Genealogy Chat

SylviainCanada

Just looking back over some of the info and I was thinking about the Margaret / Sarah Martin connection. In the 1861 Census there is a Margaret Wood age 14 born 1847 , then Alice, Edward, Sarah, Thomas and William. The Sarah Martin is the same age as Margaret Wood but if Margaret had a younger sister called Sarah she wouldn't be called Sarah as well. I know Margaret often becomes Peggy.

I have been lazy about my research. I would really like to find out where Priscilla's mother Eliza Keddy was from, I know that Derry was mentioned but I can't find anything.

Gins,
Do you think your Alexander Aitkin is the same one Rose mentions who is 46? I found so many Aitkins but a lot of them were in Scotland and London. The probate info. doesn't mention a wife or any marital status does it? The thing that surprises me is that if she married an Aitkin why didn't she take the opportunity of changing the two daughters names to Aitkin. I would really love to find their marriage!!!

This is the probate record for that 1910 death



England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966


Name:Alexander Aitken of 23 Coniston St - warehouseman

Probate Date:9 Sep 1910

Death Date:22 Aug 1910

Death Place:Liverpool, England

Registry:Liverpool, England

Probate to: Joseph Aitken, furniture broker £178 2s

If Priscilla claims she is a widow, the only Aiken death in the area between the time baby Alexander was conceived and the 1911 census is this one:

Deaths Sep 1910
Aitken Alexander 46 W. Derby 8b 304

Rose

you are very welcome!!



hope to "see" you again, with more questions!



I spent 5 years in Liverpool, at the university, from 1959 to 1964 ......... but my knowledge of the city is actually pretty limited :-)



I'm Lancashire born and bred, emigrated over here in 1967 :-)

Thanks again!!

I might regroup and make a list of who to look up next.

Thanks for everything!!

BTW ......................

I'm not sure if you have bought English or Welsh bmd certificates before, just in case .................




if you decide to buy any marriage or other certificates, only buy them from GRO (General Register Office).


http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp


You have to register with the site, but it is free.

They charge £9.25 per certificate, including postage anywhere in the world.

Other sites offering to get certificates for you charge much much more.



You need the information obtained from the GRO index ......... this is available from www.freebmd.org.uk or from ancestry ..................... but I think we have given you most of the certificates that will be most helpful.


Just make sure that you enter any names exactly as shown on the Index.

You will be asked if you have the GRO Index numbers ................ answer Yes .............. these are the set of 2 numbers at the end of the entry.


For example .....................


this is the entry for Alexander Aitkin's birth as found on ancestry

England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915 about Alexander Aitken

Name: Alexander Aitken
Registration Year: 1911
Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar
Registration district: West Derby
Parishes for this Registration District: View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 8b
Page: 260


and as found on freebmd .............

Births Mar 1911 (>99%)
Aitken Alexander W. Derby 8b 260


The GRO Index Number is 8b 260

I'll leave any searching for now ...............

.......... you can sort out the information, and come back if you want more help



good luck!

Hi


sorry ....... it was dinner time here :-)




I could not manage without my subscription to ancestry.co.uk


I have been a subscriber since I first started doing my online searches about 10 years ago, and find it quite easy to use.

Just make sure that you go to Advanced Search, and then click on Match all terms exactly.

After entering your information, scroll down until you see a box headed Collection Priority ............. and make sure that that is showing UK and Irish



Other people really like findmypast.co.uk .......... a sister company to GR ................ but I have had trouble using it efficiently, and I also gather that fmp has made some changes recently and people are having problems.

SylviainCanada, thank you so much for all your help. I am inclined to think that the Thomas's you have found are the right ones. I really need to brush up on my Liverpool geography. I will make a list of all the addresses mentioned on the various Census's and look them up on google earth and if any of them are still around I would like to visit them next year.

Do you think that subscribing to ancestry.co.uk is worthwhile? Is that where most of your info comes from? I don't know why I feel this compulsion to find out about so many people I haven't met or ever will do, but I do.

1861 Census

Name: Margaret Wood
Age: 14
Estimated birth year: 1847
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Thomas Wood
Mother's name: Sarah Wood
Gender: Female
Where born: Litherland, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish: Everton
Ecclesiastical parish: Christchurch
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England

Registration district: West Derby
Sub-registration district: Everton

Thomas Wood 38 b.a 1823, Liverpool, Dock Labourer
Sarah Wood 38 b.ca 1823, West Derby, Lancashire
Margaret Wood 14 b. Litherland
Alice Wood 10 b.Litherland
Edward Wood 8 b.Liverpool
Sarah Wood 5 b.Liverpool
Thomas Wood 4 b.Liverpool
William Wood 1 b.Liverpool

Address:- 39 House Howe Street

In 1901 and 1891, Thomas Wood is living with sister Margaret Martin, b.ca 1847, Litherland, Widow, Laundress ..................

There is also another brother Edward Wood living with the family in 1891 .............. also a Bricklayer's Labourer

In 1881 Margaret Martin ix with Seth Martin, and children, living in Litherland.

I think Margaret = Sarah of the 1911 :-)



Marriages Sep 1876 (>99%)

Martin Seth W. Derby 8b 630
WOOD Margaret W. Derby 8b 630





now to see if I can find Margaret (aka Sarah), Edward and Thomas, with father Thomas

oh boy


am I taking a huge leap with little to back me up!!!


???????????????

1911 Census

Name: Thomas Wood
Age in 1911: 54
Estimated birth year: abt 1857
Relation to Head: Brother
Gender: Male
Birth Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Civil Parish: Seaforth
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England
Street address: 3 Henley Street Seaforth Hall Cottage Crosby Rd South
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Bricklayers Labourer <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Registration district: West Derby
Registration District Number: 455
Sub-registration district: Crosby
ED, institution, or vessel: 3
Piece: 22302
Household Members:
Name Age
Sarah Martin 64 b.ca 1847, Litherland, Liverpool, Widow, Laundress
Thomas Wood 54



just on a guess that a "Bricklayer's Labourer" MIGHT describe himself as a Brick Setter when getting married ........... AND might lose a few years from his age :-)




Now to see if I have a safety net!

The baby Alexander living in the Rooney house is under a year in 1911 and dies aged 7 months in that year. The John Aitkin was born in 1888 and they have a child.

I did find an Alexander John Aitkin about 35 yrs. in 1911 Lancs. but as you say I could be guessing about which one was which. I have seen households where children were living with distant relatives so children popping in and out of the Census is not that surprising. I spent a year transcribing records in Donegal mainly births and death.

:-) :-)



Alexander Aitken, born ca 1888, was the son of John Aitken and Jane Aitken (nee Unsworth)


I cannot find a marriage for John and Jane


AND John does not appear on any census with Jane .................. by 1891, she is back home, living with her mother and with Alexander in tow.





On Alexander's baptism, it shows John's occupation as Victualler.




Jack is a nickname often used for John ...................................



Alexander born ca 1888 is young to have been Priscilla's lover, but could it have been his father???????????????????????



To be honest ......................... I doubt we will ever really know!



It might be worth getting that birth certificate for Alexander Aitken born 1910, to see what it says. Priscilla might have named the father

Surprise, surprise the wedding cert says Thomas's father was Thomas deceased and it does say Henry (deceased).

My dad said there was a picture in the bedroom of a man in what looked like a merchant seaman's uniform who his mother referred to as Aitkin or Acken. My cousin said there was a letter in a box from a Jack Aitkin asking why she left him. This all sounds like a plot from a movie. My life is feeling very dull right now. Obviously my grandmother was a very passionate woman who knew her own mind. The genes must be watered down now!!!

I wonder if this is Thomas Wood born 1915????????????




England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 about Thomas A Wood

Name: Thomas A Wood
Estimated birth year: abt 1915
Registration Year: 1915
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Age at Death: 0
Registration district: West Derby
Parishes for this Registration District: View Ecclesiastical Parishes associated with this Registration District
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 8b
Page: 309



Unfortunately, I think you would only be bale to find out by buying the birth and death certificates

Marriage cert. Says Thomas Wood bachelor brick setter

I think that Alexander must have been Priscilla's baby ........ but the only Alexander Aitken senior that I can find would have been much younger than her.

I have him in the 1911 Census, recently married to Florence, and with a small baby, but I cannot find him in the 1901 Census.


Did he and Priscilla have an "affair"? Who knows!



Can you tell me from the marriage certificate .....................

what is Thomas marital situation?

Is he shown as a Widower or Bachelor



what is / or was his occupation?



and


who does he show as the name of his father??

Sylvia sorry I didn't reply to your query about the children of Priscilla and Thomas. That list was correct so the Thomas we need to find was born in 1915. Now I am very curious about baby Alexander because the address on the death doc. Is the same one used by both bride and groom at Priscilla and Thomas's wedding Roade Street, Linacre, Litherland. At first I thought that the baby, nephew Alexandra could be through a sister of John Rooney , where Priscilla was staying but then why her address at the baby's death.

Had a look for Eliza Keddy in Derry/Londonderry only found one but born 20 years too late.