate for William and Betsey would be a very good idea, save yourself going round in circles and off on the wrong track 

Regards

Susan

[purplemoon]

I did look at that 1891 census entry last night as I wondered if maybe somebody had transcribed Betty incorrectly, but on inspection it is definitely written as Betty and not Betsy, plus I couldn't fit in a Thomas H Thompson anywhere, so I discarded it.

However, I've just checked the deaths index on CheshireBMD and there is a Thomas Henry Thompson listed for 1891 but it doesn't give an age. I guess the only way to be sure would be to try and obtain his death certificate to see if he died as an infant. I'll keep this one in mind, thank you very much for prompting me to take a second look.

Ohhhh, how silly of me ... I've just checked Evelyn's birth certificate again and she was indeed born in Queen Street!!!! I think you've found my family! THANK YOU!!!!

The second William you found is the one that I originally thought had married Betsy and I have researched the entire family's details spanning nearly the whole of the 1800's, but it seems I may have been onto a red herring there!

I do have a very strong feeling about that family though so haven't discounted the possibility of there being a connection somewhere, but for now I'm going to go back and do some more research on the other William you found for me.

Thank you so much again for your help

[purplemoon]

Oh btw, I'm having difficulty transcribing the occupation of William from the birth certificate ... the second word is clearly "labourer" but the first word appears to be "Alkab" 

It definitely starts "Al" as the registrar is called Alfred and the letters are identical, but nowhere on the certificate has he written a lower case "k" or "b" to compare. I have however, spotted a few entries on census details written as "Alk" labourer so wondered if anyone might know what this could mean?

Cheers

[Keziahemm]

Hi

There are Ag. Labs (Argicultural Labourers)    Alk ? don't know unless it was something to do with chemicals?  Can you scan and post the bit of the certificate you can't read, there will be someone on here who will be able to decipher it 

I had a look at 1901 for Thomas H. Thompson b 1891 but couldn't find him and had thought perhaps he had died and Evelyn was their second child.

Regards

Susan

and .... Welcome to RootsChat 

[purplemoon]

I don't have a scanner at the moment, although I think maybe I should invest in one, but now you mention chemicals I've just remembered that most of the people who had Alk written in were indeed labourers in a chemical works, and it appears that the word alk had been written by someone other than the enumerator so I wonder if it's the name of a particular factory where they worked.

Time to google me thinks!

[Keziahemm]

Hi

Alk could be Alkaline 

Have had a look at  BMDs index for death and he did die as an infant :

Thomas Henry Thompson aged 0 June qtr. 1891 Northwich vol. 8a page 250

The BMds are free to search at

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx

Reckon you're on the right track 

Susan 

[purplemoon]

Bingo!! The word is indeed Alkali and there were alkaline chemical works set up alongside the salt works in Cheshire.

Interestingly, for anyone researching salt workers in their family, it appears that many men from Cheshire were taken up to Billingham, Teeside in the North-East.

http://www.theclarion.co.uk/the_north_east/history/chemicals/index.html

Hopefully it might help someone who's lost track of their family in Cheshire from the 1860's onwards.


Oh, many thanks for finding that for me Susan, and how sad he died so young

I think this is definitely the family I've been looking for now, how wonderful when parts of the jigsaw start falling into place! Many thanks for your help

[purplemoon]

Well, I have been a busy little bee and think I've just about tracked down all William's immediate family

Fortunately the whole family appears to have remained in Middlewich (and some still do to this day!) so it hasn't been an arduous task in tracing them.

William's parents are Henry THOMPSON b.1827-d.1898 and Elizabeth LOMAS b.1829-d.1907 and they married in 1851 in St Michael's & All Angels, Middlewich. They remained living in Lewin Street throughout their whole married lives.

Besides William, they had 5 other children:-

Samuel b.1856 - m. Alice HOUGH in 1888
Phoebe b.1858 - m. Joseph ALLMAN in 1875
Mary Hannah b.1860 - m. Thomas HOUGH in 1881
Thomas b.1866 - m. Mary SPROSTON in 1888
Henry b.1869 - was still living with his mother in 1901 (aged 32)

I have also found a death entry for William (aged 60) in 1927 in Middlewich, which fits with the year he was born, so I think the entry on 1901 which has him boarding with the SPROSTER's is correct, especially given that his brother Thomas married one!

I've still none the wiser why he and Betsy separated/divorced though - is there any way to check divorce details anywhere? - but maybe that's one of those things that will forever remain a mystery!

Oh, just one other thing, all the family marriages were conducted in St Michael & All Angels church, so presumably baptisms and burials would have been too, so does anyone know where I might find those records please?