A closer look at the 1841 England Census

[Frank Sorenson]

I've been taking another (more close) look at the 1841 Census entries:
District 4, Birkenhead, Cheshire

Name	Age	Occupation	Born in county	Born in Scotland, Ireland, or Foreign Parts
Patrick Dunlop	25	Laborer	N
Bridget Dunlop	25		N
Patrick Shiels	25	Shoe Maker		I
Ann Dunlop	25			I
Margaret Sheils	14 (days)			I
Bridget Dunlop	20			I

(Remember that the ages are probably wildly off, but they're the best we've got)

The first Patrick & Bridget (Dunlop) are listed as a separate household, although at the same address...  We know (from Ann's marriage record) that Ann's father's name is also Patrick Dunlop.  However, since this Patrick is not listed as "50" years old, or anything, we can probably suspect that he's considered to be in the same generation as Ann...  Therefore, I'm going to postulate that this Patrick Dunlop is our Ann's brother, and that Bridget is his wife.

The Patrick Shiels listed is obviously our ancestor (the address is the same street as is listed on Margaret's birth certificate, the occupation matches, etc.), as is Ann [Dunlop], his wife (unsure why she's listed with her maiden name...).  Margaret's age is mis-transcribed as 14, rather than 14 days.

This leaves us with a spare Bridget Dunlop.  I'm going to make a guess that she's Ann's sister.  Just a suspicion, but it seems possible/likely.


One of the witnesses to the Patrick Sheils/Ann Dunlop marriage was Bridget Dunlop, so probably one of the two above.



Now...  Margaret's birth certificate was registered in the Wirral Registration District, with her being born in the Birkenhead sub-district in the County of Chester

A search of the Cheshire BMD (http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk/cgi/marrind.cgi) for marriages with the surname of "Dunlop" brings up exactly two civil marriages (as would be expected of a Roman Catholic marriage) registered in Wirral, with the church being in Birkenhead.  These two entries would seem to line up nicely with Patrick/Bridget Dunlop, as well as the other Bridget Dunlop (the potential sister):

1841 - Patrick Dunlop married Bridget Molloy (reference BW/1/21)
1844 - Bridgett Dunlapp married Patrick Hinnegan (reference BW/2/13)


I suggest we order the marriage certificates for these two.  I think they're likely to be closely related to our ancestors.


Frank

-- 
Frank Sorenson - KD7TZK
Linux Systems Engineer, DSS Engineering, UBS AG
fr...@tuxrocks.com

[Rebecca Reid]

Sure, I’ll order them. Do you have the references from the Index, i.e., district, quarter, page number? The ones from Lancashirebmd.org site are not ones to order certificates with. I may get time to look later myself. Will let you know if I do.

 

Rebecca

[Frank Sorenson]

On 04/05/2011 06:29 AM, Rebecca Reid wrote:

Sure, I’ll order them. Do you have the references from the Index, i.e., district, quarter, page number? The ones from Lancashirebmd.org site are not ones to order certificates with. I may get time to look later myself. Will let you know if I do.

 

Rebecca

Patrick Dunlop/Bridget Molloy:
    Year:  1841
    District: Wirral
    Quarter:  April-Jun
    Volume: 19
    Page:  255

Bridgett Dunlapp/Patrick Hinnegan:
    Year:  1844
    District: Wirral
    Quarter:  Jan-Mar
    Volume:  19
    Page:  255

(Must be slow in Wirral...  3 years, and the marriages are recorded on the same page)  :)

Frank

[Frank Sorenson]

Also, have we tried requesting the birth record for Ann Shields (the daughter of Patrick & Ann)?
Ann Shields
    Year:  1849
    County:  Lancashire
    District:  Liverpool
    Quarter:  Jul-Sep
    Volume:  20
    Page:  418

Although, I guess I don't know how much it'll tell us that we don't already know.

Frank