Author Topic: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914  (Read 883 times)

Offline Ray T

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Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« on: Thursday 01 December 16 14:14 GMT (UK) »
Brick wall time!

I'm looking for the origins of Henry ROBERTS who was born in Liverpool in the first half of the 1860s.

Henry married Emily HAMLET on 9 April 1882 and they had at least 8 children - all on the other side of the Mersey in Birkenhead or its environs. I have that majority of these in some detail but I still can’t tie Henry’s origins down.

According to his marriage cert, he was 19 years old - which puts his birth at 1863 - and a “joiner”. His father is  named as William, a “plasterer”. Henry died in 1914 and his occ. was a “Journeyman Joiner”. One of Henry’s sons married in 1918 and his deceased father was said to have been a “Master Joiner”.

His calculated birth year according to the 1891, 1901, 1911 and Death Cert. is either 1865, 1864, 1863 0r 1862 resp.

I think I have Henry lodging at 80 Mozart Street, Toxteth Park in 1881 (birth year 1992) but I can find nothing obvious before this date.

Any suggestions as to where I might look would be welcome. I’ve looked in all the obvious places but nothing sticks out. I have no idea of who his mother was.

Cheers
Ray 

Offline Spidermonkey

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 01 December 16 14:24 GMT (UK) »
If you use the new GRO index and search for Henry Roberts bn 1863 +/- 2 years and put in the volume code of 8b, then you get 25 candidates with their MMN.  That is not an unfeasible number to use freebmd to see if you can find a marriage between a William Roberts and a Harper (for example - first surname on the list!)

Offline Maggsie

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 01 December 16 14:45 GMT (UK) »
Hi,
Henry was from Runcorn in Cheshire, born 31st May 1863.
I just searched by Henry, mother Lucy Father William and got them in the 1871 census.
She was Lucy Evans, also had her Parents living with them.
in 1881 he was with his Mother in Toxteth, he was a Bank Clerk. She was a widow.
Maggsie

Offline Ray T

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 01 December 16 14:58 GMT (UK) »
If you use the new GRO index and search for Henry Roberts bn 1863 +/- 2 years and put in the volume code of 8b, then you get 25 candidates with their MMN.  That is not an unfeasible number to use freebmd to see if you can find a marriage between a William Roberts and a Harper (for example - first surname on the list!)

Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds feasible until you start attaching the resultant surnames to "William Roberts". e.g. there were 22 marriages between WR and "Jones" over the 15 years leading up to 1865; and that's just in Liverpool. Its then almost impossible to attach Henry to one of them.


Offline Ray T

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 01 December 16 15:07 GMT (UK) »
Hi,
Henry was from Runcorn in Cheshire, born 31st May 1863.
I just searched by Henry, mother Lucy Father William and got them in the 1871 census.
She was Lucy Evans, also had her Parents living with them.
in 1881 he was with his Mother in Toxteth, he was a Bank Clerk. She was a widow.
Maggsie

Hi Maggsie - where did you get "Lucy" from?

Whilst Runcorn is a possibility, Henry is pretty consistent in his statements that he was born in Liverpool and he was clearly a "joiner". Henry Roberts "joiner" boarding in Toxteth in 1881 looks a better bet than him living with his mother being a bank clerk. A year later he was married as a joiner and, if his marriage cert is to be believed, his father was still alive.

Regards
Ray

Offline Maggsie

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 01 December 16 16:56 GMT (UK) »
I got the father William from the Marriage.
Then I went to the census and matched to that, then I went to the trees and saw the same marriage cert. with the Mother mentioned a long side William.
I went back to the 1881 census and can't find the one I mentioned.
I know Runcorn was something like Runc:;! but I knew it was Runcorn.
I will look again to see if I can find it.
Oooops and sorry if I made a mistake. 
Maggsie

Offline Ray T

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #6 on: Friday 02 December 16 10:29 GMT (UK) »
Hi again Magsie.
I've got an original of the on-line marriage cert. so I'm reasonably confident of the father's name/profession. I've seen several trees on-line but I'm not convinced that any of them have the right family. The most likely candidate, unfortunately, has Henry being born in Blackburn which doesn't fit with his stated Liverpool origins.

Clearly others have been through this exercise before.
Ray

Offline ShaunJ

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #7 on: Friday 02 December 16 13:31 GMT (UK) »
Who were the marriage witnesses? Any clues there?
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Offline Ray T

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Re: Another Brick Wall - Henry Roberts of Liverpool c.1863-1914
« Reply #8 on: Friday 02 December 16 15:57 GMT (UK) »
Who were the marriage witnesses? Any clues there?

The bride's eldest brother and her younger sister so no clues there Shaun.