Stockton Union Workhouse

[JenB]

Looks like your Greenside John isn't the right person, I'm afraid

1871 census

RG 10 / 5092 / 24 / 12

9, Back Row, Newcastle on Tyne

John McGirl, head, mar, 31, Grinder, Ryton, Durham
Lizzie do, wife, mar, 26, Scotland
Lizzie do, daur, 5, scholar, Newcastle Northumberland
Ellen do, do, 9 mo., do do

[MBR1965]

Well done
MacGirl - what a fascinating name.
What is the next stage of your puzzle?

The next stage is starting all over again  I just discovered I made a boo boo and he was not the son of Ann McKenny nor John McKenny nor even John McGirl as the John McGirl junior is listed as having married someone else on the 1871 census.

He could possibly have come from Ireland in the mid 1860s although if that is so, it still doesn't explain why both he and his new wife Susanna McKenna, disappear completely from the radar until the birth of their child in 1872, Sarah,  in Stockton workhouse !

All I know now is that he was a riveter in a shipyard in 1869 , later a boiler maker in 1872 (probably still in a shipyard) and that his father John McKenna (who was dead by 1869) was a joiner !

Moderator comment: thread edited.

[Jomot]

There is a McKenna family (not John) living at 14 Portrack Street in 1871. However, there is also a report dated 07 August 1875 (Shields Daily Gazette ) of John McKenna, Tramp, Stockton, being drunk & disorderly in Duke Street at 2.30 am.  there are other reports of a drunken John McKenna in & around Stockton / Middlesbrough just before Sarah's birth.

What appears to be his death is reported in the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette 18 June 1877 at Sunderland, headed "Singular Death of a Boilermaker"  it appears he was extremely drunk.  However, the report mentions that 'he lost his wife six or seven months ago' although there is no mention of her name.

[MBR1965]

That is fascinating stuff , thank you very much for that information ! Could you possible tell me what link source you got all that info from ?

I wondered if he had become a drunk and that was the reason for the disturbances and missing chunks in their family life.

There is a John McKenna listed as being locked up in the Middlesbrough Police Cells in the 1871 census but his age is wrong (says 26 when he would have been 30) and also has him as coming from Carlisle not Stockton and being a shoemaker instead of a boilermaker !

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I would venture to suggest there might have been quite a few John McKennas drunk and disorderly in the area given that the name was common amongst Scottish and Irish Dockyard Labourers at the time judging by the census.

I think you are bang on with the Sunderland Echo report though, I would love to look at that. He was listed as a boiler maker on his marriage certificate in 1869, his wife Susanna McKenna is listed as living in South Shields in 1881 as a widow so they obviously moved up there and by 1891, she is married to James Darling, the nephew of the famous Grace Darling and living still in South Shields.

I can't find a death certificate for John McKenna for Sunderland in 1877 though !

[MBR1965]

Actually, it's a different John McKenna who is also a boilermaker. His wife was Ann McKenna (born 1823 died Oct-Dec 1876) and he is listed as an unemployed boilermaker on the 1871 census living with her in Sunderland.
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc%2f1871%2f0019226089&highlights=%22%22

As ironic as it is - it's the very same family I mistakenly looked at on the first page of this thread from Gateshead lol

[taffie01]

hi,
is this the marriage?

James Darling married Susannah Coefield /McKenna   June 18th 1881 at South Shields
this was a double entry, one for the maiden name and one for the previous married name.

taffie

[MBR1965]

Hi Taffie,
Yes bang on - that's the exact same one , yet another in the endless line of CORFIELD misspellings on official forms lol.

She may nave been a bigamist actually as I can find no record of John McKenna dying.

[taffie01]

yes there are lots of John McKenna's to choose from 

however,  if you have him in the 1871 census the field is narrowed to between 1871 - 1881, if indeed he did die.  yes it was a popular name!,
but if  i am reading this correctly that would put him  in the age range 30 -40 ish.

on that basis
there is a death registered at Sunderland,   John aged   32   Q3  1873  10a 394
and also at   Sheffield,  John aged 30   Q1  1872  9c 250

Sunderland is in close proximity to South Shields  and Sheffield was a possible in view of his occupation.
i didn't check to see if there was  a John McKenna in a Sheffield 1871 census which would possibly help narrow your search.
taffie

[MBR1965]

Thank you , you're very kind. The 1873 death you mention is the one I have applied for from the GRO as I think that is the most likely to provide fruit. He would indeed have been 32 at that time as he was born in 1841 (apparently in Scotland) although likely to have descended from Irish Immigrants (lots of Mckennas lived in Scotland but were born in Ireland going to Scotland after fleeing the potato famine)

I actually found him on the 1871 census (or rather another very helpful member like yourself found him for me on another forum)

On the 1871 census he is living in Hartlepool and listed as "Joseph McBenna" ( I kid you not) and his wife Susanna, is listed as Anna McBenna (crucially listed as born in Yarm) and her 3 year old child born in Stockton in 1867 as John Cawfield (sic) is now John McBenna

A real dingbat of a census taker that one - must have had some good weed in his pipe that day ! The bloke next door is called Joseph so maybe he got confused !

How the hell the other member found that I have no idea - I have been struggling for 4 months to try and find out what happened to them !

The joys of census research amongst a semi literate or illiterate population & overworked and not very bright census officials  !!!!