Witton or Mitton?

[Lynne444]

Does anybody know if there is a MITTON in Cheshire. On the 1851 census it gives what looks like Mitton on the original -marked with a x The only place I can find is Witton. It was probably near Northwich, They lived in Lower Shurlach at the time. All later censuses just show him as being born in Northwich, Cheshire
Thanks


http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg26/lindabs/4850a773.jpg

[Alan Welsford]

Hi Lynne,

If the one above says Winsford, which I'm sure it does, then that one surely says Witton ?

I can't see an 'M' there at all, only a 'W'.

Alan

[uksearch]

See

http://sthelenwitton.org.uk/

UK

[Ed Bradford]

Looks like Witton to me as well.
.............Ed

[Lynne444]

Thanks all. It does still look like Mitton to me though. Its been transcribed in ancestry as Mitton but I know that doesnt mean much.

[Alan Welsford]

Thanks all. It does still look like Mitton to me though. Its been transcribed in ancestry as Mitton but I know that doesnt mean much.

The trick is usually to search the page, or neighbouring pages for something that is obviously a capital 'M', (have you got any nearby Marys, Marias or Marthas, for example).

I think you will find they look quite different. (Perhaps the 'M' will have rounded tops, for example).

What's fooling you is that there is an upward 'tail' at the start of the 'W' which most people probably wouldn't write these days, and the final part of it is slightly detached, and curving off to the right.

If you look at the 'W' of Winsford above, it's broadly the same as the one in Witton, but because that first upward tail is much lighter, you are less likely to think it's part of an 'M'.

I'm not great with old writing, but I have no doubt at all that both are 'W's.

Alan

[MythicalMarian]

As a Cheshire native, Lynne, I can assure you that it is Witton. I have never come across a Mitton in Cheshire.

'W' can give trouble in Victorian handwriting - and in the earlier Victorian period - say for the 1841 census - you may well find that your W looks very much like a 'U' or 'N'.

As Alan says - just take a few minutes to study the rest of the page to familiarise yourself with the particular enumerator's handwriting and you shouldn't go wrong.