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Hi

This is a long shot, but I am looking for any evidence or documents people might have come across linked to the Trapnell family, who appear to have been travelling equestrians and acrobats. I am particularly interested in anything from before 1850.

My great-great-great-great Grandfather was John Trapnell who appears to have been born around 1797. There are quite a few sources starting with the 1851 census that show him as an equestrian, and his children all seem to have been travelling performers too (including my great-great-great grandmother Miriam).

Censuses and baptism records show his wife as Louisa. Trees on Ancestry often claim her to be Louisa Barry or Louisa Westicote Barry, but I can't find any marriage records to confirm her last name. One of their sons did use the name John George Westicote Trapnell (according to a descendent I spoke to).

A number of trees also list his parents as Thomas Trapnell and Sarah Viner, but again I can't find any sources which link him to them (like a baptism record or a marriage record).

I am wondering if anyone knows of any resources that might have records. I can't seem to find them listed on any of the travelling people sites

Hi

I am having problems in the fairly recent history of a branch of my family tree.

Henry Taylor married Emma Stubbs on the 11th December 1901 in Salford Registry Office. I have their marriage certificate and know they lived at 16 Tatton Street at this time. I found a record on Lancashire Online Parish Clerk which showed that they had already had a son, Henry, who was born in August 1900. There are then baptism records for a further two children, Minnie in 1904 and Frederick William in 1907. From family history I know that there was also an Evelyn, but I can find no baptism record for her, or no records linking an Evelyn to Henry and Emma.

Henry died in 1907 (at the age of 37), and Emma appears on the 1911 Census as a widow, alongside Minnie and Frederick, at 15 Robert Hall Street. The Census also records that she has 4 living children. However there is no sign of Henry or Evelyn anywhere.

Even stranger Henry Jr also doesn't show up on the 1901 Census. I can find his father and grandmother living at 16 Tatton Street, and his mother living/working as a domestic servant to the Norwell family nearby, but he isn't registered at either address.

On that date (31st March 1901) his parents wouldn't have been married, and I think there is a good chance Evelyn was born after her father's death, so I am wondering if they were both hidden from census takers due to being 'illegitimate'? Is that something that happened?

For info, Emma did remarry in 1915, but also gave birth to another daughter, Emma Taylor, in 1913, so whilst I am guessing Henry was Evelyn's father, there is a chance he wasn't.

Any advice on missing [illegitimate] children greatly appreciated.

Hi

I am fairly new to family history, though, so whilst I am trying to be thorough and meticulous about details, I apologise if my verifying seems sloppy by more experienced standards.

I have been researching my family tree and my husbands family tree. I came across a Henshall Heath as one of his great-uncles, and though it was a fairly unusual name. I had a look on BMD and there were a couple of other Henshall Heath's so I figured it was a family name.

Recently it popped up again in the Thornley family, who had married into a different branch of his family, which caught my attention. I did a BMD search for anyone with the first name Henshall and noticed they were all from Lancashire, Staffordshire or Cheshire, and often had the same surname (such as Moss), or surnames that were already in his family tree (such as Stubbs, Collier and Ravenscroft). The Ravenscroft caught my attention because my original Henshall Heath's mother's name was Frances Ravenscroft, and I realised that she had a brother named Henshall Ravenscroft (the first in a line of four).

It seems to me likely that a number of the other Henshall's are also related to my husband, and can probably be linked back to a single ancestor. Via some googling I discovered this http://www.ancestry.co.uk/genealogy/records/elizabeth-henshaw_10307074 on Ancestry. Whilst I am not sure how verified it is it shows a number of Henshaw and Henshalls across multiple generations and surnames, all linking back to a Roger Henshawe born in 1636. In particular it involves a number of people named Henshall Moss who seem to be the family referred to here: http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/761.htm.

What's more I think I *may* have found a link between that family and the Ravenscroft family through the Bibbey family, but I am cautious on assuming.

I just wondered if anyone else had done any research on, or come across any, Henshalls or Henshaws, and, had any information which might help me make some links?

Thanks