Lifton family

[wingtsun25]

Looking to trace the Lifton family.

Issac Lifton
Born 1/1818
Place W-O-T, Bristol
Married 25/2/1848
Place Bedminster, Bristol
Died 3/1885
Place Bristol

Richard Lifton - (His death record said he died aged 71 which would of made him born 1787)
Born 1788
Place Milford, Pembrokshire (on a census for 1851 on Ancestry says born Milford, Panama. It could be Milford Pembrokeshire)
Married 24/2/1816
Place St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol
Died 9/1858
Place Clifton, Bristol

Richard Lifton was born to a William Lifton and a Mary Smith.
Only marriage record I can find is to a William Liston and Mary Smith in Bristol 1748.
It appears Richard had a brother named William b. 1798 and sister Mary 1785. There is a William and Ann Smith who alsohad children it is not known if this is the same family.
I was informed we were Nantucket Whalers who came over to Pembroke. But not found any information to support this. There was mention in the family of Listons and also the Navy. The Liston Quakers in Delaware have strong Navy links. So kinda stuck at the momemt. Any help would be useful!

[christanel]

Welcome to Brit-Gen wingtsun25

I have moved your posts from Surname Interests, (which is just for posting the surnames you are researching and is then locked)
to the Gloucestershire forum as Bristol seems to be the main place of interest. It will also get more attention from our super sleuths .

Christina

[wingtsun25]

Thank you!

[Allan F Sparrow]

One point: the 1851 census which has been referred to, on Richard Lifton, is transcribed differently at FMP - they have Milford, Hampshire; but if one looks at the image instead of the transcript, it seems to read "Milford, Pem." to my old eyes, so it may indeed be a Pembrokeshire man. He was a bootmaker, with a wife Francis and a son Richard.

[Allan F Sparrow]

Isaac was in Bristol in 1841, as a shoemaker said to be 20. Have you seen that? FMP have him in a household with a Morgan family in the transcript, but if you look at the image, he's on a new page with the address given as if new; there's a young man there too, possibly a lodger, though of course the 1841 doesn't give all the information that later censuses do.

[Allan F Sparrow]

I have found the following burials for men named William Lifton:

b1723 buried Hubberston Pembrokeshire 1796
b1795 buried etc 1797
b1768 buried etc 1806
b1793 buried etc 1826
b1758 buried etc 1847

Since Hubberston is where Richard son of William and Mary was baptised in 1788, the above would seem to be all related to your family.

I am now going away to look at other matters for a while!

[wingtsun25]

I noticed that there was William b. 1723 d. 1796. It looks like he was married to a Ann Smith. But would of they had children at such an old age?
The William Lifton b. 1758 could of been him but there was quite a few Williams with a Mary Richards, Martha Lewis, Mary Smith. So its quite confusing!
Richard was married in Bristol and his parents were not present.
I believe he had an older brother/uncle called Isaac and i think he must have taught him the bootmaking trade. There was a marriage of a Lifton and it appears Isaac and Richard was present.
Richards first child was Isaac, i noticed in a Bristol baptism Richard was named Isaac as well!
I noticed that Richards father was a Labourer.
But a later William who had children was named as a Mariner, Boatman, Ropemaker, Labourer and Marine!

[Allan F Sparrow]

What is essential, if you really want to get your ancestry right, is to have clear evidence for each stage. I do not think it likely that the Richard baptised in 1788 would be the child of a man born in 1723, but the William who was born in 1758 could well have been the William named as Richard's father.

Could you be more detailed in the information you give? For example, you say "Richard was married in Bristol and his parents were not present", but how do you know that? When was the marriage, and what evidence have you seen? I'm not saying you are wrong, but the failure to mention parents does not necessarily mean they were not there, even with an official marriage certificate after 1837. In a parish register, there is no certainty that parents would be named.

It is much easier for we volunteers to assist if you are more precise about what you know. And I am sure that I am not the only one who like to help.

[wingtsun25]

On my first post I stated Richard was married Feb 04th 1816, they married at St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol.
i have visited the record archives in Bristol and was able to look at the marriage Banns. I can email it if you like. Richard married a Frances Vincent, she is also known as Fanny.
They were married in the presence of a James Gruyer and Mary Perrin.
These names appear to be also on other marriages at this time!

I am still quite confused as to the Williams including with Mary Smith, as there was at the exact same time William with Martha Lewis. They also had children named Jacob 1789, James 1786, Elizabeth 1791.
I was told Richard was Jacobs brother but they have different parents.

Thanks for your patience.

[Allan F Sparrow]

Thanks for the detailed response on the marriage. As you have seen a parish record in Bristol, that's fine: it's just that I haven't found it as a record at FindMyPast, Ancestry, or FreeREG. For a Frances to be known as Fanny is quite usual. As for the witnesses' names turning up on other marriages, they were probably people who were connected with the church or hung about there a lot: a witness was not required to be related to the couple. One of my own extended family had the parish clerk as a witness to her wedding - no connection at all.

I have been looking at the trees on Ancestry, and I am not surprised that you feel confused, as there are discrepancies between trees which are supposed to be about the same people! I assume the one owned by wingtsun20 must belong to you or someone close. I must say there are some good points about it: some discrepancies are pointed out. But the William born in 1723 cannot have been brother to people born in the 1750s and 1760s, or so I would tend to think. That's why it's so awkward that many families used the same first names generation after generation.

I feel that there is something suspect at the heart of this problem: I am not sure how many Lifton families, or even how many men named Richard Lifton, we are dealing with! As far as I can see at the moment, the only evidence for your Richard being from the Pembrokeshire family is that birth-place entry in the 1851 census, which I am sure reads "Milford, Pem" not Panama or Hampshire. One must go by the image, not the transcripts.

No time for more, now. I have been searching so hard that I haven't taken everything in!