Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hiya crew
Trying to help John he's a mate of cuz Tommy's, with no luck.
John has all the tree so no worries there.
1891 James Hodson aka Hodgson pork butcher in Wm Hy St 27 bn Lancster (Garstang bapt Barnacre)
Elizabeth 21 bn Lpl, James George 9 mnths
Birth cert obtained listed maiden name as Cowley.
Elizabeth traced in census & James too.
Sadly Eliz dies in 1898 in Wm Hy St
Family say James G had no memory of his mother.
Eliz bapt at St Mary's Walton.
John has trawled through the marriages St Mary's & also in Garstang area with no luck.
Eliz's sister Margaret Cowley married at St Michael's in the Hamlet 1883.
We think bro John died young & James is unmarried living with his Mum Sarah who was born in Isle of Wight (been there too)

Off topic, James changed his name from Hodgson as people attacked his shop thinking he was German
My thoughts are....they married in Gretna
James was already married?
Names have been badly transcribed?
They lived "over the broomstick"??

Tina

Hello Tina, from a very wet and windy Emerald Isle!

I'd like to get a handle on this family so could you post the page reference for them in the 1891 census? Having difficulty finding them.

Cheers,
Dickiesam

Hi D.S
I'ts been awful here, we had a mini tornado go through Rockingham, not near us thanks goodness.

1891 RG12/2922/57/12
You will find James in 1881 pork butcher Wm Hy St with bro Robert, they are half brothers.


Tina oxo

Hi Tina,
I've drawn a blank! Searched for an Elizabeth [including variations] Cowley [soundex on!] who married a James Ho* from 1885 [when she would have been 15] up to 1898 when she died and still nothing. Nowt in Scotland's People either!

Dickiesam

Sorry Teen, Gretna marriages 1794 - 1895 are on Ancestry, but had no luck either.

Thanks folks for your help which I'll send to John
We are truly baffled.

I've also been through GRU with no luck for Eliz's family & James parents/sibs.
We've also tried Isle of Wight where her Mum Sarah was born.
Every combination of Cowley & Hodson...
Unless James was married before, it would have been in Lpool I reckon..
Clutching at straws

Cheers
Tina oxo

Hi Tina,
Re: "Off topic, James changed his name from Hodgson as people attacked his shop thinking he was German"

I am intrigued... Why would anyone think he was German? In the 1881, both he and Robert are Hodson, and James is only 18. But they are in business together. Later, they either split up or opened another branch at 44 Wavertree Road, where Robert is in 1891, and James stayed at Wm Hy St.

I have read of strong anti-Semetic sentiment in Liverpool but not German up to the outbreak of WW1. Queen Victoria was married to a German, Prince Albert, when James was born but she was a grieving widow by 1891.

Dickiesam

Hi D.S
Perhaps they targeted the shop because it was a pork butcher's as a lot of Germans had these shops?

To reply to Katie who has kindly offered to do a look up at LRO, James & Robert's father was William Hodgson who had been married twice.
It's a long shot that James may have already been wed.

Tina

Hi Tina,
You had mentioned that Robert and James were half-brothers so I looked at the 1861 and 1871 censuses. Poor William the dad, a widower in each, seems to have really bad luck to be widowed twice, each time within a couple of years of the marriage.

Re the missing marriage.. Just wondering if the maiden name on the birth cert of child James G was misread/misheard/mis-spelt ? Is this worth a good look for the James' father's name/occupation?
Marriages Jun 1888:
Hodgson, James - Lancaster - 8e - 1077
Townley, Elizabeth - Lancaster - 8e - 1077.

Dickiesam

According to www.lancashirebmd.org.uk the marriage Dickiesam has found took place at Skerton St Lukes. It just so happens I am going to lancashire Record Office and they have the registers so I will look the marriage up for you.

Hilary
Ed Officer

Hi EO

I am going to check a few entries at LRO tomorrow to see if the long shot is correct.

LONG SHOT

Hi Tina

been having a little play with this.

I see Robert Hodson married Mary Hegarty at St Annes R/C Church in 1882

Their children where baptised at SFX.

Its a long shot but a James Hodson married a Catherine Lavery at St John's Kirkdale in 1886. From 1886 to 1900 there is only one baptism for this couple. What is the name of the father for Robert and James Hodson. While I am at the record office on Tuesday I will look these marriages up to see if the fathers match. This could explain why you cant find a marriage for Hodson to Cowley.

The child born 1887 Alice Elizabeth Hodson married in St Nicholas in 1909.

Catherine Hodson is residing with her mother Alice Lavery at 69 Latham Street Kirkdale in 1891 no husband is listed with her although she is married. He could be a seaman and away at the time of the census.

I am checking this out at LRO tomorrow just to eliminate the Long shot.

Sorry Katie I'm totally confused

Tina do you want me to look up the marriage Dickiesam found?

Hilary
Ed Officer

Hi Hilary
Many thanks for your offer.
In IGI it has Elizabeth Townley baptised in Skerton.
Our Elizabeth bn Lpool with her family in census.
So don't think it's a match.
Cheers
Tina

Thanks also to Katie.
I did find young Alice still with her grannie in 1901 but no Catherine.
Tina

Hi D.S
Spot on about Wm's wives
Margaret Dobson m 1852 died 1859 4 kiddies
Elizabeth Bilsborough m 1861 died 1866 2 kiddies
As always thanks for your interest.

off topic my bridesmaid....from 1966, who married the best man!!
has found her late Mums birth cert with a different surname than the maiden she used.
Birth was in N.Ire.
If I pm info, can you point me in the right direction please?
thank you!

Tina

You can rule out James Hodson in 1886 his father was Thomas Hodson

Thank you Katie for your time.
Phew back to square one
Tina