1841 census lookup request for Devenport, Ensor

[daleaway]

Seeking a kind soul who could locate John Ensor, baker, of Sutton Coldfield, daughter Mary. Anything about this family would be welcome.

Also Thomas Devenport of Handsworth, smith, who later married Mary Ensor sometime in the 1840s. The questions we are trying to answer are: did Thomas have siblings, and who were his parents?

Devenport is occasionally spelled Davenport or Devonport, of course.

Much appreciated

Dale
New Zealand

[janbooth]

Could this be John and family in Handsworth, Staffs:

PRO Ref: HO107/980/2, folio 36, page 20
Grove Lane

John ENSOR 55 Baker Born in county yes
Sarah do 55 yes
Mary do 20 yes

Have you any more information on Thomas, such as his age, place of birth. There are quite a few in Staffs and Warwicks and none that I can find who were Smiths.

Janet.

[daleaway]

Thank you for that, Janet. I do not have access to that census so I do not know what the reference says. Could you advise me further?

I'm sure it's the right one, though. Thomas Devenport was born in Handsworth, and in the 1851 census gave his address as Grove Lane and age as 39. In 1851 Sarah was 30. (So it looks like either she had no siblings, or by 1841 they had married or moved away.)

The New Zealand Devenports were trying to figure out when her parents died - her father John Ensor was living with the Devenports by 1851 and by 1856 they had emigrated to New Zealand without him. We do not know whether he had died in the meantime or whether he had gone to live with another child.

We have a letter from Mary written to (we think) a cousin in Birmingham in 1857, describing the voyage out.

As you can see from the emigration date, we have a 150th anniversary reunion coming up, so are having to research a lot in a little time. And we really need to know whether Thomas D had siblings!

Dale
New Zealand

[janbooth]

Hello Dale,

I'm afraid I am not going to be able to help you with Thomas DEVENPORT. I am unable to find him in the 1841 census in Handsworth. The only DEVENPORT I can find is a Margaret who is in Grove Lane on the previous page to John ENSOR. She is shown as aged 85, Ind (normally means living on independent means) and not born in the county of Staffs.

John ENSOR is still alive in the 1861 census and living in Handsworth at Grove Lane (PRO Ref: RG9/2019, folio 48, page 42). He is shown as Head of the household, a 76 year old Widow born Sutton Coldfield, occupation Gun Borer (original occupation was crossed out and is illegible and this one put alongside). He does not appear to be in the 1871 census, so presumably died between 1861 and 1871.

The reference numbers I have shown are those given to the census images by the Public Record Office which make it easy for researchers to access the appropriate area they are looking for.

Sorry not to have been of more help finding Thomas or any siblings. I think you would probably have to search the Handsworth parish registers to find that out.

Janet.

[daleaway]

Thank you Janet, what you have found so far is most interesting and helpful.
I appreciate your assistance

Dale
New Zealand

[jem2008]

I have a Thomas DAVENPORT but also devenport
b. 1800 Trowbridge (according to census)
c. bap. 27 Jun 1802, Tardebigge, Worcs. Licensed Victuler
m. Sarah (sally) BAYLISS (b.18 May 1811 Upper Gornal, Staffs d. 7 Nov 1866)
d. 26 Sep 1871

Thomas was son of John DAVENPORT a laborer who possibly married ANN Tongue
c. 4 Apr 1762 Alvechurch, Worcs
m. 1 apr 1785 Trowbridge

That is a far back as I can go on the davenport line. I did find a john davenport from Leek Staffordshire on someone else’s tree with his ancestors going back to the 1500s and the Bromley Davenports of Cheshire but I do not know where John Davenport came from so cannot prove any link.

[daleaway]

At the moment there does not seem to be a connect between our Devenport/Davenports.

We have since found a little more about our Thomas Devenport. His father's name was Samuel Devenport, a sailor. We have unearthed a family bible which has passed to a distant cousin, and it records our Thomas's dates as 12 December 1820 - 24 April 1859, and we are currently working on confirming these.

Dale in New Zealand