Parrish/Parish is the name!

[*bunty*]

Hello all,

I am coming here to declare my passion for the surname Par(r)ish :D. This is my maternal grandad's line, a long line of coal miners with mine eventually leaving Chirk, Denbighshire after 1850. After traveling through Durham they ended up in Yorkshire (Featherstone/Pontefract). I would love to hear of other Par(r)ish searchers :D.

[ChristineR]

Mine came from Cambridgeshire, England - my great great grandfather James PARISH came to Australia.

Not easy using search engines on that surname :D

ChristineR

[Jo12]

Hi
Our families were former work colleagues in the Black Park Colliery in Chirk, one of the oldest in Wales (1653). Whilst reseaching my Roberts family, the name Parish kept cropping up, usually as neighbours on censuses. In 1942 a G.G.Leary wrote a book titled 'The Collieries of Denbighshire', a copy of which is in the Denbighshire RO. Page 37 says quote "Many of the families of the workpeople have been connected with the colliery for several generations, and turning back to the old wages books one finds the still familiar names of Mates, Roberts, Williams, Parrish, Jones, Hughes and Griffiths, recorded." (I've no idea if the "wages books" are kept anywhere)

I have one Parrish listed on a 1851 census page as neighbour;
Green Lane, Chirk
Jane Parrish, Head, Widow, Age 48, Occ. Parish Relief, b.Chirk
with Sarah Evans, Niece, Age 10, b. Staffordshire
and John Hardy, Lodger, Age 28, Occ. Gamekeeper, b. Suffolk

Green Lane and Bottom Barracks seem to be miners cottages, I know Bottom Barracks are still standing, if you've found any of these addresses. B.P. Colliery sunk the Green Lane pits in 1832.

Just some snippets for you, hope you like them !!

[*bunty*]

Thanks for that snippet. I have no doubt Jane would have been one of mine - married into the family but my parish transcripts do not cross over with GRO information, so I have a gap of about 25 years during which Jane would have married a Parish. It seems he died before the 1841 census. Jane could have been an Evans, given the surname of the niece visiting. It has sparked my curiousity I must say :).

My direct line moved on from Chirk but my 2 x great grandfather's brother John Parish (b 1845) stayed in Chirk and many offspring came from him. I imagine they were all coalminers so I expect the reference in the book you named was about them and other branches of the tree that split off earlier. Many of mine worked at both Black Park and Brynkinallt.

Edited to add: Jane was an Evans. She appears on the 1841 census living with an Eleanor Evans. I found Eleanor in my Chirk transcripts and she has a daughter called Jane in 1802. Still don't know which Parish man she married though ;).

[*bunty*]

Also, I have a Roberts in my tree who married into the Parrish line:

Elizabeth Roberts b. 1801 Chirk, m John Parish

No other Roberts as far as I can tell!

[Corina Rox]

Hiya

My PARRISH line was my maternal grandfather HERBERT PARRISH born 1898 in Tottenham, Middlesex.

At the moment I am stuck with his side. Im verging on ordering his Birth Cert but Ive found an Aunty, so im gonna wait untill I have met her.

Anyone else got connections with Tottenham?

Corina |banghead|

[*bunty*]

My Parrish line has no connection to Middlesex unfortunately. Do you have your Herbert on the 1901 census? There are two possibilities for him and his family. In my opinion this is the most likely:

Class: RG13; Piece: 1255; Folio: 146; Page: 53

Herbert Wm Parrish
Age: 2
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1899
Relation: Son
Father's Name: William
Mother's Name: Emily Louisa
Gender: Male
Where born: Tottenham, London, England

Household Members:
Alice Maud Parrish 6 months
Emily Louisa Parrish 25
Herbert Wm Parrish 2
Louisa May Parrish 4
William Parrish 25

I would definitely recommend ordering the birth certificate first, otherwise you don't really have any concrete evidence to build your tree on. Once you have Herbert's parents you can hit the ground running.

Is this the cert you are thinking about ordering?

Herbert William Parrish 1898 Q4 Edmonton 3a 360

I think this record connects to the census information above.

[RosemH]

I don't suppose anybody has a John Par(r)ish who married Ann Mary Jones in 1814 in Chirk in their tree anywhere? I'm trying to find out who his parents were, without too much success at the moment!

[*bunty*]

I think I may be able to help you if you can give me some more information. Names of their children perhaps? I can pretty much connect most of the Par(r)ishes in Chirk to my Parrishes, but there are lots of Johns so a little more on their children would help thanks :). Did they stay in Chirk?

[RosemH]

Hi Bunty

Thanks for your reply. The only info I have is that John Parrish and Ann Mary Jones were married in Chirk on 26th December 1814 (witnesses included Thomas Collins and Mary Parrish), and I have so far found two children born to them. One was Pamela (who married into my line), baptised in Chirk on 11October 1818. The other is Eliza, baptised 24 December 1815.

Pamela was married in 1839 in Holywell, and in the 1841 census she was living in Bagillt. I don't know when she/her family left Chirk as I haven't been able to find John and Mary with any certainty.

All the best
RosemH

[Astoria]

You may already have this information, Durham records online list 99 Parish records |wave|

[*bunty*]

One of the witnesses you speak of - Mary Parish, who married Thomas Collins, was the sister of my 4 x great grandfather Thomas Parish. So we are getting closer! I can't find a John who married Ann Mary though. Do they feature on the census at all?

Astoria, a number of my Parish line headed from Chirk to Durham, including my direct line, which left and ended up in Yorkshire. All chasing that black stuff!

[marianne Faull]

My Parish is Caroline (sister of Christine R's James) who married Anderson Grant in Caldcote Cam Eng in 1852. They emigrated to South Australia in 1853.
Marienne

[RosemH]

Hi Bunty

I can't find John and Mary with any real certainty in the census. In the 1841 there is a John in Chirk, born c. 1799/1800, who is married to Elizabeth (could be second wife) - but he would have to have married Mary at 14 years old, which seems unlikely.

In the 1851 there is John (born c.1796) and Mary (born c. 1791) living in Bagillt, which looks much more hopeful, but I can't be sure. His occupation is unreadable but doesn't look anything like "collier" (as given on marriage cert), and his birthplace is given as "Wacu, Denbighshire" - no idea on this, but possibly Wales??

I hoped that witness Mary Parish would turn out to be John's sister, but it doesn't look as if it is going to be that easy!

All the best
RosemH

[*bunty*]

John Parish, who married Elizabeth Roberts, is indeed Mary's brother.

I have looked in my transcripts of St Mary's parish registers of Chirk. I don't have John's marriage as the transcripts I have don't go out that far. If you are sure your John came from Chirk, the only John who could fit your John is my John - born 5 April 1799, baptised 12 May 1799, parents John and Anne Parish of Brynkinnalt (near the mine of the same name, in Chirk). There are no other Johns baptised in Chirk for 20 years prior.

I can see the baptisms of the two girls you referred to. Eliza was baptised 24Dec 1815, parents John and Mary living in Wharfe. Pamela was baptised 11 Oct 1818, parents John and Mary of Chirk. There are no further children that I can see. This in itself I find unusual. It is remotely possible that John remarried Elizabeth and had more children. Perhaps Mary died between 1818 and 1821 or so, as the John I have remarried in 1822 to Elizabeth. It is young to be married though - it would mean John would only have been 15 at the time he married Mary. Not sure if that would have happened.

Anyway, I am speculating a lot! If your John was my John I could tell you a lot more about his parents and their parents.

[*bunty*]

I just had a thought, perhaps they married in Chirk because Mary was from the area. Maybe John was not from Chirk at all, but was there because of his wife. Wacu doesn't sound like a place in Wales. What about Waen? Can you give me the census reference and I will have a look at John and Mary and see if I can decipher it.

[RosemH]

John's marriage record says "John Parish, Collier of this Parish and Ann Mary Jones, spinster of the Parish of Whittington" - but he could, as you suggest, not have been born in Chirk at all.

I'm not sure what census reference you need to look it up, but the reference on the page is H.O. 107 2500 and the page number is 36 and 569. Sorry to be so vague, I haven't used census references before, let me know if you need something else. On a further examination, your suggestion of Waen looks hopeful. I'm going into the records office next week and (once I find out whereabouts Waen is in Denbighshire!), I can check those records. Mary's birthplace is given as Ruabon, which again looks hopeful as regards John being in the locality for her.

[*bunty*]

Thanks, that reference was fine :). I just took a look at the record then. It looks like it could be Waen rather than Wacu and it has been mistranscribed (no surprises there!). I think perhaps these Parishes may be related more distantly than immediate to mine. I recall in my family history travels that one of my Parishes earlier on (earlier than your John) headed north to Bagillt. In fact there was quite a population of Parishes in Flintshire at one stage. I think your John may have married in Chirk (perhaps he was working in one of the mines at the time), with Chirk being quite close to Ruabon, where his wife was from. She may have been in service in Chirk at the time. As often happens, the groom ends up snaveling his wife (and family) back to his own stomping ground, hence their move north. All speculation of course and nothing solid to work with. I think the next port of call would be to explore the parishes around Waen and see if you can find your man on the registers for the area.

[RosemH]

Thanks for all your help with this Bunty. Your suggestion of a whole section of the Parishes being in Flintshire is very helpful - in fact in the 1841 census (I think it was - haven't got my file with me) where Pamela Parrish is recently married to my ancestor George Edwards, there is a James Parrish living next door to them. I had been assuming Pamela's family was from Chirk because she was born there and her parents were married there, but it doesn't necessarily follow, of course, that John was born there too. I will now start looking at records of the Waen and Bagillt areas to see what I can turn up. Thanks again.

[robsnicta]

My ancestor Richard Roberts and his family are on the 1841 census at living in the township of Brynkniall, Chirk as a collier. He had 3 children Maria b1821, Richard b1826 and Thomas b1832 according to the census.

However according to the parish records I have Maria was born in halton 20/6/1820, Richard in Greenlane 20/8/1926 (also a collier) and Thomas 1830 also born Halton. Their father was married to someone called Mary but I have no Idea what her maiden name was or when and where they married. She doesn't appear on the 1841 census either for Chirk. Maria married John Mates who was lodging with them at the time and also a collier at Chirk Parish Church in 1841. Her brorther Richard married someone called Martha in Chirk in 1850 and died in 1884. John mates died in 1865. Neither of them and their families appear to have moved from the area.

I can see all the Parrish's in the Chirk Babtishs Parish Register (1813 - 1845). Thomas did move from the area to Wolverhampton and then to Durham with his wife where he started my leg of the family. I would love to hear from anyone that can share with me anything about this Roberts family and the Mates family.

[leswal57]

Hi I am new to this site and I realise that this is a very old post but Richard Roberts is in my family tree too, he is my great great grandad so I have quite a bit of info. I have some gaps in my tree and would hope robsnicta that you can help me too. I would love to hear from you.

[robsnicta]

Hi Leswal57 sorry for the very late reply but I have just found you post after being away from my research for some time. In my family tree I have a Richard Roberts c1786 Born in Denbigh who is my great great grandfather, I also have his son Richard born c1826 in North Wales who would have been my great uncle. In the 1841 census they are living in Brykinallt and both listed as coal miners. According to family legend Richard c1786 also kept pigs, I can find no record of him after the 1841 census so am unsure if he lived all his life in the Chirk area and died there or not. Some think he married a second time after my great great grandmother died.

Hope this helps and I would love to hear from you again to see if we have ancestors in common.

All the best Robsnicta