Family Higgins -Lowton/Pennington & greetings from Melbourne

[simone]

Thank you for such an in depth look at your records Glenys and for such valuable links.

Simone the Margaret Burtonwood seems a great coincidence doesn't it?

great work by Glenys

yes Mary, Margaret Burtonwood is a coincidence, especially so near, there are hardly any others in that area either
There are plenty of Boardman's in the area and if his name is on death and marriage, then John has obviously thought that is what it was and passed the info on to his family. However, it did occur to me , as just another idea, that the name's Boardman and Burtonwood may have got confused along the way although as Glenys says, probably just a neighbour, but you never know in this game do you

I would love to know more about little Mary Field, age 10... really think she must be connected... in same area on her own, and it looks like Mary may have had other children as Glenys found a baptism of John in 1832.
Can't find her after 1841 but there are a few Mary's right age born in that area that would fit under married names. Can't see a marriage for her, but has she married under another name if someone has taken her in I have tried under Boardman, Higgins and Parr the family she is around in 1841, nothing obvious.

Simone x

[simone]

Burial: 8 Feb 1841 St Mary the Virgin, Leigh, Lancashire, England
James Boardman -
Age: 34 yrs
Abode: Penington
Buried by: A. Douglass Curate
Register: Burials 1838 - 1847, Page 137, Entry 1091
Source: LDS Film 1885655

from http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html

Sean, if you have alook around this site, there are a number of James Boardmans, just no conclusive proof

[simone]

wonder if name Field not quite right

there is a John Fielding buried in 1832 at St Mary's Leigh
Infant
abode: Pennington

only one family in area, at Atherton/Tyldesley
James Fielding b c 1800 with wife Mary and loads of kiddies
Class: HO107; Piece: 513; Book: 3; Civil Parish: Leigh; County: Lancashire;
Enumeration District: 4; Folio: 30; Page: 4; Line: 2

James born Middleton on later census.

could Mary be related to James

[Glenys]

I would think that the John Field buried in 1832 will be the young child of Mary Field baptised in the same year.

I have checked with the Local History Officer at Leigh Library for suggestions about text and she suggests the following:


]ohn Lunn's History of Leigh

James Ward's Gleanings of Old Leigh

Thomas Boydell's A Diary of Old Leigh.

Industries of Leigh is also really good if he is curious about industry in the town during the 19th century.

The first one can be read online - just key in History of Leigh Lunn on a search engine.
There is a separate section covering the Pennington area. You may be able to find others similar on the internet. Always remember to put Leigh Lancashire into a search engine otherwise you will get Leigh on Sea .

[Sean]

More great suggestions, thank you. Yes there are a lot of infant Fields/Boardmans. It is astonishing and heart breaking to see the levels of infant mortality at the time.

I've turned up a Clementine Field, born in Bolton in 1840. I've ordered her birth cert. to see if it has any relevant info. Interestingly, she is the only newborn I have found on the Lancashire BMD site where the mother's maiden name is stated as being "Field". Clementine is listed in the 1841 cenus as being with a family at Hutton - a bit of a distance away. She is aged 10 months at that time. I think this would fit with Mary having died in June of 1840. I'll keep digging.

Another obvioous connection for me to chase up here - there were some Boardman's on the ship out to Australia with John in 1855! Coincidence? Hmmmm.

Thank you for the references to books about the district.

Once again thanks to everyone for giving some renwed impetus to my research!

[simone]

I've turned up a Clementine Field, born in Bolton in 1840. I've ordered her birth cert. to see if it has any relevant info. Interestingly, she is the only newborn I have found on the Lancashire BMD site where the mother's maiden name is stated as being "Field". Clementine is listed in the 1841 cenus as being with a family at Hutton - a bit of a distance away. She is aged 10 months at that time. I think this would fit with Mary having died in June of 1840. I'll keep digging.

Hi
I have her showing as 6 months old, image on Ancestry looks like 6 months also. Her birth is registered in Dec quarter which would suggest born August at the earliest


Interesting about the Boarmans though, let us know how you get on

Simone x

[Sean]

Hi Simone

You are right about Clementine of course. The 1841 census shows her as being 10 months old I think. Census night being June 6 means she must have been born around August, as you say. Oh well, another irrelevant certificate to add to my collection!!

I'm starting to wonder about Mary Field's death though. I've nothing that says she's the right Mary Field. As has been pointed out already, there are quite a few James Boardmans married to a "Mary". Perhaps they were married later ...

I'm in the process of wading through the many Boardmans now to see if there is a possible connection. I note the ship's list refers to the gentleman (John Boardman) being from Lancs. He travelled with wife (Anne) and two children, one of whom (Mary) would have been old enough to show up in the 1851 census (the ship, Northern Light, sailed from Liverpool in Dec. 1854). Sadly, another child (Elizabeth, aged 1) died on the journey out to Australia, it seems on the day before the ship's arrival. How cruel life can be.