Amendments at 10th Aug 2009

Census entries on my database for these years are now as complete as I can make them but there will be a few people who for various reasons cannot be found.  Numbers for each year include some who were incorrectly indexed.  I have the pages for the following numbers of people:-

1841 152 people BUT about 50 of them cannot be traced later and I believe this is due to the poor quality of the pages so that transcripton errors can easily be made - this of course works both ways, a “Gilman” could be “Gidman” and vice versa.  Lack of data does not help - Ages were rounded for adults and their birth place details are restricted to “in” or “out “of the county they are resident in.
1851 189  1861 162 1871 203
On the face of it, the 1861 numbers seem to be several families short and I shall compare each one with my other information to see whether this can be accounted for.   The numbers are misleading; I have found about 35 in 1871 who should be in 1861 but are not. However there are some in 1861 who are not in 1871 and [allowing for marriages] I expected them to be still alive  then.

In 1841 Lancashire with 62 people had slightly outgrown Cheshire with 55.
13 were in Shropshire and 12 in Staffordshire. Rutland and Lincolnshire each contained a family of 3, a couple were in Derbyshire, one girl in Warwickshire.and one in Sussex who was John - see his page..

In 1851 there were 74 people in Cheshire, 64 in Lancashire, 33 in Staffordshire, 13 in Shropshire, 3 in Norfolk and 2 in Sussex.

There were 40 families and 13 individuals.
Almost everyone was born in the county they lived in, so the migrants from Cheshire had become well established.  The oldest remaining in Astbury parish, at Odd Rode, was Joshua 78 with wife Elizabeth 65 also born there.  They have a memorial stone in Astbury churchyard.
The Norfolk family comprised John 30 born in Shropshire, Mary Ann 26 born Cheshire and 1 year old Mary Ann born in Wymondham - her birth is registered there but the only other registration in the county is the death of Harriet in 1849.  After that I have lost track of them - did they emigrate?

 The total does not include a family in London at Piece 1478 headed by William Adam; indexed as GEDMAN but I think the enumerator’s schedule has it as GIDMAN - as will be seen elswhere this branch, if it does exist, is causing difficulty; does anyone have any ideas about it?

In 1861 there were 20 living individually in other households.  I have 139 in 33 families; one of 11 and one of 9 being exceptionally large.  62 lived in Lancashire, 50 in Cheshire, 31 in Staffordshire and 11 in Shropshire.  One was in Surrey but as he was a Coachman he may have been on tour.  Nearly half were under the age of 21 and ten were  over 59.   Of the 18 children aged 10 to 14, 6 were employed - two of them as Forgemen of whom one was just 11.

The following is an entry on the 30th March 1851 census for Macclesfield, Cheshire.  Below it is a tapestry now in Canada.  This illustrates how valuable information about past generations can still be found in present day homes; some hanging with pride of place and others in the attic.

All the deaths, except for Mary Ann junior are in the Registry Office index.  Did she marry before she died?  I have not found the births registered in the area.   On the face of it Mary Ann could be the mother of all the children but who was the visitor Mary Whalley?   In 1841 a James married Mary Anne WALLEY in St George Church, Sutton, Macclesfield so the visiitor was probably James’ mother-in-law?  I believe it was a second marriage; a James married Esther HACKNEY in St. Mary’s church, Astbury in December 1836 and this could account for the eldest child being Esther. Esther her mother died in 4th Qtr 1837.    She must have quite young because James was only 25 when he married Mary Anne.

James married Harriet WOOD 4th Qtr 1868; his Will of 1875 refers to her and his eldest brother Hugh. He died in that year aged 60.