Hi all,
I originally put this in the Bilston friends and neighbours thread [http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=280912.msg2191143] but then realised it would probably get lost in such a long thread and is really an invitation to a new discussion.
As pretty much all the names here have come up in our discussion on that thread and other threads here, i wanted to try a new way of looking at this and see if, between us we can find waht links these families other than just location.
Going through some census sheets that I had printed out a while ago, I found an example from 1871 in Temple St, #2 court at RG10:2950:F150
On the first page of the folio (page 29) we start with:
House #1: James & Mary McKew and family - from William's baptism, I find mother was a Mary Halligan and his godmother was a Catherine McDonough (likely the first wife of Michael McDonough who appears later, as she was originally a Catherine McKew)
#2 James and Mary Oakley with family and lodgers (a tiny grand-daughter's name appears to have been amended because her parents weren't married)
#3 William Brannon, wife Mary and 3 children & William's brother. From the Holy Trinity baptismal index, I can see that William was baptised in Bilston and his mother's maiden name was Walsh. There are two sets of lodgers in the same household, a widower and daughter named Gaven and Edward Walsh and son, also Edward. The older Edward seems to be still married but wife not at home.
#4 John and Ellen Nayley? with child Hannah and widowed stepmother Hannah Durkin
#5 Stephen and Honora Coughlin and children
[added: from the baptism records for their children, it looks like Honora/Honor's maiden name was Hassett or possibly Harrett]
#6 Barney and Sarah Callaghan and lodger George Bucknall
#7 Michael and Winifred McDonough with Mary and Julia. Mary's mother was Catherine McKew. Some time after Catherine's death, Michael remarried to widow Winifred Biggins, whose maiden name was Lally. Winifred is Julia's mother.
With them are lodgers John Murphy and Mary with daughter Bridget. According to FREEBMD a John Murphy may have married a Mary Clynes in this region in 1867. [this McDonough family is strongly suspected to closely related to my ancestors and there is a John Clynes who is godparent to one of the children in my family]
#8 Thomas and Ann Evans and two children
Court #2 seems to be between houses 50 and 51 on Temple Street itself and at 51 and 52 are more Halligan and Lally families.
Many of these names have come up in our discussions so I would love comments and feedback - particularly from descendants of these families.
