Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Wondered if anyone could help with this one.

I am trying to trace birth and death listings for a Benjamin Willcox. He was born abt 1840 in Almondsbury, Gloucestershire but I think Benjamin may have been his middle name as his brother, although listed on all the census as Henry, was actually John Henry Bennett Willcox on his marriage cert. However, Benjamin has just used the one name on his marriage cert - married to Amelia Dorothy Pilkington in 1870 in Liverpool (Jan-Mar qtr, vol 8b, pg 259).

Benjamin Willcox was a sea captain and had 3 children: Sidney Benjamin Willcox (1871), Herbert Henry Willcox (1872) and Gertrude Mary Willcox (abt 1872).

In 1871 he lived at 6 Argyle Road, Garston, Lancs

His parents were John Willcox (farmer) 1801-1848 and Mary, both from Almondsbury, Gloucestershire.

Would appreciate any help offered!!


Lyn Willcox
Durrus, Ireland

Hi Do you have Benjamin on the 1851 census?
If not this is what I have on CD of the index for 1851 census for the area.
It does not give address only names.
entry no 49
J WRIGHT aged 69 Schoolmaster
JANE WRIGHT aged 69
HESTER PILLETT visitor aged 60
J SCRIVEN aged 58 Carpenter
BENJAMIN WILCOX aged 11 scholar
all born Almondsbury

Hope this of some help
Shirley

Thank you Shirley. The reference for this entry is HO107; Piece: 1957; Folio: 71; Page: 14 and unfortunately the address is just "Village of Almondsbury, Tything? of Almondsbury".

Jno Wright is a Retired School Master and Hester Pillett is a Retired Inn Keeper. I believe Mr Scriven is also Jno and he an Benjamin are also noted as visitors.

Thanks Shirley & Mary for your time - I didn't have the 1851 census for Benjamin - only and 1851 for his mother Mary and brother Henry, so that was a great help. This info ties in rather nicely as Jane Wright is Benjamin mother's aunt, so I guess Benjamin's Great Aunt. I have him still living with Jane & John Wright in 1861 before he moved to Garston, Liverpool.

Is there any way I can get info on when he died? His wife, Amelia Dorothy Pilkington remarried in 1877 so it must be between 1871 and 1877. Wondering if he died at sea would he still have a death listing in Liverpool?

Thanks again both of you for your help - much appreciated.
Lyn

Maybe you don't have the 1841 census entry?
Tything of Humpton Patchway, Almondsbury
All born in County
John Wilcox 40 Farmer
Mary 30
John 3
Benjamin 1
HO107; Piece 361; Book: 7; Civil Parish: Almondsbury; County: Gloucestershire; Enumeration District: 1A; Folio: 6; Page: 12

I don't see a relevant death in the regular death indexes for Benjamin, tried Wilcox(cks) and Willcox(cks).

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp has indexes for deaths at sea, with 3 credits to view an entry, although I don't see an entry there with initial B.

Thanks for your help Mary. Yes I have the 1841 census and the 1871 when he was married and living in Garston, Livepool. Just seems his birth and death are a bit of a mystery!
Thanks for all you did though - much appreciated.
Lyn

Hi Lyn,
Noted your request for a lookup in the LRO for parents' names in Amelia's marriage to Benjamin Wil[l]cox. Here's one half of the answer!

In the 1870 census Benjamin's mother-in-law is Elizabeth Pilkington, bn abt 1820 in Lancashire... RG10 - Piece: 3853 - Folio: 103 - Page: 16.

In the 1851 Amelia aged 2 is with her parents Thomas and Elizabeth Pilkington. Thomas bn abt 1817 Ormskirk and Elizabeth abt 1819 Childwall.
HO107 - Piece: 2188 - Folio: 418 - Page: 18.

Cheers,
Dickiesam

Hi Dickiesam

Thanks for taking time out to reply. I have the info on Amelia's parents but wanted to verify Benjamin's parents as I don't know what his mother's maiden name was. They must have married before the 1837 listings began.

Benjamin's father, John, died in 1848 and Mary lived with various family up to about 1884 when the cousin she was living with in Almondsbury, Gloucestershire died. I have found a listing for a Mary Wilcox in Barton Regis Workhouse on the 1891 census and I would like to verify if that is indeed her. Would you know how to go about this? I can find no other listing for her and think she may have died there.

Hope I haven't caused too much of a problem!

Thanks anyway for all your help.

Hope you enjoyed Paddy's day yesterday.

Lyn

Hello Lyn,
I very much doubt if there is a way to positively confirm that the Mary W in the Barton Regis workhouse is your Mary. You would have to bank on the age and place of birth for the entry in the 1891 census. You could go back to the '81, '71 and '61 censuses to check how many possible candidates there are.

If you could find her death, the cert might tell you who her spouse was. Depends on where she died and whether or not the informant knew her history. There are a couple of deaths in FreeBMD that might be her including one in Barton Regis. If you want to take a flyer at a death cert based on the nearest age match, you should do it quickly before the GRO shove their prices up.

Deaths Sep 1892: Wilcox, Mary - 82 - Barton R. - 6a - 103?
I had a look in the 1891 census for an 81 year old [+/- 2] and didn't get a match.

Good luck,
Dickiesam

Thanks Dickiesam - will request the death cert to see if its a match. You've been very kind to help.
Lyn

Hi Lyn,
Sure, getting stuck into other folks brick walls etc is what a lot of us love to do! Several sets of eyes and sideways thinkers helps unravel the seemingly impossible.

Re that death I posted for Mary.. You should have a look at the FreeBMD deaths 1891 to 1901 and check the possibilities for yourself. Ages given at death are sometimes out by a mile. If the one I posted is right I'll take the credit. If it isn't...... Only joking!

Cheers,
Dickiesam

The death certifictae will not give you her maiden name.

If we assume they were married before civil registration began in 1837 they had to be married in the Church of England unless they were a Jew or a Quaker. I would suggest that you find out where the nearest LDS Family History Centre is to you and then ask them to order in a copy of Almondsbury Church parish registers if they have them and then go and study the registers looking for the marriage and the children's baptisms and possibly the parents' baptisms.

The other thing you could do is if there is a younger sibling you could order their birth certificate which would give the mother's maiden name.

I would also suggest you google Almonsbury Parish registers. You never know they may have been transcrided and be available for purchase or may even have been put on the Internet. This will also help check if there is a parish church at Almondsbury and if not what parish it was in so you know what church you are looking for.

Hilary
Ed Officer

Hi Hilary,
Good advice re the CLDS. This URL will advise on CLDS research centres in Ireland: http://homepage.eircom.net/~hi5holidays ... eland.html

The reference is some way down the page so just scroll down.

Dickiesam

Thanks Hilary and Dickiesam. Have looked at all the likely deaths for Mary and I think the one you found Dickiesam is the most likely. I'm hoping to go over to the Bristol area later on in the year so will go to Bristol Record Office and see if I can find anything. Had a look online at the one and only church in Almondsbury - St Mary's , but no records available to look at online. I know Mary Wilcox was living with Ann Scriven - probably her cousin - in the cottage by the Churc (known as Church Path Cottage) and that Ann Scriven was an annuitant, so I guess that when Ann died in 1887, Mary had nowhere else to go.

So if nothing else when I go over I'll get some good photos! Thanks again both of you for your time.
Lyn