Manchester Misery

[DianaCanada]

For more years than I like to count, I have been working on my 3 Manchester lines and they have all given me grief.
One of my lines is my Feay family.
My earliest known ancestors are William and Margaret Feay who appear out of the blue in Manchester around 1790 with the baptism of their first son (Edward) and Manchester Cathedral. William Sr. was a tailor (got that from a son’s second marriage) as was Edward. The other known children were:
Jane – baptism not found, age from death certificate puts birth around 1794
John - baptised at Manchester Cathedral, 1795 (my ancestor)
David – baptism finally found under FOY, Manchester Cathedral, 1803
Margaret – baptised Manchester Cathedral, 1805

I’ve done pretty well on the descendants of this family. They mostly lived later in the Hulme area of Manchester and then branched out.

My frustration arises in not being able to get back farther on William and Margaret. There are Feays (a few, mostly in southern England), Fays (lots from Ireland), Feas, Fees, Feighs, and even Pheays.

I’ve even toyed with the idea that they may have been McVeays from Scotland or Ireland.
Any help or even just encouragement appreciated!

[Raffaele]

No answers just ideas as I could find no trace of their wedding.

The name struck me a being Irish and that could explain their sudden appearance.
Manchester Cathedral is Church of England so they are probably from the Northern Irish area. This was before partition so there is not the absolute dividing line.

I googled this ' church of england records in ireland' and got some intersting looking answers. Nothing definite but hope it sparks some ideas.

[cicilysmith]

I have the same problem with a couple who married in Manchester in 1793, Joseph Welch and Kitty Sheridan. They had most of their children in Macclesfield and the children were all baptized Anglican (although they would have found it pretty hard to be Catholic at that date in Macclesfield). Their daughter Sophia married a John Johnson. Apart from Sheridan those names aren't necessarily Irish but they are silk weavers and there was a movement of silk workers from Ireland at that time. I gather there are QSPs from Salford if the Irish workers were returned home by the poor laws. cicilysmith

[DianaCanada]

Thank you both Raffaele and Cicilysmith, for your suggestions.
My gut feeling is that the Feays were Protestant. My experience suggests that Edward and David were less likely to be used by Catholic families at the time. The other names are neutral. William, too, I believe, would have been less likely to be used by Catholics. But...there are always exceptions. The Feay children all married English background people, except for daughter Jane who married a James Clarke, who is on the 1841 as Irish - he died the night of the census so no further information on him. A grand daughter married a John Maher, also born Ireland. Other than that...all English types.
There is another Feay family (same spelling) in Manchester around the same time, they seem to have more Irish connections and use of Irish names...the spelling has always had me stumped as there are many many more Fays than Feays. Feay is consistent until a few generations later when one branch went to Fay.

[geneius]

What about spelling it FAHY & FAHEY both names can be seen around Manchester today!

[DianaCanada]

Yes Fahey or Fahy are other possibilities. The unusual spelling of "Feay" has always intrigued me - there is a branch that went to the US early on, no known connection, and the other family in Manchester at the same time as mine, otherwise...very thin on the ground anywhere. It denotes a certain level of tradition or literacy to stick to a non-phonetic pronunciation. I know there are Lancashire names with spellings that don't match the way they are said but these were probably familiar to the local people over the centuries and there were enough of them so that no one was puzzled by the pronunciation and spelling not matching up. (Of course I could be speaking as a North American here where we tend to pronounce things as they are spelled much to the amusement of some from the Mother country - even I cringe at "Buck-ing-HAM Palace").

[hmarrs]

You have to remember that not all parish clerks were good spellers and as lots of our ancestors couldn't read or write mis-spellings in records are common if the surname is a bit unusual. One dyslexic parish clerk in Blackley, Manchester managed to spell Nadin in 5 different ways !! definitely all the same family. My current brickwall is where a marriage and 2 children are recorded as Howard, next 3 children as Heyward and last 2 as Howard again. definitely same parents,address and occupation, no idea which is correct. So don't discount the other spellings. Good Luck

[DianaCanada]

Re spelling, hmarrs - it is true that it can vary a lot. My Feay branch spelled it that way for over a hundred years - one branch veered off the track late in the 19thc and a few of them spelled it Fay. My own ancestor has that spelling on her marriage record. Otherwise the Feay spelling is used I am guessing 90% of the time by the family members over the 1800's. I am actually surprised that Fay was NOT used more often.
Maybe one day a clue will surface as to their origins...it is true they may have married in Ireland as Catholics hence the lack of a marriage record found.