WATKINSON's of Upwell and Welney

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi Everyone,
But in particular Lorryloo and William (from a thread started on the Beginners section).
From what you have told me, Lorryloo, this is your WATKINSON family, with your gt-grandmother Annie in situ in the 1881 Census:
At Tips End, Upwell, Cambs:  RG 11 Piece 1702 Folio 4 Page 1:
Thomas WATKINSON Head M aged 36 born Welney, Cambs   Ag. Lab.
Margret WATKINSON Wife M aged 37 born Rochdale, Lancs
Emma WATKINSON Daur aged 13 born London, Middlesex,  Scholar
Thomas W. WATKINSON Son aged 10 born London, Middlesex Scholar
Clara WATKINSON Daur  aged 8  born Welney  Scholar
Polly WATKINSON Daur  aged 6 born Upwell, Cambs  Scholar
George WATKINSON  Son aged 5 born Upwell
Annie WATKINSON Daur  aged 2  born Upwell
Agnes WATKINSON Daur  aged 9 months born Upwell

I went to the CCRO yesterday, and found a great deal of detail about this family re Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in Upwell and Welney, and will post them here after I've had some breakfast.
I don't suppose anyone could look this family up on the 1891 Census, meanwhile...
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Back again (breakfast turned into a few errands and then lunch...)
As can be seen from the 1881 Census entry, not many of Annie WATKINSON's siblings were born/baptised in Upwell.  However, at Upwell, Christchurch:
Baptisms: George WATKINSON son of Thomas, labourer and Margaret of Christchurch 30-04-1876
04-08-1878: Annie WATKINSON daur of Thomas and Margaret ditto ditto
25-06-1880: Agnes WATKINSON daur of Thomas and Margaret ditto ditto
 But, in Welney, where the roots of this family appear to be deeper:
Baptism: 12-05-1872: Triple baptism for Emma, Thomas William and Clara WATKINSON.  Presumably, parents Thomas William and Margaret must have returned from the London area to Cambs after a brief stay there with their two eldest children(possibly, with Margaret being born in Rochdale they could  have met and married there, having left their respective families to make their fame and fortune).
The missing baptism from the 1881 entry: 26-04-1874: Polly, daur of Thomas and Margaret, born on 05-04-1874.
I also looked up the baptisms of gt-gt-grandfather Thomas William WATKINSON, b.1846 and his siblings, and even the generation before that, but I'll give you that after another short break, Lorryloo...
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

N.B. This is all very tentative, but there is a Dec. quarter 1866 marriage in Poplar between a Thomas WATKINSON and a Margaret TULLY, but don't go ordering any certificates just yet, as this one's pure speculation...(need to gather a bit more definite evidence)
K

[lorryloo]

Back again (breakfast turned into a few errands and then lunch...)

Excellent Keith, Fascinating, but I shall try not to get too carried away with it!
I can remember Annie as she was almost a 100 when she died, never knew she had all those brothers and sisters.
Thank you for finding all that out.

[Keith Sherwood]

Lorryloo,
That's incredible!  I always love this idea of distant past and present actually linking up through a distant remembered contact when someone (i.e. you in this case) was very young.
I'll put the previous WATKINSON generations that I discovered yesterday on this Cambs thread now...
Keith

[lorryloo]

I love the idea too, especially when you think of when she was born and how life was then. 
She was a tiny little lady who gave me as many threepenny bits as my age every birthday.  As she got older Annie would often have a "funny turn" which necessitated a drop of brandy to revive her. She lived with Dorothy who always kept a bottle in the cupboard. I am sure the brandy helped her to live to such a ripe old age.
Am off out for a night on the town but will be keeping an eye out for further installments tomorrow
Lorryloo

[Keith Sherwood]

Continuing from the Welney Registers, here are the baptisms of your gt-gt-grandfather, Thomas William WATKINSON's siblings...
04-03-1830: Mary WATKINSON daur of George and Mary Anne
but, buried: 31-08-1831 Mary WATKINSON aged 2
08-04-1832: George WATKINSON son of George and Mary Anne
20-05-1834: Mary Anne WATKINSON daur of ditto  ditto
but buried: 13-03-1841: Mary Ann WATKINSON aged 7
24-07-1836: Rebecca WATKINSON daur of ditto  ditto
22-07-1838: Sarah WATKINSON daur of ditto  ditto
18-10-1840: Robert WATKINSON son of ditto  ditto, born Sept. 19th
14-08-1842: Thomas William WATKINSON son of ditto, born July 15th
but buried: 11-10-1842 aged 11 weeks
26-11-1843: Mary Anne WATKINSON daur of ditto  ditto
08-03-1846: Thomas William WATKINSON son of ditto ditto
05-07-1849: Betsey WATKINSON daur of ditto  ditto
There's also another baptism on 04-03-1858 of a Sarah Ann WATKINSON, to a George and Mary Anne, but the 9-year gap since Betsey makes me rather dubious about whether she was last of the brood.
However, 7 or 8 surviving children's not a bad result, and as you can see Thomas William had a great many older brothers and sisters...
No marriage record in Welney for a marriage between George WATKINSON and a Mary Anne - one would imagine some time before 1830 or so - but here's George's possible generation, with their baptisms in Welney.  
13-01-1793: George WATKINSON son of Robert and Sarah
24-12-1809: Thomas WATKINSON son of ditto  ditto
23-01-1814: Sarah WATKINSON daur of ditto  ditto
13-01-1816: Henry WATKINSON son of ditto ditto
19-04-1818: Robert WATKINSON son of ditto  ditto

The 16-year gap between George and Thomas is a bit suspicious, to be absolutely certain that this was all one family - Robert senior might have married again, or the family might have moved away from Welney for a while.
There is a marriage on 05-01-1790 at Welney between a Robert WATKINSON and a Sarah DOLTON...
I'll leave you all this to chew over, but you MIGHT be staring at a gt-gt-gt-gt grandfather with the name of Robert WATKINSON, born circa 1765 or so.
Very best wishes,
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

and have a lovely night out (just spotted your message, left while I was ploughing through these entries)!!
K

[lorryloo]

My goodness Keith!  Can't believe you have found all that out, quite amazing.
A lot to chew over there, thanks ever so much for all that information.  Really appreciate it

Lorryloo