strays on the canals

[Jonah777]

Hi Jane,
thanks for your reply,  had a quick look at the Morton and fellows site and that looks like the right boat, the info I have so far on the Bannister side is as follows...

Edward Bannister age 23
Sarah Ann Jones age 23
At the parish church of st James, Wolverhampton
on 25th December 1907
Edward of the canal boat "SWINDON"
Sarah of the canal boat "BEECH"

Thomas Bannister father of Edward
Thomas Jones father of Sarah
all were canal boatmen..

Marriage witnessed by
Richard Hillman
Elizabeth Bannister

Children of this marriage were
Louisa Bannister 1909 Hanley Staffs
Susannah Bannister Sep 1911 Rochdale Lancs
Edward Bannister Dec 1913 Rochdale Lancs
Elizabeth M Bannister Sep 1917 Rochdale Lancs - Mar 1918 Rochdale Lancs aged 0
John H Bannister Dec 1918 Rochdale Lancs

1911 Census Edward and Sarah were both off the boats
and living on Walton St Castleton Rochdale along with their fist child Louisa and Sarah's mother Elizabeth Jones (widow) aged 52 and Henry Jones (my grandfather) aged 16
Sarah's father Thomas Jones had died sometime between 1907 and 1911, place unknown.

I have just located Sarah A Bannisters grave in Rochdale and I am setting off now to view the cemetery records, she died aged 37 in 1921 Rochdale......

[Jonah777]

hello jonha
having a look through my records of historical boats the only beech i could find was orig a felows morton & clayton  fleet no 328(now in private ownership)if you google morton & clayton historic narrow boats club it has a little detail on it. do you have a hilda harrison  who was the second wife of a ted bannister i think they married in the 50s both of canal famlies  if so they appear in my tree i have 3 relatives  who are closer linked than myself, kerry if you are reading this no doubt you have more info than me on the banister side.
jeannette

Hi again Jeanette,
Hilda Harrison married Edward Bannister in Rochdale Oct 1953, not sure if this is Edward or Edward Jnr though....Probably Edward Jnr as senior would have been in his very late 60s by 1953..

[jane harrison]

hello jonah 777
thats great news im not sure how far down hildas line you are but to give you some clue hildas grandad samuel & my g grandad james where brothers they where v close & often worked the same boats together, in my records i have from my father going back 5 generations all canal boatmen
jeannette

[jane harrison]

jonah777
sorry forgot to mention have e mailed hildas living relatives will pm you with more details as you cant post info on living people here
jeannette

[jane harrison]

jonah
when ted (edward bannister) married hilda he was widowed with three growing children they then had another child together i know at least 3 are all alive & well. was with some at braunston boat festival a couple of months back
im at present searching through my stacks of my info files because im almost sure that bannisters & harrisons are connected again somwhere along the lines (most boat

 people only married into their own kind)
jeannette

[jvb]

Does anyone have any links to boatmen near Milton/Sittingbourne, or know which canals run by there? Also, do you know if there is a link between brick moulding/making and boats? Because a few of the same people in my tree have been listed as both.

To respond to Midnight Rambler back in January: It is most unlikely that your Sittingbourne descendants were canal boatmen, as in Kent they are a long way from the canal network. However it is quite likely that they worked on Thames sailing barges, as they were very common  in the Sittingbourne area transporting goods all over the Thames and Medway estuary area, and particularly bricks from works such as that at Conyer to London - much of the Victorian and Edwardian expansion of London used bricks made in the Medway area.

[Jennie Jay]

Hello,
How do you know where to start looking with canal families. My mothers maternal side of the family were boat people many years ago. I've been able to trace my great grandmother(Hannah Prudence Jones born 12/5/1872 at Etruria Wharf,Shelton,Stoke on Trent)parents Abel Jones-boatman and Sarah Jones nee Jasper. I found the marriage cert of these in 1864 in Dudley and Abels father is George Jones-boatman whilst Sarahs father is John Jasper - banksman? I can't find them(Abel&Sarah) in either the 1871 or 1881 census and Hannah Prudence is only found in 1890 when she marries before dissapearing from the 1891 census. Would it be common for boaties not to register. I would like to find them and their named barges someday but where to look I've no idea.
Regards
Brian.

Oh wow - I am hoping that this can help me trace 'my' Abel Jones! My GG grandfather was George Samuel Jones, born 16 Apr 1892 Leabrook Rd Tipton, parents Abel Jones boatman & Catherine Mary Bennett (her name's wrong on the birth cert though). Haven't been able to trace Catherine or Abel, though i've found Catherine's family up to the 1901 census, when her sister Lucy Buller (nee Bennett) was looking after him. My dad says he thinks that George's parents pretty much abandoned him at a young age and he was brought up by his aunt. This is the biggest brick wall on my tree!!

[jacquelineve]

Hello Jennebel
                            Welcome to Rootschat
Have you found the marriage of Abel + Catherine, the certificate would give Abel's fathers name and occupation.

What was Catherines's surname on sons birth cert?

Jackie.

[Jennie Jay]

On the birth certificate, she's listed as Mary Ann Jones, but she was definitely Catherine Mary (have found her as Catherine Mary Bennett with her family on a census return). Haven't been able to find a marriage though, hence a massive brick wall. I know the family mentioned on this post don't appear to have a son named Abel, but everything else matches up, and not all births etc were registered for canal boat families.