1861 Paisley lookup?

[manui]

If Paisely is indexed for 1861,  could someone look up a Thomas and Margaret Smith, please?

Thomas married Margaret in Glasgow in 1856 but they had a son born in Paisley in 1862, so I am hoping that's where they were in 1861.

Margaret would have been aged about 28, but Thomas's age is unknown as he doesn't appear on the 1871 Census, although Margaret didn't claim to be a widow. There could well have been twwo or three children with them by 1861.

Thankyou if you can help,
Manui

[runningbear]

hi manui, only is one thomas matching your description

1861 census:

9 King Street, (back house) Paisley

Thomas...age 32...shawl weaver
Margaret...age 33
Elizabeth...age 7
Margaret...age 3
Mary...age 11 months

all born Paisley.

hope this is of some help

Joe

[manui]

Thankyou Joe - that was interesting but, in the intervening 16 months, some further research brought up another Thomas and Margaret - by coincidence of very similar ages. This Thomas was working as a tailor (which seems to have been a profession going down the generations), he was 33 and his wife 31, and they were living in Ross or Moss Street, Paisley. I think Moss Street is the more likely, as his father was living in another house in that street.

I can't remember how much I had found out by August 05, but the fact that the Moss Street family had a son of 15 might have put you off thinking they could be the right ones - Thomas had been married before and 15 year old William (named after his Smith grandfather after the general Scottish pattern) was from that marriage.

Thanks for putting me on to the other Thomas and Margaret Smith family anyway - you never know, they might turn out to be cousins!

Regards,
Manui

[runningbear]

hi manui, the thomas you refer to, lives alone on the 1861 census?

he is a tailor who employs 2 men, 2 boys and 1 female

he lives at 46 moss street, paisley

is this correct?

Joe

[manui]

Hi Joe.

Thomas wasn't on his own in 1861 - with him at no 46 were his wife Margaret and two sons from his first marriage, his son Archibald from the marriage to Margaret, his brother William (another tailor, probably one of the men Thomas was employing) and a lodger (a tailor, so the other employed man). Son William would have been one of the two boys employed as he was an apprentice tailor.

I eventually found Thomas in hospital in Paisley in 1871, which was why he wasn't at home then, and he subsequently died in Glasgow in 1874. As the death was due to 'sudden intemperence' (!), I have no idea what he was in hospital for. Margaret, his widow, was living in Barony by 1881, so it seems fairly likely that the family had all moved there between 1871 and Thomas' death in 1874, especially as the death was reported by his son, Archibald, who would only have been about 15 at the time.

Regards,

Manui

[runningbear]

hi manui, you may be correct in saying that they both lived at 46 moss street but they are transcribed seperate!!!!!

1861 census:

46 moss street

Margaret...head...age 31
William...son...age 15...app tailor
Thomas...son...age 13
Archibald...son...age 2
William...Brother...age 30

Janet Mc Farlane...Servant
John Kay Smith...Boarder...born aberdeen

Joe

[manui]

That's interesting, Joe. I wonder if we are looking at two different pages, as I know that people are sometimes enumerated on more than one page. The one I am looking at (via Scotlands People) definitely has Margaret as Thomas's wife, with nothing that I can see to separate them. I cannot magnify the page as I had to change to 'direct download' to look at viewed images - for some reason the Java image wasn't coming up on my screen today. However, I think the page number might be 28, and the number in the first column is 101; the reference is given as 573/03 002/03 023. Does this differ from your image?

Whatever, thankyou for taking an interest in a posting from such a long time ago - I had forgotten that I had posted it and, eventually, the 1861 Census came up on Scotland's People, so I was able to make progress. Despite the Smith surname, it has been relatively easy to identify them in Paisley. Thomas was probably the most difficult as his second marriage and his death were in Glasgow so I wasn't sure if I had the right ones for a while.  It has certainly turned out to be easier than identifying Stewarts in Glasgow, which presumably reflects the difference in population size of the two places.

Manui

[runningbear]

happy hunting my friend, thank you for your kind words

Joe

[hannahjgervaise]

Hi Manui,
I was wondering if you have gone further back with your Thomas Smith who lived in Paisley yet.
My family were William Irwin and Jane Erskine b.c. 1804 who lived in Paisley at the time of the 1841 Census.It is a brickwall line but the second daughter was Olivia Mary Smith  Bald (nee Irwin) b.1831.It seems like Smith is a family name hopefully belonging to Jane's side as she was born in Scotland whereas her husband was Irish.Three of the Irwin daughters were dressmakers so there may be a link to the tailoring Smith family.Olivia's sisters were Jane,Sussannah and Cecilia but I can find no record of their middle names yet.Some of the girls named their children Thomas or Thomasina.

Could you give me any new information please?.

Regards,
gervaise