William Whitworth

[Anstey Nomad]

William Whitworth's son, William John, married Mary Ann Bodycote, who is buried in the family grave at Welford Road in Leicester with any number of my antecedents and now my mother as well.

I'd clocked William ages ago and wondered if his birthplace on one census was an error, but since I've been looking in more detail at the history of framework knitting, I've come back to him.

William appears on three censuses; 1861, 1871 and 1881.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=lln4&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=William&gsfn_x=0&gsln=Whitworth&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1818&msbdy_x=1&msbdp=2&msbpn__ftp=New%20York,%20USA&msbpn=35&msbpn_PInfo=5-%7C0%7C1652393%7C0%7C2%7C0%7C35%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C 0%7C&MSAV=1&uidh=f62&pcat=1861UKI&h=21627313&dbid=8767&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=lln5&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=William&gsfn_x=0&gsln=Whitworth&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1818&msbdy_x=1&msbdp=2&msbpn__ftp=New%20York,%20USA&msbpn=35&msbpn_PInfo=5-%7C0%7C1652393%7C0%7C2%7C0%7C35%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C 0%7C&MSAV=1&uidh=f62&pcat=1871UKI&h=24459189&dbid=7619&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=lln3&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-c&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=William&gsfn_x=0&gsln=Whitworth&gsln_x=0&msbdy=1818&msbdy_x=1&msbdp=2&msbpn__ftp=New%20York,%20USA&msbpn=35&msbpn_PInfo=5-%7C0%7C1652393%7C0%7C2%7C0%7C35%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C 0%7C&MSAV=1&uidh=f62&pcat=1881UKI&h=12376304&dbid=7572&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1

It looks as if William died in SQ1890 in Leicester.

I can't find him on earlier censuses, or indeed anywhere else that I've looked. I had hoped he might be sitting pretty on a US census, but it seems not.

Is there anywhere else I can go?

[kiterunner]

Going by the birth regs for the children born after the 1861 census - Richard and Maria, with MMN Mellis - his marriage should be Oct-Dec 1853 Leicester to Elizabeth Millis (according to FreeBMD) but it isn't coming up in the Leicestershire PR's on FMP, so probably a register office / registrar attended one. Annoying since if it was in the PR's we could easily get his father's name! I haven't figured out the older children yet though.

[kiterunner]

This looks like William's wife-to-be in 1851, and she doesn't have a son with her, though he could have been born soon after the census, of course:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8860/CONHO107_2089_2090-0355/17671438?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fgst%3d-6&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

[kiterunner]

I can't find anything else to help at the moment. Your best bet might be to get that marriage cert if it's worth spending the money!

[Merry]

I haven't figured out the older children yet though.

Elizabeth Ann is aged 13 in 1871 and 8 in 1861! She was registered in Q4 1857 so the 1871 census would appear to be correct. (mmn Millis)

William's age is off in 1861 too - I thing the ages for those two children were either written at a different time or by a different person (or both!) on the 1861 census page.

WHITWORTH,WILLIAM JOHN mmn MELLIS
GRO Reference: 1855 S Quarter in LEICESTER Volume 07A Page 183

There is also:

WHITWORTH, WILLIAM EDMUND mmn MELLIS
GRO Reference: 1854 S Quarter in LEICESTER Volume 07A Page 186

who was registered for death in the same Q.

[Merry]

I realise we haven't found him in England in 1851, but on the 1841 census I found:

Fleet Street, St Margaret's, Leicester

William Whitworth 45 carpenter Yes
Mary Whitworth 45 Yes
William Whitworth 20 Foreign Parts
Martha Whitworth 15 Yes
Emma Whitworth 10 Yes
Louisa Whitworth 5 Yes

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8978/LEIHO107_602_604-0382/6490227?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3dAlb5342%26_phstart%3dsucc essSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26db%3duki1841%26so%3d 2%26pcat%3dROOT_CATEGORY%26gss%3dangs-g%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26gsln%3dwhi tworth%26gsln_x%3d1%26gskw%3dleicester%26gskw_x%3d 1%26cpxt%3d1%26cp%3d11%26catbucket%3drstp%26MSAV%3 d2%26MSV%3d1%26uidh%3d672&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

....which I thought looked potentially promising given the father's occ too.

Here's the parents and two of the daughters in 1851:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/8860/LEIHO107_2088_2088-0118/9706228?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3dAlb5344%26_phstart%3dsucc essSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26db%3duki1851%26so%3d 2%26pcat%3dROOT_CATEGORY%26gss%3dangs-g%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26 gsfn%3dlouisa%26gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln%3dwhitworth%26gs ln_x%3d1%26gskw%3dleicester%26gskw_x%3d1%26cpxt%3d 1%26cp%3d11%26catbucket%3drstp%26MSAV%3d2%26MSV%3d 1%26uidh%3d672&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

[Merry]

Could be a red-herring of course!

Also, there is another William Whitworth b abt 1823 who is also a carpenter b in Leicestershire who is definitely a different person, but keeps making me think he is yours!

[Anstey Nomad]

So, it looks as if they weren't in the US very long then, if William was born there and his younger siblings were born back in Leicester. Annoyingly then, if they came back in the mid 1820s or a tad earlier, this would have been before the US censuses.

Looks like William is a dead end then.

Thanks Merry.

[Merry]

What do you mean, a dead end?

[Anstey Nomad]

if they went to the US and back between censuses, or before there were censuses, I'm going to struggle to get to the bottom of why and where etc.

It's no biggie. He's a twig really.

However, the first US census was apparently 1790.