St. Francis Xavier Baptismal Records - CARROLL

[heywood]

I wonder if Blake was a mistransciption of Clark/e which stuck 

[NorahEllyn]

Hi there,

Thanks so much.  Yes, I have 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911 census returns for Winifred.

Ann was her sister, and in 1881 my Catherine was living with her and Phillips mother who lived across the court.

I wondered that about Blake/Clarke but as Francis kept the name Blake all his life and it was never different in any of the documentation I did find on him, and Winifred has no living arrangements with Philip Clarke except in 1881 which was a few years after they married, I suspect that Winifred was actually involved with someone named Blake.  If I could only find his birth certificate, we'd be able to find out!



Norah

[heywood]

Norah,

You wrote:
'Catherine seems to have been hidden for her first eight years.  All I have been able to find is her birth certificate and sketchy information about her shipment to Canada.'

Which led me to believe that you could find no trace of Catherine.   

Do you have Francis's baptism before I post it.

Heywood

[NorahEllyn]

No I don't!  You found Francis???   

Sorry, I should have made it clearer that I had that 1881 census return.  I have a DUH this morning. 

Norah

[NorahEllyn]

I just found the marriage record from Francis Xavier on Francis Blake's marriage to Harriet Hirst in September, 1900.  He states on that record his father's name is Michael.  But the actual marriage certificate from the GRO shows his father as Francis Blake.  How about that for confusion?

Thanks again!
Norah

[heywood]

Yes, I thought I had made a great find  although I couldn't understand how you had missed her!

Francis's baptism doesn't help much

St Anthony's

Francis Blake
Birth 28 May 1873
Baptism 15 June 1873

Father: Nicholas Blake.      I wonder if that should read Michael?
Mother: Winnefred Carr

Godparents: Arthur Fagan and Margaret Kay

[Blue70]

It doesn’t look like Catherine was baptised the coverage on Ancestry for this period is the same as will be at Liverpool Record Office where these records were scanned. If we can’t find her on Ancestry then the baptism mustn’t be there.

This is the baptism coverage available on Ancestry for the RC churches nearest to Ben Jonson Street:-

All Souls, 1872-1906
Holy Cross, 1849-1906
Our Lady of Reconciliation, 1854-1906
St Anthony, 1804-1906
St Brigid, 1870-1906
St Joseph, 1845-1906
St Sylvester, 1875-1906

Other RC churches centrally located in Liverpool:-

St Mary’s Edmund Street, 1741-1895
St Nicholas Copperas Hill, 1814-1905
St Peter’s Seel Street, 1788-1890



Blue

[NorahEllyn]

Whoo!  Yes you did make a great find!  I have no idea how I managed to miss that, but it's probably because I'm not great with the new Ancestry slider-searches.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Thank you so so much! 

Yes, I wonder if Michael is his name or if Winifred just made it up as she went along.  From everything I've learned about her and her family (they were victims of the Irish potato famine, coming over to Liverpool for work only to find poverty.  Her father, Francis, died of typhoid in the Liverpool workhouse and I have no idea what became of her mother, Ann.)

The family's story is so sad, and it culminated by Catherine finally finding stability and happiness in her husband, Charles Shaw, in Quebec until she died, age 30, giving birth to my grandmother in 1906.  (The children's story from there is equally as tragic.)

Winifred stated that she had given birth to 3 children when she was living with Francis in 1911 on Comer Street in Liverpool.  She stated that 2 of the children were dead.  I will always wonder if she guessed that Catherine had preceded her, or if she was informed by Nugent.

You've opened up a whole NEW set of research for me, I'll always be so grateful!

Norah

[NorahEllyn]

Hi Blue,

Yes, I feared that was the case.  This was a last ditch effort to see if she was hidden somewhere in the records and missed.  But I think you might be right.

It is sad though that Winifred had Francis baptized and kept him with her (this is poignantly evident in 1881 when Francis is residing with his mother, but Catherine is with her aunt and step-grandmother), even sending Catherine to Nugent.  Let's just say it's never done much to increase any respect I might have had for her, but I have to consistently remind myself, it was a different time.

Norah