Callaghans and Edwards in the East End of London

[A.Enting]

I am trying to find information on Thomas Callaghan b. 1864 and Adelaide Edwards b.1864 (birth dates could vary slightly as they are calculated from the census?
Thomas's parents had a shop on Flower & Dean Street and Adelaide's family...(father was Thomas Edwards) - occup. gun maker. lived at Harriets Place on (or off) Fashion Street.  Both streets are close to each other in Spitalfields.

Thomas Callaghan and Adelaide had a child (born on Fashion Street) named William in December 1881 and the couple married in February 1882.

So far so good..I cannot find anything about Thomas or his parents (William and Mary Callaghan b. circa 1844 and 1846 respectively) prior to 1881/1882. Nor can I find anything about Adelaide Edwards (she does not appear with her family prior to her wedding.

After the marriage they turn up on the census at St. Olave, Southwark where Thomas is a dockside labourer and they go on to have three more children... Catherine b.1884, Elizabeth b.1886 and (Adelaide b.1888 who married a Mr Mariner in 1905).

My problem is finding anything about Thomas and Adelaide prior to their 1st born and wedding. I am also struggling to find anything about Catherine and Elizabeth.

So if anyone else searching recognises anything in these names, dates and locations I really would like to hear from you.  The are my husbands ancestors and he thinks the Callaghans where part of the huge migration of Irish families into England, but I have no idea how I could ever find records, as I am not sure any records still exist. The parents, the shop keepers, state on the census they where born in Whitechapel, so it must have been a preceeding generation who left Ireland, or they where not being strictly honest with the census man!

Help - I am up against a brickwall here and putting all my hopes on finding other descendants with more family history passed down to them.

This area of spitalfields at this time was a notoriously over-crowded slum district so possibly registration and record keeping became an impossibility. I have only located this bit of info because the birth certificate of William - born Dec.1881 is the only document that has been kept in the family.
   

[jorose]

Okay, so the possible Edwards family are:

1871, 4 Harriet Place, Christ Church Spitalfields (RG10/507 20/33)
Thomas Edwards, 61, gunmaker
Martha, wife, 44
Thomas, son, 12
Elise, dau, 10
Rachel, dau, 6
Martha, dau, 2

By 1881 only Martha is with Thomas Edwards (widower). But in 1861 he appears to be living with 15-year-old Elizabeth (daughter from earlier marriage? I think wife has been written and then crossed out and replaced with 'daug'. He is listed as married so maybe Martha is elsewhere?)

Could Rachel in 1871 be your Adelaide?

Have you looked for William and Mary Callaghan in the 1891/1901 censuses?

As for the sisters of Adelaide Jr, an Elizabeth married in 1908 in St. Geo. East district (same place as Adelaide's 1905 marriage) - possibly to Martin Knowles White, there are a couple of possible children born in Kensington district with mmn Callaghan, John A. J. and Martin K. J. White.

[A.Enting]

Hi jorose,

Thank you for your reply. It is very helpfull and I am getting to work on your lead and a couple of others. Many thanks for your help. Getting there, little bit-by-little bit.   

[heywood]

Hi,
Did you get the information for Thomas' father from the marriage certificate and do you know for definite that William and Mary are the right parents?
Just thinking that they are still young in 1881 - mind you Thomas was a young parent and husband.

[A.Enting]

Hi Heywood,

thank you for your interest.

Yes I agree William and Mary would have been young when they had Thomas.
I originally found them while trying to cross check information from a later census (1901) where Thomas and Adelaide are married and have teenage children. Trying to cross check as much info as possible, (to try to eliminate any 'red herrings') I found Thomas, Adelaide and family on the 1891 census- but missing Elizabeth age 5 ??  So searched the 1891 census for Elizabeth Callaghan age 5 and found Elizabeth Callaghan aged 5 with 'grandparents' Mary and William Callaghan - lodging house and shop keepers in Flower and Dean Street, which runs next to Fashion Street in Spitalfields, where Thomas and Adelaide's first child William was born. William's birth certificate is the only original family record my husband has, and was my starting point.  (wish my husband had an easier family to trace - like smith perhaps  )

To confirm the relationship for these 'grandparents' I found a record of Thomas and Adelaide's marriage which turned out to be 3 months after their first born arrived, and ordered the certificate - it confirmed the couples details and showed Thomas' father as one William Callaghan - shop keeper! So as far as I can prove this seems to be accurate.

There is one thing about Williams birth certificate that is still bothering me a bit......you have got me started now.......must be all those stars against your username...think you must be a bit of an expert at all this.

My concern is -  the original birth certificate of William b.1881 (19th, December at no.19 Fashion St.) is actually a copy obtained by my husbands family seemingly around the time of Williams death in 1939. It shows the mother, Adelaide -  as Adelaide CALLAGHAN formerly Edwards, though the parents were not married until 3 months later.

Ist thought was Aaargh! I have the wrong marriage, BUT all the names fit..the locations fit - everthing else about them seems  to fit, And search for ages as I did I cannot find another Thomas and Adelaide Callaghan with a suitable date (remembering they too were parents and wed young).

However, back to Williams birth certificate. It has a marginal note! I looked up these notes on the GRO website......it mentions that when a child was born out of wedlock,  but both biological parents subsequently marry,  they can have the birth registration amended to show the mother with the married name and 'formerly' against the maiden name!!!

Thinking as I write this .....maybe it would be worth ordering the original birth certificate.

Bet you did not expect an essay in reply. I have done a few of these family trees for myself and my husband's father's line, but this one is making me dizzy as is the hardest.

However, thank you for your input.

Kind regards - Angela.