Brassington ancestors

Post by **jandot** » 28 Nov 2011 08:15

I have joined your forum in desperation, and feel something of an interloper as the ancestors I am looking for come from the Staffs area, but the trail goes cold in Liverpool and I am hoping someone can help me to kickstart it.
There are two people,
Frederick Taylor Brassington, ( my g-grandfather), christened Jan 1837 at Stoke on Trent. Staffs.
Robert Brassington born 1867 at Wolverhampton. Staffs.
The 1881 Census shows the family living at 79 Peach Street, Liverpool and are listed.
Frederick Taylor Brassington Boot maker
Caroline wife
Harry Frederick son
Robert son
Gertrude Marie daughter ( my grandmother )

I have a good history up to this point. The family moved around within Staffs, probably due to either a string of bankruptcies or the longest running single bankruptcy in history as recorded in the London Gazette.
Some time after the 1881 Census there seems to have been a parting of the ways. Caroline and Gertrude Marie moved to the Isle of Man and from family records I know what happened to them. There is no record of any other family members moving with them.

My online research has discovered that Harry Brassington married Emma Jones in Liverpool Nov 1884 and in the Census for 1901 and 1911 they were living in Chorlton on Medlock. Manchester, but Frederick Taylor Brassington and his son Robert Henry seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
If anybody has any information post 1881 or any suggestions I would be so grateful. Thank-you

Post by **MaryA** » 28 Nov 2011 10:08

Hi and welcome to the forum. We don't consider any researcher an interloper and you have connections to Liverpool anyway.

Brassington isn't a common name, in my life I believe I have only ever met one person with that surname, and I think he lived on the Wirral, so lets hope we can find a few clues for you.

In case anybody else wonders, I've checked the marriage for Robert Brassington to Mary E Sherlock in 1893 at Everton, St. Ambrose but this is not the right one.

Do you know what religion they were?

I'm also looking at newspapers and emigration. I believe some of our crew may well check directories that they hold for you.

Post by **dickiesam** » 28 Nov 2011 12:06

Hello Jandot and welcome!

Intrigued by the 1881 occupation for Frederick. Your transcription [from Ancestry?] appears to say 'boot maker'. Mine, on Findmypast, has 'Book manager (Mkr)'. The actual census page has 'Book manager', but the census checker has written 'Mkr' and in doing so partially obscured the k in Book. That would indicate to me Frederick was a 'book keeper', an accountant of sorts.

I haven't found a matching death for either Frederick or his son Robert, in any county or 'region', and you have obviously searched the IoM, so I can only assume they emigrated before 1890, when the outgoing passenger lists begin.

Regarding Caroline and Gertrude Marie who moved to the IoM, what is the marital status of Caroline in the 1891 census there? When did Gertrude marry and what is the occupation of her father Frederick on the certificate? And does the cert indicate whether he was deceased or not?
Still looking....

DS

Post by **Hilary** » 28 Nov 2011 12:21

How about this one?

1891 census 112 Horninglow St Horninglow Burton on Trent Staffs

Fredrick Brassington age 50 an assurance agent born Stoke is a boarder at this house.

Post by **dickiesam** » 28 Nov 2011 13:30

Education Officer wrote:How about this one?

1891 census 112 Horninglow St Horninglow Burton on Trent Staffs

Fredrick Brassington age 50 an assurance agent born Stoke is a boarder at this house.

He appears to be a possibility because he says he is single and there isn't an unmarried FB in 1881, only the married one in Peach Street. And then he seems to vanish for 1901.

DS

Post by **MaryA** » 28 Nov 2011 13:43

The newspaper articles for his bankruptcy appear to confirm the occupation of bootmaker.

Post by **dickiesam** » 28 Nov 2011 13:54

MaryA wrote:The newspaper articles for his bankruptcy appear to confirm the occupation of bootmaker.

So the enumerator entry in 1881 is a slip-of-the-lip or a mis-hear. Not much difference between bootmaker and bookmaker if you are in a hurry.

DS

Post by **simone** » 28 Nov 2011 16:26

Hi all

How about this for Robert in 1901, although not quite right age wise

RG13; Piece: 133; Folio: 42; Page: 14
3 St George Road, St Pancras,London
Annie Wright 36
Edith O Wright 9
Nora Wright 8
Ann Swallow 63
Walter Wolburn 26
Robert Brassington 28 lodger, waiter(hotel) , born Wolverhampton
Nellie Barrett 31

Simone x

Post by **jandot** » 28 Nov 2011 16:51

Gosh, so many replies so quickly. Thank-you everybody.
MaryA I am fairly sure the family were all Church of England. All BMD ceremonies have been in CofE churches and all the family I know of have been CofE.
dickiesam. I made the same mistake as you in firstly thinking Frederick had been a bookmaker, but I thought he took bets !! However, I do believe this has been incorrectly read from the handwritten documents and that his occupation was a boot maker.
The 1891 Census Isle of Man lists Caroline as a Boarder in the parish of St Thomas, "Conchan", though this is incorrect and should be "Onchan" Gertrude Marie is listed as a servant in the parish of St Georges, Onchan.
Why they moved to the IOM I don't know as I don't know of any other relatives there prior to them, and they certainly don't seem to have had access to any family/financial support as Caroline died in the Poor Asylum, Kirk Braddan on the 21st May 1898 aged 54yrs. She is described as a widow.
I wonder if Frederick emigrated and took the younger child, Robert, with him. Had he disappeared on his own I would be thinking prison, deportation or even the bottom of the Mersey in a pair of concrete boots given his incompetent financial abilities.

Post by **jandot** » 28 Nov 2011 17:07

Reply to simone. I have the St Pancras one noted too, but I doubt very much that it is "my" Robert Brassington because of the age difference. The difficulty I have found is that Staffs is awash with Brassingtons and so many of them have the same christian names too, so following them all up to see where they moved to and when is daunting.
I thought the Robert Brassington MaryA found was hopeful, but she says that is a dead end.
Education Officer. Thanks for that lead, I'll see if I can find out anything.

Post by **Blue70** » 28 Nov 2011 18:37

jandot wrote:The 1891 Census Isle of Man lists Caroline as a Boarder in the parish of St Thomas, "Conchan", though this is incorrect and should be "Onchan" Gertrude Marie is listed as a servant in the parish of St Georges, Onchan.

Conchan is an old name for Onchan it derives from St Conchan or St Connachan who was Bishop of Sodor and Man in 540AD. When I first came across the Conchan spelling I thought it was a mistake too but now I've seen it enough times to know that it's just a variation of the same name.

Blue

Post by **jandot** » 28 Nov 2011 19:38

Thank you Blue 70, I thought it must be an error.

I have logged on to clear up the question re the occupation of Frederick. Have been going through the documents and in the 1861 Census Frederick is living at 132 High Street. Longton, Stoke on Trent with wife Caroline and son Harry aged 10 months. His occupation is written clearly as Boot maker employing 3 men.

I do thank everyone for their interest and help. I suppose I am hoping that a descendant of Harry or Robert reads this and is as interested as I am in filling in the gaps.

Post by **MaryA** » 29 Nov 2011 10:28

jandot wrote:Had he disappeared on his own I would be thinking prison, deportation or even the bottom of the Mersey in a pair of concrete boots given his incompetent financial abilities.

This is obviously a good scouse girl away from home

Well this post will be picked up by the google bots so hopefully in time to come somebody searching for your family may come across it and make contact. In the meantime the crew may still make suggestions, they are very good at thinking around a subject and may come across something you haven't done already.

Regarding the Robert of the incorrect age, unless you can prove his date of birth and follow him through all the censuses, don't discount him, at least keep an open mind for now as we have so many times come across this happening and eventually it has turned out to be the correct person. In this instance he was a lodger - did the landlady know his exact age when (probably she) completing the census enumeration, he probably wouldn't have done it himself anyway.

In case you hadn't checked the marriage of Robert and Mary E Sherlock, I discounted it since the father was a James of completely the wrong occupation - again have you followed this couple through the censuses, maybe I should have but didn't, to check that his birthplace was incorrect also - you never know he may have felt like disowning his disreputable father and claimed a different name.

Post by **jandot** » 29 Nov 2011 19:21

MaryA wrote:This is obviously a good scouse girl away from home

Nearly MaryA. I am sort of split between Chester and the Isle of Man so Liverpool is the port that holds the two parts of my life together. I have many memories of being stuck on the ferry in bad weather waiting to dock at Liverpool.
Those were some good points you made about the person completing the census forms getting the age wrong. I hadn't thought of that so I'll go over it all again. Same with Robert changing his identity. Now that could well be a possibility, especially if Frederick got into more hot water after his bankruptcies. Perhaps I won't find out what happened to them but the search is so interesting and I hope things turned out OK for them eventually.
I would like to carry on looking through the forum and would be delighted if I was able to help out any other members with their searches.