Thomas Gray Born 1816/17 Lancaster

[tenterfieldjulie]

I'm tried the OPC, Free Reg and Family Search, but I cannot find his baptism.
According to his shipping/marriage he was Protestant and was born in Lancaster. His parents were Thomas and Mary and Thomas senior was a builder and joiner. I have found a marriage in York, but I think it is a bit far. Any ideas please?

[HarrysMum]

I'll have a look but don't discount the York marriage. I have plenty going from Lancs to York.
It is a common name though......lol




Oddly, not as common as I thought.....lol

[Merry]

There are a lot of churches in Lancaster. From looking at the IGI it would seem that 1813-1837 is generally not represented :( (it is common for IGI stuff to stop at 1812 as that was when new PRs were brought into play - the ones with columns for required data)

[Merry]

Were there Lancaster church records on FreeREG etc for the right time?

[Merry]

Is this another place of birth from a death cert in Australia? I only ask because ever since I spent several weeks trawling much of Dorset looking for 1830/40s baptisms for a lady in Oz whose ancestors put 'Dorset' as their place of birth (on death certs), only for the 1841 census to be published online and me finding the family in Dorset Street somewhere in South London, I have been sceptical about knowledge of the UK by the children who were asked these questions when their parents died in Australia! I wondered if they might have just meant Lancashire in general? (I know that's not heping!! lol)

[HarrysMum]

Good point Merry...my Aussie death certs have sorted a few POB for English rellies.

[tenterfieldjulie]

Merry I am going to check exactly. be back soon

[tenterfieldjulie]

The place of birth is according to Thomas Gray's shipping records from 1838 on the Heber: Bounty Immigrants typed card - Native Place Co. Lancaster, England; on a different but the original document it said Native Place Lancaster; on Thomas Death certificate the information from someone he worked with, it just said England.
Looking at the OPC for St. Mary's Lancaster he was not there. There were other C of E churches, but their registers started later.
On Free Reg. - Nothing of St. Anne or St. John and only St. Mary up until 1748 have been transcribed.
I will go trawling Family Search again.

[HarrysMum]

It could be anywhere in Lancashire...........I have a few who meant Lancashire and said Lancaster.

It was the county of Lancaster on some records.

[tenterfieldjulie]

Ho Boy. Another one ... If I didn't already drink I would take it up ..
I'm wondering if his parents are still alive in 1841 as in 1838 he doesn't say deceased.
Off to see if I can find them on FreeCen.

[tenterfieldjulie]

Can't find him on FreeCen. Was this the wet Census Libby?

[garstonite]

I don`t want to throw a spanner in the works, but....could it have been
TADCASTER......not far from York ... ?
LANCASTER.......maybe the transcriber heard it wrong...
allan:eek:
just checked....10 miles from York to Tadcaster

[tenterfieldjulie]

Hoh Boy - I think I'll make that a double. My Irish seem easy compared to this lot lol
All the families I'm having trouble with belong to OH, now I know why he avoided it lol
I'm happy whereever he comes from, just to find his father also Thomas and a builder and joiner. Any suggestions Allan.

[Merry]

I think you should definitely be thinking Lancaster County (as in Lancashire) not Lancaster the town as it specifically says the County of Lancaster on the shipping record.

Lancashire Wills (pre 1858)

http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/lws.htm

A possible.....

Supra - Gray Thomas Ashton-under-Lyne, builder. A Jul 1825

[HarrysMum]

Good one Merry..............and thanks for reminding me I need to buy about another 200 wills from there.....lol

A good lottery win wouldn't go astray. At least all the wills I've bough from there have been fairly easy to read.

[Merry]

A good lottery win wouldn't go astray.

lol!

If Thomas was actually alive in 1841 then the best fit I can see is a 55 year-old cabinet maker in Manchester.

I've also looked at Gr?ys b/living at Ashton under Lyme on the 1851 census to see if any of those looked connected. I've forgotten what I saw now, but there was nothing stunning!

[tenterfieldjulie]

When Thomas married in 1838 he was a Printer of Market Place Oldham and his father Thomas was a joiner. On his shipping he says his father was a builder and joiner. Merry, on neither document does he say his father is deceased, is that usual for then? I would like to buy that will, but on reading the small print you have to order the LDS Film and it says "a record found in the index does not guarantee that a will can be found since not all wills were microfilmed due to the fact that many were lost or destroyed". Sorry Merry I was posting before I read your last post.

[tenterfieldjulie]

Can I buy the will?? The cabinet maker is around the right age.

[Merry]

If the marriage cert was completed by a registrar (ie non-conformist or civil marriage) then I would expect the status of the father to be correct the majority of the time (ie not absolutely always!). If the marriage was at the C of E church then anything goes! lol

Erm, the cabinet maker I found was alive not dead! If he wrote a will then I've not found it yet (erm, because I've not looked for it), and I've not traced him forward to see how long he lived. I didn't really image a builder/joiner would turn out suddenly as a cabinet maker, but I guess anything is possible. There are loads of Thomas Grays about.

[Merry]

Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham are close together, but so is Manchester and Oldham!

[tenterfieldjulie]

Many thanks Merry. It's midnight here so I will digest what you found properly tomorrow. Co-incidentally I've just been typing an article for our FHG newsletter and the father was William Holley born 1812 Manchester and his father was James, an engineer by trade? (I don't think engineer's then would have to be qualified like they do now?) The other co-incidence is that he says "Mr. Reid was a carpenter and joiner. He made half a dozen cedar chairs for the Holleys." So in this case a joiner could be a cabinet/furniture maker? Of course here you had to make do or do without lol

[Ammanda Schutz]

Julie: I have always thought of the Grays as a cantankerous lot. I should know being one of them.
Just look back as see how far you, and I, have come in the last few months. It is an amazing amount of new information, so it is, and the McCrohons too. Joy!

[Ammanda Schutz]

Oh! I meant to add that I have been searching through all the census and have come up with little or nothing to put forward at this time.

[Ammanda Schutz]

btw, the Thomas Gray from Manchester has the wrong wife, Ann. Should be Mary. I think that census record is not our Thomas.

[HarrysMum]

I like the dead one with the will.............