Ulverston memorials

I recently went to Lancashire RO to carry on my search for Caddy's, I decided to do some research on Caddy's in Ulverston, again like Cartmel the majority of records are held at Kendal RO and the ones Lancs RO have don't really cover the years I was looking for. Anyway not to worry there are always lots of other ways of finding missing people.

I found a transcription of the memorial inscriptions at Ulverston, which out to be very useful. I knew one of the brothers of my John Caddy, Michael, had ended up in Ulverston from finding him on the census returns for 1841, 1851 and 1861 and it was great to find the following with with the memorial inscriptions.

In Memory of Michael Caddy of this town Joiner who departed this life 10 July 1868 aged 77 years. Also of Sarah wife of Michael Caddy who died 11 Jun 1862 aged 77 yrs. Also of Jonathan Caddy, Painter, their eldest son who died 30 Jan 1869 aged 50 yrs. Also of William Henry Caddy, Painter, son of the last named who died 5 Apr 1872 aged 25 yrs. Also of Mary Ann wife of the above Jonathan Caddy who died 23 Nov 1892 aged 75 yrs

This tallies with what I had found already regarding Michael, that he was a joiner and had married a Sarah and the childrens names are the same as the ones I found on the census.

I also found this regarding James Caddy who I believe is the brother of my great (x5) grandfather Jonathan Caddy

In memory of James Caddy late of Gill, Yeoman who departed this life 31 July 1834 aged 77 yrs. Also of Agnes his wife who died at Little Urswick 9 Jan 1823 aged 73. This monument is erected by their 3 surviving children Margaret dau of the above who died 24 Jul 1844 aged 62 yrs. The Rev Thomas Caddy incumbrent of Whitbeck, Cumberlaqnd son of the above who died 28 Sep 1842 aged 62 years, Roger James son in law of the above who died at St Johns Vicarage, Worcester 9 May 1854 aged 65 yrs. Agnes James relict of the last named who died at Kirkburn Vicarage 6 May 1875 aged 83 yrs.

So this now gives me a link to the Rev Thomas Caddy who died in Whitbeck.

So lots more people and things to look up, just wish I had more time to do it :o(

Fernando 2 months old

Here is my little nephew Fernando, now 2 months old

Caddy graveyards Cartmel

Sacred to the memory of Philip Caddy of Greenbank and Margaret Stephenson late of Ulverston.

The former died at Greenbank June 15th 1841 aged 72, the later at Wallnook Dec 17th 1845 aged 87. They were the last survivors of nine children of Jonathan Caddy Maltster and Margaret his wife viz sons Jonathan. James, Robert, Henry, William and Philip, daughters Margaret, Ruth and Agnes










Sacred to the memory of Ann wife of Henry Caddy, Maltster, Greenbank who departed this life the 13th day of August 1849 aged 60 years. Also the above mentioned Henry Caddy who departed this life on the 23rd April 1857 aged 72 years. Also Jonathan son of the above mentioned Henry and Ann Caddy who departed this life 24th Dec 1851 aged 26. Also Margaret first wife of the above named Henry Caddy who departed this life ........

Caddy's part 2

This is a picture of the church at Cartmel, now known as Cartmel Priory, church name St Mary & St Michaels.














I finally got round to going to Kendal RO, good day as well I managed to get a parking space outside the building.

Searching through the Cartmel St Mary & St Michaels registers I found another child of my John Caddy and Elizabeth (still no surname) who was called Philip and baptised on 1st April 1821. Since coming back from Kendal I found a Philip Caddy who I thought might be the right one and he married Eleanor Thompson in 1859. So I sent for the marriage certificate to see who it had for Philip's father, this does confirm that it's a good match. Father down as John Caddy, Labourer and they are living not too far from Cartmel where the family are from.

I then couldn't find Philip on the 1861 census but did find a possible death on 19th December1860, which I sent off for. The age matches my Philip. Poor guy's cause of death was "killed by falling down an iron ore shaft" and place of death was Lindale Moor, which I have since found out was a local Iron Ore mine close to where they were living. I then finally tracked down his wife, noted as being called Ellen Caddy on the 1861 census living with her mother Marie Thompson and her daughter Elizabeth Margaret Caddy (born in 1860). So thats another line to follow when I have some spare time.

Back to what I found at Kendal - I wanted to find a link between my John Caddy (1787/1788) and Henry Caddy (c1784) who is the ancestor of a lady who has contacted me recently and I feel they were probably brothers. Anyway I found a John Caddy born 5 July 1788 in Flookburgh, which is the place of birth my John has used on the census returns. The fathers name was Jonathan Caddy and mother Anne. So searching through more baptism records I found Jonathan baptised 23 Feb 1777, Margaret born 20 Dec 1778, another Jonathan born 20 Aug 1781, Harry born 14 Dec 1784, Michael 28 Jan 1793 and William 29 Jan 1796 all born in Flookburgh and parents Jonathan and Anne Caddy. I think Harry is the Henry I have been trying to find a link too. I was a little worried at first because of finding 2 Jonathan's but searching the burials I found a Jonathan who died 26 Sep 1777 so that must be the first child.

Searching further back I couldn't find a marriage of Jonathan and Anne, so will have to search in the area of Cartmel when I have some more time to go back to Kendal.

I do have more to tell but not enough time to tell it now, will follow on soon

Caddy's part 1

I have neglected this blog for far too long and need to try and make more of an effort to keep it up-to-date.

For the last couple of months I have been concentrating on my Caddy line, So far I have 3 generations of Caddy's starting with my 2x great grandmother Eleanor Caddy who was born in Barbon, Westmorland in 1864. Her father was John Caddy he was born in 1829 in Grange, Lancashire. From John's marriage certificate I found that his father was a Labourer and was also called John.

On the 1841 census I find John (c1829) living with his father John and other children Betsy, Ellen and William, As there are no relationships on the 1841 census I decided I need to check all these children to clarify whether or not they were all siblings. Further census returns for John say that he was born in Cartmel.

I did a search on the Lancs OPC website and found 3 baptisms at Cartmel St Mary & St Michael, one for Ellen baptised 24 Mar 1833 parents John and Elizabeth, one for a child called Henry baptised in 1851 who's parents were Jonathan and Agnes and William baptised 3 Dec 1837 who was the child of Margaret single woman.

The William born 1837 was a possible match for the William I found on the 1841 census, so now I need to find out who Margaret Caddy . Anyway I decided I need to find the baptism records for John, Betsy and now Margaret Caddy and as I live within 3 miles of the Lancashire RO I tried there first as they do have some of the parish records for Cartmel, although the majority of them are at Kendal RO.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that between 1815 and 1833 I found 8 children being born to John and Elizabeth Caddy, all baptised at St Mary and St Michaels in Cartmel. Alice 1815, Jonathan 1817, Margaret 1819, Anne 1823, James 1825, Betsey 1827, John 1829 and then Ellen 1833. If these are all my Caddys then the William Caddy born 1837 must be the child of Margaret 1819. I also looked through the burials and found John Caddy who died in 1867 aged 79 and Betsy 1838 aged 46 and Alice 1823 aged 7.

Once home I then looked for Margaret she married Thomas Gawith in 1841 and by the 1851 census son William is living with her and her husband in Dalton. I found the marriage record in the Lancs OPC website and this confirms that her father was John Caddy a Labourer.

The John and Elizabeth Caddy for all the above baptisms do seem to tally with each other, in that they all have them living in Grange and occupation is either Labourer/Farmer or Husbandman. I have looked for another John Caddy who this could be but he seems to be the only one suitable.

I still need to find the marriage of John and Elizabeth, which I think I am going to have to go to Kendal RO to find now.

Since finding the above I have been to Cartmel St Mary & St Michael to look for any gravestones that might shed more light on my Caddy's I will write off now and tell you about that soon.

Fernando Rafferty Roy

Here is the latest addition to our family, my new little nephew Fernando Rafferty Roy Walmsley

He was born on Tuesday 30th June 2009 weighing 6lb 13oz., he is my brothers first child.

Isn't he beautiful :o)

William French 1871-1871

Just a little update on the French family and my great grandfather Henry's brother William.

The birth certificate arrived and as I thought it is the right child. He was born William French 3 Aug 1871 to parents Michael French and Margaret Moylan and the family were living at 8 Back Bolton Street, Preston. As I said previously this is the address the family were living at in 1871 and at the time of their son Henry's birth in August 1872.

His birth was registered on the 23 August 1871 and he died 3 days later on the 26th. His mother registered both the birth and the death, on the 28th, within 5 days of each other. How sad must that have been for her.

French family

I have been doing some research on my maternal French line (French as in surname not nationality). Also I have acquired some photos from cousins of my mother.

Henry French, my great, great grandfather, was born in Preston on the 3 Aug 1872 and I always thought he was an only child. His parents were Michael French and Margaret Moylan, both born somewhere in Ireland in about 1847/1848. They married on 5 Dec 1869 at St Wahlburgs RC Church in Preston, before this date I am struggling to find either of them, so maybe they only came across to England between 1861 and their marriage in 1869. So think I need to leave that line alone for the time being.

Anyway back to Henry and him being an only child. When I was looking at the updates on Lancs BMD the other day I thought I would run the surname French and mothers maiden name Moylan through the database again between 1869 and 1889. Amazingly I found another boy born in 1871 called William (good sign both Michael and Margaret's fathers were called William). He wasn't on the 1871 census with them but he could have been born after census night so I searched Ancestry to see if I could find the quarter this William French was born in. I found it and it was in the Sep quarter. So before I ordered the certificate I thought I would try and find out what happened to William as there is no sign of him on the 1881 census and with only being 10 years old you would have expected him still to be at home with his parents, as his brother Henry was.

Searching Lancs BMD again I found a death of a William French in 1871 aged 0, checking Ancestry again I find this William French died in the Sep quarter. So I sent off for both certificates.

The death certificate has now arrived and although no mention of mothers surname it does have the child dying at the address the family were living at on the 1871 census and when their son Henry was born in 1872. Fathers occupation is exactly as stated on Henry's birth certificate the year after. Margaret French registers the death although she hasn't stated what relation she is the deceased I do believe I have found the sibling of my great, great grandfather.

He unfortunately was only 3 weeks old when he died, so the birth certificate I am awaiting is more than likely the correct one. Cause of death was Diarrhoea 5 days, poor little mite.

Anyway on a lighter note here are my French pictures


This is Margaret Mary French's wedding in 1920 to George Seed.

There are a few people on the picture I don't know but the man to the left of the groom is my great, great grandfather Henry French. Margaret is his eldest daughter.








This is the marriage of Henry French, my grandmothers brother.

The two bridesmaids are, on the left, Winnifred French (my grandmother) and, on the right, her sister Bessie French




This is the wedding of Annie French and Robert Rooney in 1920. To the right of the bride is her brother Billy French.

Walmsley Family Photos

Here are a just a few Walmsley family photos

This is my paternal grandparents, not sure what year it was taken but think its around the early 40s.











This is my dad and his younger brother Alan, think this was taken in about 1953.















My mum and dad's wedding














Me and my siblings, I am the blonde one










My dad and grandson Paul

Gibsons again

Its ages since I have updated this blog so thought while I had a bit of time to spare, before going back to work in a couple of days, I would use the time to update.

I have done quite alot more research on the Gibson line, Uncle Alan has been in touch with the son of Edith Hodgson, who was the daughter of Eleanor Gibson (born 1882), and he has a family bible which provided us with the dates of birth of all the children of Thomas Allan Gibson and Alice Gibson. It also had some of the marriages on, although not the partners, which gave me two of my great grandad John Gibson brothers weddings.

The first wedding was Allan Gibson "Uncle Pip" who the diary said married on 29 Mar 1916 in Morecambe, which was quite a find as we had believed Uncle Pip had never married. So I searched the Lancs BMD for any suitable marriages and found one to a lady called Margaret Dempster, and sent off for it. This turned out to be the right one and interestingly Allan and Margaret were both residing at Daisy Bank Farm, Middleton at the time of their marriage. Once I found her fathers details it was easy to find her family on the 1901 census living at Daisy Bank Farm. I havent as yet found out what happened to his wife as Uncle Alan doesnt remember anybody ever mentioning Uncle Pip having a wife or family.

Using Lancs BMD I did a search for any children born after 1916 with the mothers maiden name of Dempster and found a girl in the Sep quarter of 1916 with the name of Margaret Dempster Gibson, good sign I felt that I was on to a possible of daughter of Allan and Margaret. After receiving this certificate I found that it was the right child and the family were still living at Daisy Bank Farm, Middleton.

So lots of unanswered questions about Uncle Pip now, what happened to his wife that Uncle Alan never heard anything about and what happened to little Margaret. If either of them died young I still haven't found them and neither can I locate a marriage of Margaret Dempster Gibson if she did survive to adulthood. Also did they live at Daisy Bank Farm with Margaret's parents.

The second marriage the diary told us about was that of Stephen Gibson, married 16 Oct 1912 also in Morecambe. So again I sent off for this one and it turned out he married a lady call Grace Downham, married at the same church as Allan and Margaret.

Using Lancs BMD so far hasn't turned up any children of Stephen and Grace, but it might be that the mothers maiden names aren't all on them yet.

Anyway lots more information and lots more things to check.

Allan Gibson and family again

I decided to do a google search for St Andrews at Dent, the church Allan and Betsey Gibson were married in and a site came up that has the memorial inscriptions for the church.

The website lists names but not details of what the inscriptions says or any dates but I have found 4 people in one grave named Allan, Betsey, Elizabeth and Alice Gibson, so looks like it might be the family I am looking for.

A visit to the church is scheduled for next week.

Allan Gibson and family

I am trying to find all the partners of the Gibson siblings, I had found Elizabeth Gibson (born c1795) on the 1871 census living with Betsey Gibson, which I thought might be Elizabeth, wife of Allen Gibson - my 4x great grandparents. So after looking for a marriage between a Betsey and a Gibson son, the choices being Allan, Anthony or Joseph I found a marriage between an Allan Gibson and a Betsey Robinson in 1853 in Yorkshire. There was also a Betsey Robinson residing at the same place as Allan Gibson on the 1851 census, noted as being a servant.

The certificate has now arrived and it looks like I have found the right one. Age tallies as well as fathers details. Interestingly it states Allan Gibson residence was "the Parsonage, Dent", the minister at the wedding was John Sedgwick which I believe is the same person Allan was working for according to the 1851 census. He worked as a coachman.

Finding them on future censuses was relatively easy but Allan and Betsey weren't living together on either the 1861 or 1871 census. Allan was still working for Jane Sedgwick, widow to minister John Sedgwick on the 1861 census. The 1861 census shows that Betsey has now has two daughters Elizabeth (born c1854) and Alice (born c1856 in Dent, Yorkshire). Alice is still living with her mother on the 1871 census but Elizabeth has disappeared.

I then had trouble finding any of them after the 1871 census but I have found 4 deaths that might be theirs, Elizabeth aged 15 Dec 1869, Alice aged 16 Jun 1872, Betsey aged 49 Mar 1872 and then Allan aged 49 Mar 1873. I am intrigued now and want to know what, if it is them, they all died of so close together.

So I have sent off for the certificates and will report back when I get them.

Cross Keys Inn, Whitechapel, Lancashire

Well I thought I would just update my blog with what I did on my day off this week. After receiving Annie Gibson's wedding certificate I was surprised that it had said Thomas Allan Gibson, her father, was an Innkeeper. I decided to send off for Thomas Allan's death certificate, as I knew this was a couple of years before Annie had married.

Anyway the certificate arrived and he died on 24 Dec 1909 and it states he was an Innkeeper and Farmer and lived at Cross Keys Inn, Goosnargh. Annie's marriage certificate had said it was in Whitechapel, which is very close to Goosnargh. So I think I can safely say I had found my great, great grandfather's death.

So yesterday we, myself and my uncle Alan, decided to go and look for the Cross Keys Inn. I got out my trusty sat nav, I don't know how I ever got anywhere without it, we set off to Whitechapel and decided while we were there we would look for the local church to see if there were any graves of interest to us.

Above you can see the picture I took of what is left of the Cross Keys Inn, it is not open anymore which is a shame, and there is no farm there now either.

The church turned out to be directly across the road, which was handy. We easily found Thomas Allan's grave and he was buried with his wife Alice and two of their children, who I hadn't been aware of as they had only lived a short while. Both called Amy, one died at 1 year and the other only 7 months, poor little girls.

We also found Annie's grave with her husband William Procter, so that was an added bonus.

So a good afternoon's work all in, more dates and pictures for my family tree and two little girls death certificates to find now.

Annie Gibson

After finding this newspaper clipping in the photographs that my uncle had I decided I would do some research on Annie Gibson, my great grandfathers sister, who married William Procter.

This clipping is from their golden wedding and I believe the picture below, if you look closely you can see they are wearing the same outfits, is taken on the same day and is a picture of their whole family. We haven't worked out who any of the other people are yet though.

So I decided to send off for their marriage certificate, they were married on 28 June 1911 at Whitechapel Parish Church in Whitechapel, Preston. He is noted as living at Barnes Lane, Whitechapel, Preston and is a Farm Labourer and his father was James Procter and he was a Farmer.

Annie is noted as living at Cross Keys Inn, Whitechapel, Preston and her father, as I already knew was Thomas Allan Gibson. But something I didn't know is that he was noted as being an Innkeeper, this is a complete surprise as we always thought he was a Farmer throughout his life. He is deceased by this time as I believe he died in 1909, so now I have sent off for his death certificate to see where he was residing at the time of death and what his occupation was.

Gibson family photos

I went to visit my Uncle Alan and his partner Mavis yesterday, which was a lovely day. Alan had managed to borrow some old family photographs from his adopted sister Kathy. So we spent the afternoon scanning about 150 of the photos, with my new scanner might I add, and I will now post some of the pictures.

Here is a small selection of my favourite ones so far

The one above is Allan Gibson (better know as Uncle Pip) born circa 1887, he is the brother to my great grandfather John Gibson.






This is Allan Hodgson, my grandmother's cousin

Doesn't he look glamorous.

Celebration of Family History - Chorley

I went to the Celebration of Family History at Astley Hall at Chorley today, which was very interesting.

They have some really useful stalls there, including Preston Records Office so I asked the gentleman behind the stall about the Workhouse records, if you have read my previous posts you will already know about my hunt for further information on William Moon.

Anyway the man said that if it was Burnley Workhouse I had been interested in they would have been able to provide me with lots as they have all the records but they hardly have any for Preston, which is just sod's law isn't it. They only really have information on the workhouse itself no family records.

I also had a nice chat to a lady called Margaret Purcell who was from the Irish group of the LFHHS who gave me some really useful tips, and a list of good books, to help me get further on my Irish side of the family.

So watch this space I intend to do some more research on my Irish roots by the end of this year.

All in all it was a nice afternoon. Astley Hall is a lovely building and the staff were wandering around in Elizabethan costumes, which does add a nice touch.

http://www.ukattraction.com/north-west-england/astley-hall.htm

Am going to visit my uncle tomorrow to look at some family photos, taking my new scanner with me so hopefully will be able to scan them whilst I am there, see I knew the portable scanner would come in useful.

New scanner, very excited

My old scanner hasn't worked for months now and I have been copying certificates by photographing them, which just isn't as good as using a scanner, scanners are so nice and smooth and give nice clear copies. So I ordered a new one and its a little portable one, so in theory I can carry around with my laptop, which I probably won't do but I could if I wanted to.

Anyway as well as the scanner arriving today the will of Thomas Brown also arrived, he died on the 7 Feb 1889 and his will was drawn up on 14 April 1884, I have attached a copy.

It is really interesting as it confirms that daughter Isabella did marry Robert Park, Martha did marry James Batty and I presume the "son in law William Hayston of Borwick" is the William Haston husband of Margaret Agnes, who I believed died the year before Thomas drew up his will. Isn't it a good feeling when you receive a document that gives you so much information. There is a line on it that isn't very clear, it does mention daughter Ann and gives her married surname but because its been added in its difficult to read. If anybody has any ideas on what it says please let me know.

Right well I will go back to my scanning.

Martha Brown

I have received the marriage certificate of Martha Brown and James Batty, Martha is the half-sister of Ellen Wilson.

Marriage details
25 Dec 1869 Register Office, Sedbergh
James Batty (31yrs) bachelor - Husbandman - Marthwaite, Sedbergh - father Thomas Batty (Farmer)
Martha Brown (24 yrs) spinster - Marthwaite, Sedbergh - father Thomas Brown (farmer)
witnesses John Askew and Elizabeth Askew

Looking at the census returns 1871 onwards I find them in 1871 living at Beckside, Sedbergh, Yorkshire and Thomas Allan Gibson (who is Ellen Wilson's son) is living with them and working on their farm, noted as being a servant. Wish they had put him down as a nephew I would have found Martha much sooner, but our ancestors don't make things easy do they?

So I am doing well with the Brown children's marriages now, only a couple more to find, and one of them I think may not have got married and died in between 1841 and 1851.

I now have found lots of Batty children, 7 in fact, John (1875) Lucy (1877) Jesse (1879) Bessie (1880) Maggie (1883) Willie (1885) Tom (1887). James and Martha seemed to move around alot as well 1871 in Sedbergh, Yorkshire, 1881 still in Sedbergy, 1891 Diddlesbury, Shropshire and 1901 Ludlow, Herefordshire

Kirby Lonsdale

After visiting the records office I decided to go to Kirby Lonsdale on my way home to see if I could find any of my ancestors in the graveyard at St Mary's. I had realised whilst I was in the records office that I had forgotten my camera, I am not blonde for nothing you know. But it was a beautiful day so thought I would go anyway to find it for future reference.

I am really glad I did as it was a beautiful day and at St Marys Church you can see "Ruskin's View" which I believe John Ruskin said was "one of the loveliest views in England" after seeing Turners painting of the scene.

http://www.thecumbriadirectory.com/People/John_Ruskin/John_Ruskin.php

I did have my mobile with me so I did take a picture of the church itself and a few of the view, will post them shortly.

Here are the pictures I took with my mobile



Anyway with not having the camera I decided not to wade through the long grass to find the graves I was looking for and will save that till next time I go.

The only other thing I want to say about Kirby Lonsdale is that it is a beautiful, peaceful little place and I am so proud my relatives lived in such a beautiful place and I will definitely be spending more time there.

Kendal Records Office

Well I finally got to Kendal, car park at the Records office was full to spilling over, so anybody wanting to visit there don't bother trying to get on the car park in the morning. So I had to find another car park, luckily there is a shopping centre close by so I parked on there.

So in I go, I have to say the staff there are absolutely lovely, really helpful, I always hate asking for help as staff in records offices are usually so busy, but at Kendal they are great they take the time to help everybody who comes through the door.

Unfortunately I still haven't found Ellen Wilson's father, but I am now quite sure its not Thomas Brown as I did find her marriage in the Kirby Lonsdale parish records and although it was difficult to read it does not say Thomas Brown, although it is a Thomas it looks more like Boote or Booth. I have got a copy of the marriage cert. from the GRO but it is a typed copy and the fathers name is obviously mis-transcribed.

So anyway I had taken a list of people I wanted to find including all Ellen Wilson's half siblings baptisms. Which I was successful with most of them, and also a couple of their deaths.

One of Ellen's half sisters was Elizabeth Mary Brown and I was so excited to find a letter that had been put in the parish records, so therefore somebody had kindly copied it when they copied the registers onto the microfilm. It is dated 7 Apr 1932, she would have been 77 at the time.

It's a sweet little letter asking for a copy of her baptism record, she has detailed her parents names, her full name and the approximate date of her christening and it's spot on with the information I have found for her. But the best thing about this was I didn't know who she married but on her little letter she had signed her name, obviously her married name, which was by this time Elizabeth Mary Bentham. So then I went back to the parish records and found her marriage, the reason why I hadn't found her before was on the marriage register she had put her name as Mary Brown. So I took this information home and checked the census records and fond her on the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census and interestingly she had her name as Mary in 1881 but then has reverted to Elizabeth Mary in 1891 and 1901. Aren't our ancestors a pest keeping changing their names?

I would have taken a copy of the letter but I wasn't using the microfilm that has the printer attached to it and somebody else was using it so will get a copy of it when I next go there, as there is still lots for me to look for there.

Anyway apart from putting a huge scratch down the side of my car when I was reversing out of the car parking space it was a fun day at the Records office.