Pearson - born Manchester

[BarbR]

I have been looking for a while for the birth registration of my gt gt Grandfather Robert Gorrill Pearson. I have him on 1871, 1881, 1891 & 1901 and both of his marriages in 1872 and 1889. His birth is always listed as Manchester in 1850/51. His mother was Betsy Breaks and his father John Pearson. He is not listed on GRO indexes that I can see. Would applying directly to Manchester reg office be my next step?
Any suggestions gratefully received!
Barb

[Geoffers]

I have been looking for a while for the birth registration of my gt gt Grandfather Robert Gorrill Pearson. I have him on 1871, 1881, 1891 & 1901 and both of his marriages in 1872 and 1889. His birth is always listed as Manchester in 1850/51. His mother was Betsy Breaks and his father John Pearson. He is not listed on GRO indexes that I can see. Would applying directly to Manchester reg office be my next step? Any suggestions gratefully received!
Barb
It did not become an offence to fail to register a birth until 1875. Prior to then, quite a few people just didn't bother to register births. In this case, your best hope is that he was baptised and a record exists of that.

Have you tried alternative spellings of PEARSON in the GRO index? The spelling of surnames did not become finally fixed until about 1900, prior to then there was a great deal of variation.

Lastly, some of the GRO scribes obviously had as much difficulty reading handwriting of the day, as we do now and I have come across names which have been wrongly recorded in the GRO index.

Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire

[Guy Etchells]

Not strictly correct, the 1836 Act requires that every birth & death be registered but the onus is on the registrar to learn of the births and deaths rather than the authorised persons to produce the information as required in the 1874 Act.

1836 Act section XVIII-
…and every Registrar shall be authorized and is hereby required to inform himself carefully of every Birth and every Death which shall happen within his District after the said First Day of March, and to learn and register soon after the Event as conveniently may be done, without Fee or Reward save as herein-after mentioned, in One of the said Books, the Particulars required to be registered according to the Forms in the said Schedules (A.) and (B.) respectively touching every such Birth or every such Death, as the Case may be, which shall not have been already registered, every such Entry being made in Order from the Beginning to the End of the Book.

As Geoffers wrote this resulted in a number of births not being registered, though this was more of a problem in the large town & city parishes than in the rural parishes where the vicar tended to know everyone’s business.

If you a sure that the name has not been wrongly indexed then yes, you may have more joy searching the local index

Do you know of any siblings have you located their names in the GRO index, if so do they provide further clues to Roberts birth (falling either side, mis-indexed)
Cheers
Guy

[BarbR]

Thank you both for this.
Yes, I sent for his brother William's birth reg in 1852 to learn the parents names. It was spelled correctly. i did check under the mother's maiden name too, but no joy. I shall, as you suggest check into the different spellings of Pearson.

Do either of you know if Manchester will look for certificates fo family history?

Regards
Barb

[uksearch]

Thank you both for this.
Yes, I sent for his brother William's birth reg in 1852 to learn the parents names. It was spelled correctly. i did check under the mother's maiden name too, but no joy. I shall, as you suggest check into the different spellings of Pearson.

Do either of you know if Manchester will look for certificates fo family history?

Regards
Barb


You can email Manchester RO at the following address

registeroffice@notes.manchester.gov.uk

They used to be very heplful and,if you supplied the names of parents,adddress,occupation etc,they would tell if the information was correct or not.

UK

[BarbR]

Thank you for this, I will drop them a line and see what transpires.

Barb

[BarbR]

I have received the following reply from Manchester Records Office:

We need more information to say whether we have to birth entry you are looking for.
If you get in touch with the County Records Office. They should be able to help you obtain the year, quarter and district. If it is Manchester district we will carry out a search for you.

I find this all rather confusing - that one office has to find him for the other office to search for him:confused:&nb2C quarter and district. If it2C quarter and district. If it is Manchester district we will carry out a search for you.

I find this all rather confusing - that one office has to find him for the other office to search for him:confused:&nb2C quarter and district. If it is Manchester district we will carry out a search for you.

I find this all rather confusing - that one office has to find him for the other office to search for him:confused: Never the less, I will contact the County records Office and see how is Manchester district we will carry out a search for you.

I find this all rather confusing - that one office has to find him for the other office to search for him:confused: Never the less, I will contact the County records Office and see how I get along there.

Kind regards

Barbara

[Geoffers]

[Yes, I sent for his brother William's birth reg in 1852 to learn the parents names. It was spelled correctly. i did check under the mother's maiden name too, but no joy.]

You say it (the name) was spelled correctly, what was the soruce for this spelling? If it is modern, it may not be the same as in 1852. e.g. you may have supplied the name spelt PEARSON, but in 1852 it was spelt PEIRSON.


I have received the following reply from Manchester Records Office:
We need more information to say whether we have to birth entry you are looking for. If you get in touch with the County Records Office. They should be able to help you obtain the year, quarter and district. If it is Manchester district we will carry out a search for you.
The inforamtion you have supplied is just not sufficient to find the correct certificate and Manchester seem to be trying to be helpful in not sending the wrong certificate. Have you found a census return with him at home with his parents, so that you can supply that detail? Do you have a marriage certificate which records father's name and occupation? It may just be at the end of things, that his birth was not registered - or possibly he was illegitimate and registered under his mother's surname.

Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire

[uksearch]

Barb,
If you have a look at genuki you will see that Manchester RO holds the records for some districts that were closed down in 1939...Manchester,Prestwich and Chorlton(which covered South Manchester).You could ask them to look for the birth in Manchester 1850,Manchester 1851,Prestwich 1850,Prestwich 1851.Chorlton 1850 and Chorlton 1851.If you send them an email with all these details they will not be able to help.If you send an email with one request and wait for a reply before sending another,they may be able to find the birth.If you have an address or even area I might be able to tell you which district to try first.

UK

[BarbR]

Thanks for the replies and helpful advice - much appreciated!

First, I have my man on the 1871, 1881, 1891 & 1901 census all with name spelled PEARSON, all in the Furness area of Lancashire.. Also, both his marriage certificates have it spelled PEARSON. I can't get him on 1861 because I don't have an address and it isn't name indexed.
From his brother's cert, I found father to be John Pearson, labourer and mother to be Betsy Breaks - although she is always Elizabeth on the census. Siblings (4) were born in various places as the family seemed to move around the Furness, Westmorland areas.
I have looked on GRO index under Pearson, Peirson and Breaks and come up with nothing. I think I will have to contact the County Record Officed.


From his brother's cert, I found father to be John Pearson, labourer and mother to be Betsy Breaks - although she is always Elizabeth on the census. Siblings (4) were born in various places as the family seemed to move around the Furness, Westmorland areas.
I have looked on GRO index under Pearson, Peirson and Breaks and come up with nothing. I think I will have to contact the County Record Officed.
From his brother's cert, I found father to be John Pearson, labourer and mother to be Betsy Breaks - although she is always Elizabeth on the census. Siblings (4) were born in various places as the family seemed to move around the Furness, Westmorland areas.
I have looked on GRO index under Pearson, Peirson and Breaks and come up with nothing. I think I will have to contact the County Record Office as they suggest and see if I can get a lead te="MARGIN: 0px">From his brother's cert, I found father to be John Pearson, labourer and mother to be Betsy Breaks - although she is always Elizabeth on the census. Siblings (4) were born in various places as the family seemed to move around the Furness, Westmorland areas.
I have looked on GRO index under Pearson, Peirson and Breaks and come up with nothing. I think I will have to contact the County Record Office as they suggest and see if I can get a lead that way.

Again many thanks for you interest.
Barb

[uksearch]

Hi There,

I found this on the IGI.

Baptism 4th Feb 1849,St John's,Preston
Robert Pearson
Father;John Pearson
Mother;Betsy

It could be worth a dose of looking at?


UK

[BarbR]

Thank you for that, I have been into IGI and not found too much, but this certainly looks good for a start. I appreciate you interest and time once again!


Regards
Barbara

[BarbR]

Just to update you,

I have found a Robert Pearson on FreeBMD March quarter 1849 for Preston.
I have sent a query off to the Online Parish Clerk for Preston to see if he/she can shed any more light before I send for certificate.

I am greatly encouraged by all this progress!

Barbara

[uksearch]

Just to update you,

I have found a Robert Pearson on FreeBMD March quarter 1849 for Preston.
I have sent a query off to the Online Parish Clerk for Preston to see if he/she can shed any more light before I send for certificate.

I am greatly encouraged by all this progress!

Barbara


I've got my fingers crossed.

UK

[BarbR]

well, not had a reply from OPC for Preston, so decided to send to GRO for cert anyway, with checks that parents are correct. Dispatch date is Jan 24th!!! and it will likely take 7 - 10 days to get here, so will post again next month with results!

With thanks again for your help.

Barbara

[BarbR]

The reference supplied was March 1849 Preston 21 687.

Unfortunately, this reference does not appear to relate to the entry you
are seeking because his mother's maiden name is not Breaks. Therefore, we
are unable to issue a certificate.




I'm disapointed, but I guess the search continues -if I can figure where to look next!
Barbara