My brick wall

[Joan]

I apologise if you have seen a similar post elsewhere but I am getting really frustrated with this side of my family! Took me ages to get past my grandfather! I finally realised that his brother Ebers BC would give me the same info and ordered that! I will crack this line if it kills me LOL
I have been searching for my g.grandfather, feels like forever, and have no idea where I can go from here. Any advice would be much appreciated.
I have:
1881 census in Hunslet.
James THOMPSON Boarder (Head) M Male 26 Wolverhampton, Stafford, England (Iron) Blast Furnace Keeper
Elizabeth THOMPSON Boarder M Female 26 Newark, Nottingham, England
Frederick W. PEART Boarder Male 1 Redcar, York, England
(Haven't a clue where Frederick comes into things!)

1901 census in Workington with slight differences:
James Thompson age 49 b Wednesbury, Staffs
Lizzie age 46 b Ranskill, Notts
James age 16 b Hunslet
Harry age 13 b Workington, Cumberland
Eber age 9 " "
Stanley Age 7 " "
I cant find them anywhere in the country on 1891 census to confirm his actual age and place of birth, or James & Elizabeths marriage or either James
I cant find them anywhere in the country on 1891 census to confirm his actual age and place of birth, or James & Elizabeths marriage or either James sr or Henrys births. Henry was my grandfather. I have Elizabeth (Theaker) on 1861 & 1871 census, her parents, siblings & their marriages etc but the Thompsons are a total P. I. T. A.!

The only option I can see to get past James is to try to find him on 1861 census BUT with 2 diff ages, places and sght differences:
James Thompson age 49 b Wednesbury, Staffs
Lizzie age 46 b Ranskill, Notts
James age 16 b Hunslet
Harry age 13 b Workington, Cumberland
Eber age 9 " "
Stanley Age 7 " "
I cant find them anywhere in the country on 1891 census to confirm his actual age and place of birth, or James & Elizabeths marriage or either James
I cant find them anywhere in the country on 1891 census to confirm his actual age and place of birth, or James & Elizabeths marriage or either James sr or Henrys births. Henry was my grandfather. I have Elizabeth (Theaker) on 1861 & 1871 census, her parents, siblings & their marriages etc but the Thompsons are a total P. I. T. A.!

The only option I can see to get past James is to try to find him on 1861 census BUT with 2 diff ages, places and such a common name I will probably find loads of James Thompsons that fit so would be no further on. Plus this census only seems to be available for full county not just area I want so expensive if its going to get me nowhere. Any ideas anyone? PLEASE!!!!!

[Joan]

Sorry, somehow this got a bit screwed up in the posting LOL I swear it was ok when I posted it! I have tried to edit it but just seem to succeed in making things worse, Hope u can get the gist of it anyway :)

[Geoffers]

I finally realised that his brother Ebers BC would give me the same info and ordered that! I have been searching for my g.grandfather
1901 census in Workington with slight differences:
James Thompson age 49 b Wednesbury, Staffs
Lizzie age 46 b Ranskill, Notts
James age 16 b Hunslet
Harry age 13 b Workington, Cumberland
Eber age 9 " "
Stanley Age 7 " "
I cant find them anywhere in the country on 1891 census to confirm his actual age and place of birth, or James & Elizabeths marriage or either James sr or Henrys births.
Some thoughts:

1) Have you tried all possible variants of the surname THOMPSON? THOMSON, TOMPSON, TOMSON spring to mind.

2) Have you just checked freebmd (incomplete) or the full GRO index?

3) Ebers birth certificate may prove helpful in that it should record the mother's maiden name. Once you have this, I would suggest checking for a marriage between 1888 and 1892 inc ase the parents were just living together whilst they had their first two sons. Also, then check for the births of the elder children under the mother's maiden name.

Geoffers

[Joan]

Some thoughts:

1) Have you tried all possible variants of the surname THOMPSON? THOMSON, TOMPSON, TOMSON spring to mind.

2) Have you just checked freebmd (incomplete) or the full GRO index?

3) Ebers birth certificate may prove helpful in that it should record the mother's maiden name. Once you have this, I would suggest checking for a marriage between 1888 and 1892 inc ase the parents were just living together whilst they had their first two sons. Also, then check for the births of the elder children under the mother's maiden name.

Geoffers
1 & 2) In a way yes. I mainly searched for Elizabeth Theaker as that was the less common name and found no marriages for a Theaker that fit. I have gone through 1837online from 1871 - 1882 but I searched Theaker first and then the correct spelling only of Thompson. I haven't searched at the actual records office as I find it difficult to get there.
As for James & Henry's births, its more a case of cant pinpoint which birth is theirs as searches come up with so many that would fit.
3) I do have Ebers birth certificate, thats where I got Elizabeths maiden name. I will take your advice and check out all the other options you suggest.
Many thanks!

[robdurk]

Hi Joan

I know it's far from complete, but there _are_ only three Henry Thompsons on freeBMD born in the Cockermouth RD between 1886 and 1890. This isn't, obviously, to say that there might not be others on a complete index, but is, I suspect, indicative that there aren't going to be a lot of them!

The original registers are now shared between two Register Offices:

Cockermouth Register Office
Fairfield
Station Road
Cockermouth
CA13 9PT
Tel: 01900 325961

Wigton Register Office
Council Offices
South End
Wigton
CA7 9QD
Tel: 01697 342155


I would suggest your best bet would be to see if they will do a search for you of the relevant years/quarters to find a Henry with those birth parents.

Assuming you've checked Eber's birth address in the 1891 census (he is, after all, only born in Sep qtr 1892) and drawn a blank, the address on Henry's cert may turn up the family.

Hunslet at that time was one of the most densely populated areas of 'new' Leeds; St Mary's (now demolished for a 60s concrete thing) was one of the many chapels founded in these areas to serve the worker population, Leeds still being only the one parish at the time.

As a bit of a stab in the dark, but probably less so than BMD records for an area with a huge but transient population, would be to try the parish registers of St Mary's (unless you've reason to think the family might be nonconformists), which are likely to be lumped in with Leeds Parish Church. Similarly, the registers of Workington might be worth checking as an alternative route into finding the birth; if only one of the three Henrys has a James/Elizabeth parent combo then you've narrowed the field considerably. Parish registers aren't just for before 1837!

Cheers

Rob

[Joan]

I ordered what I thought was Henry's bc only to find when it arrived it wasn't, I phoned Cockermouth RO. Gentleman I spoke to was very nice but basically told me the only way to get the right one was to keep ordering til I hit it!
As for Eber, no I havent checked address on 1891 census. I had searched for them all over the country in 1891 but nothing and I only found out yesterday that the Workington census on Ancestry isnt complete. I am going to have to try to get to records office and check it out there. I think this should be my first move as it will probably confirm one or the other of James snr age & place of birth which might help me track him down. He is my priority at the moment.

I found the bit about Hunslet very interesting and also the parish registers, I hadnt really thought of them for after 1837! I haven't got so far as using them as yet so how do I go about it? I suppose they are held in the records office locally so would need to visit the actual place? Not easy with a special needs child in tow LOL. My father was C of E so would expect his grandfather was. Thanks a lot for the tips Rob, you have given me some hope! ;-)

Joan

[robdurk]

Hi Jean

Definitely check that very address on the 1891 census! At the moment it's the only clue you've got to where they might have been living. If they're not there then work outwards - if they needed somewhere larger to live (new family and all) but work was nearby they'll most likely have not moved far.

Then you've a possible address to match to as well as parents.

The registers of Workington St Michael have been filmed by the LDS people, so if you've a local Family History Centre that might be a way in, as I said. If you've never ordered anything from them I'd check out their site:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHL/frameset_library.asp
Clicking on 'Family History Centres' will let you find the nearest one to you, whereas the catalogue will let you search for records for a particular place.

Hunslet registers are at West Yorkshire Archive Service, the branch you'd need would be the Leeds one, though it's possible they might be able to supply fiche/film to you. Unfortunately the Yorkshire Parish Register Society didn't cover there before their demise after only a hundred volumes or so (!) and it's not been picked up either by the various people who've taken up parts of the project in different bits of Yorkshire.

WYAS are at:
West Yorkshire Archive Service - Leeds
Chapeltown Road
Sheepscar
Leeds
LS7 3AP
Telephone: 0113-262-8339

PRs are often overlooked in the post-1837 era, but are a marvellous way of sifting information by comparison with BMD records... is this death or that the person I'm looking for? Or the other one? The District is the same... but the parish register for the village you know they lived in might narrow it down to just one burial in the period.. and consequently match to just one death entry. Especially important is that from 1813 onwards the burial index has the age at death, which is missing from the BMD indexes up until 1865.

It's a war of attrition, after all! Use every weapon at your disposal!

I'll stop before I start singing "You'll never walk alone!" ;)

Cheers

Rob

[Joan]

Just to update you. I have been to RO this afternoon and no luck with 1892 address or anywhere in the surrounding area :-( I am beginning to think they were gypsies the number of house moves they had! Ah well, back to square one. I am going to have to take a holiday in Wednesbury LOL

[pipemma]

Hello Joan, not sure if this is anything.
Have the latest Vitals from the Uk.
there is a James Thompson with parents Joseph Thomson and Sophia Box.
Born 9.3.1855.Christened. 22.4.1855. Sedgley Staffs.
Siblings. Mary Thompson. born. 29.3.1852. Christened. 2.5.1852.
Elizabeth. born.13.8.1859. Christened. 11.9.1859. Both Sedgley Staffs.Too

Been as James was 26 on the 1881 census his birth would be about 1855.Hope this is him for you.

There are about 3 Marriages for James. but not sure of either.

Best wishes Eve Maher in Australia. late Stoke Staffs.