John Dillon married Emma Brown c 1837

[Taiwan]

The only possible birth date I've found for John Dillon senior (who married Caroline Slade Oct 1813 in Gosport) is a reference to someone born in 1789 to a John and Mary DILLON. Can't find any other siblings?

Can you find more details on that christening 19 April 1789 at St Thomas', Portsmouth? Any siblings or marriage for those parents?

Can you find any other possibilities?

Does John Senior have the 'Carew' middle name at any point?
Does John Junior (who married Emma Brown in 1838) have that "Carew" listed at any other time than his marriage? Do any of his children have it??

I am wondering whether John Carew Dillon might have been born in Ireland or if the Portsmouth chr. is his whether his parents were married there and had other children there? The surname is Irish and Hampshire is the logical place to land if emigrating from Ireland.

Thanks for any help

[Taiwan]

Is there some way that the certificate can be sent to me - scanned on this site will do?
I'm hoping that this thread won't die after it's ground breaking start. More questions on the reply below

[Taiwan]

Dear Jane,
I'm keen to have those certificate copies for John Dilling Carew and Emma Brown and maybe John's parents - John and Caroline (Slade).

Still trying to figure out whether "Dilling' is a spelling mistake or their real name and whether Carew is a middle name or a real surname.
Ever after this point (censes ...) they are know as Dillon and that is still our name.

The Caroline Slade continues to be a brickwall - with only clues being in the above long post based on censes ...
Thanks for any help.
How do you send the certificate scans to me - on this site or via private message on this site or ???usually these sites don't like us to put an email address.

[Richard H]

My grandmother was Marjorie Carew DILLON (1901-1995). She was the daughter of John Carew DILLON (1866-1951) who was the son of Charles Carew DILLON (1832-1903). We have also wondered for many years about the origin of Carew. My grandmother did not know herself, except that it had been handed down through several generations.

Like you, I believe that Charles was the son of John DILLON (1787-1863) and Caroline SLADE (1793-1869) but I have also come against a brickwall regarding finding anything else about Caroline. I am not totally convinced that it is the right one, but there is a baptism of a John DILLON on 19 Apr 1789 at St Thomas's Church, Portsmouth, son of John DILLON and Mary DARLEY.

I have also seen the marriage of John Dilling CREW to Emma BROWN and feel sure he must be connected. But, to have his father's name shown also as John Dilling CREW has puzzled me for years.

[Taiwan]

So good to hear from another connection. I don't think I know that that john Dillon had mother Mary Darley. Let's try and trace that one and see if we can find some siblings. I've guessed that john's parent's probably came across from Ireland as Southampton would have been logical place to come and also 'Dillon' is an Irish surname.

Problem is 'JOhn' is too common so need to find an unusual siblings name or we'll never get any further.

I would assume that 'Crew' might be 'Carew' and probably was a middle name as all the censes had the above J and Emma surnamed as Dillon - so the Dilling is presumably a spelling mistake which is why I missed that marriage date/place for so long but everything else fits. I have quite a lot of info. about John and Emma and even John and Caroline. I can include that if you haven't got it

[Richard H]

I've just spoken to my mother who carried out the original research and she says to treat the surname DARLEY with caution. The original baptism record only shows the mother's name as Mary. She had only guessed at Mary DARLEY from a loose reference somewhere else and it was never confirmed. We are going to search through her written notes from many years ago to see if we can find anything else.

She has also assumed the link to Ireland since DILLON is a common Irish name but there was also a DILLING family living in Portsea in the 1841 census. Apart from John Dilling CREW, we have only ever found Carew as a middle name and have always assumed that it was a maiden name from sometime in the past. CAREW was an old Gaelic surname so could have originated from Ireland as well.

We do have quite a lot of information already about John/Emma and John/Caroline. Did you know that John & Emma were living in France in about 1847-48? John was working as a Labourer/Bricklayer on the construction of the Paris to Rouen railway line. Two of their children, James & Sarah were born at Rouen. James later emigrated to New Zealand where his descendants are still living.

I will try and find mum's original notes and get back to you.

[Richard H]

I have found mum's notes and family chat said that Caroline SLADE was adopted and brought up by a doctor and his wife. So, SLADE was probably her adopted surname and not her birth name. That would explain why we have been unable to go back further with her.

I also found a letter from the New Zealand family, dated 1992, which talks about John & Emma in France. Part of it says:

"We understand that Sarah and James DILLON were born in Rouen, France, while their father was working on the railway line from Paris to Rouen. We have been told the story that they had to make a rather hurried departure when the French went on one of their rampages of foreigners. The story is that Emma and the children were hidden in a nunnery with Emma dressed as a nun and the children hiding under her habit."

[Peter Goodey]

Sounds like history didn't occupy a very important part of someone's school curriculum!

Many family historians have found ancestors who took advantage of a period of peace with France to find work there. Mostly they were driven back by economic crisis or by the upheaval of the 1848 revolution which the economic situation partly provoked. The revolution wasn't anti-foreign and the revolutionaries were on good terms with the British Chartists.

The Wikipedia article "French Revolution of 1848" may be of interest.

[Richard H]

Peter.

The revolution itself was not anti-foreign but there was plenty of xenophobia amongst French workers who resented their jobs being taken by foreigners, particularly among the railway workers. You might like to read 'France and 1848: The end of monarchy' by William Fortescue or 'Culture and Society in France 1789-1848' by F.W.J. Hemmings and 'Employment and the Revolution of 1848 in France' by Hubert Bonin.

Even your own Wikipedia reference quotes Hubert Bonin who says, "In the north, unemployment explains the xenophobic movement: in March-May 1848, workers gave 'a real chase to Belgians' in order to force them to return their country and so to give up their jobs."

[Richard H]

Mum and I have been looking through her files and we have found an old photograph of a soldier in uniform which is marked on the back as Captain DENNIS. From the notes, it appears that Captain DENNIS married into the family but we can't find to whom. In the 1851 census there is:

Captain J.F.T. DENNIS, 33yrs, born Wicklow, Ireland, an officer of the 95th Regiment based at Anglesey Barracks, Portsea, Hampshire.

Next to him on the census is:

Captain J.H. CAREW, 29yrs, born Waterford, Ireland, also an officer of the 95th Regiment.

It was shortly after 1851 that the name Carew started to become widely used as a middle name in my side of the family so I feel sure that Captain CAREW must be connected somehow. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain the link to John Dilling CREW whose marriage was much earlier in 1838.