STROOD, Kent 1841 Census lookup - DAY

[virgil21]

I have been tyring to trace for many years my wife's ancestor whom family legend has it was:

GEORGE DAY from Gravesend, seaman, lost at sea. He married an Irish girl

ELEANOR YOUNG who may have been working in England.

A thorough search of Marriages, 1840-1850, has so far failed to turn up their marriage, either in England/Wales or Ireland.

In the 1851 Census, I have traced a possible linked family thus:

Day, Elizabeth: Head/Widow, 59, Born, Kent, Strood
Day, Juliana:     Daughter,      29, Born, Kent, Strood
Day, William:     Son,               20, Born, Kent, Rochester
Day, George:    Grandson,      06, Born, Kent, Gravesend.

However, the 6 year-old George Day above in 1851 is too young to be my target.

I have searched the Internet and have found no on-line sources for 1841 Census, Strood, nor any listed on this board.

So, would someone be so kind as to:

check the above DAY family in STROOD in the 1841 Census to see if there was a GEORGE DAY as part of the above family in 1841?

He may have been young enough to be still at home on that date.

I estimate that "my" GEORGE DAY must have been born around 1825 and married around 1845 as his first son Alexander was born in 1847. So in 1841, he should have been under 20 years old, perhaps in his mid-teens.

The Irish DAY family names include: George, William, Julia and Elizabeth - similar to the family names above. The first son, Alexander, was named after his mother Eleanor's father.

Sorry to be long-winded, but I thought it better to give what detail I have rather than being vague about it.

Thank you for listening - Tony.

[English Jen]

Hi Tony

I don't know if it's of any help to you or not, but I've found Juliana's baptism record at St Nicholas Church, Strood on the City Ark website.

Here's the link: http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/query/results/?Mode=ShowImg&Img=/cityark/Scans/Ecclesiastical_Rochester_Archdeaconry_Area_Parishes/P150B_STROOD_ST_NICHOLAS_1565_1980/01_INCUMBENT_Service_of_the_Church_Registers_1565_1978/P150B_01_06.html/00000238.jpg

Hope it's of some use.

Kind regards
English Jen.

[virgil21]

Jen - Thank you so much for that. It is very useful. If I can make the connection with this family, "your" Baptism record will be the earliest date I have got so far. With Irish records one can seldom go back that far as so many of them were destroyed during civil conflict at the start of the century: a sad loss. Also, I didn't know about the Mrdway site and it may prove useful for future checks. Once again. my sincere thanks for the trouble you have taken to help me.

[English Jen]

Hi Tony

No problem.  CityArk is quite a good site, only downside is it is slow and you need to know roughly which area to look otherwise you'll be there for days!!!  Believe me - I know!!!

I know what you mean about the Irish records.  I went over to Ireland to chase some of my ancestors and found all the records had been burnt - a great disappointment.

Hope it's given you enough of a lead to find your George.

Kind regards
English Jen.

[virgil21]

And of course, I should further search the same registers myself to see what I can trace of other family members - silly me!

[virgil21]

OK - I have done a trawl of the Medway records and come up with a George Day baptised in May 1819. I would not have found that without your help.

If he is the right person and my other records are correct, he would have gone to sea around 1840-42.

It would therefore be great if I could find out whether or not he is listed with his family in the 1841 Census. Even if he was sea-going at that time, he could have happened to have been back home on the date the Census was taken. So, fingers crossed.

The record search is slow, as you said, but I don't know if you use the shortcuts that I use to speed it up.

The images are obviously all consecutively numbered JPEGS, so once I have got one to begin with loaded into Internet Explorer, I press ALT+D which puts the cursor into the address bar.

I then press END which removes the highlight from the web address and puts the cursor at the end of the line, then cursor back a few characters, for example, to the "8" of the filename [...00000238.jpg], change the "8" to a "9", press ENTER and the next image will load.

I mention this as not everyone I have worked with seems to know that ALT+D takes you directly to the address bar of internet Explorer.

Many thanks again to EngJen and this Forum for putting on me on the right path.

[casalguidi]

1841

56 Peppercroft St, Milton next Gravesend

Elizabeth DAY 46 female servant b.Kent
Julia 20 female servant b.Kent
Will'm 20 lab b.Kent

HO107/460/10 folio 12 page 19

[virgil21]

Thank you for that information. You were very kind to take that trouble. I think now I have what I need on the English side.

And what I think I have to do to be absolutely sure that I have the right family is to find some way of connecting the George Day in Ireland to his English roots. I have found no Irish records yet where I can do that even though I have searched everything available.

My only evidence to link them is the oral tradition on the Irish side that "our" George Day was a seaman from Gravesend and I have linked that to the known dates and names of his children, for which there is documentary evidence on the Irish side.

In your experience, do you think that is enough to go on? At the moment, it's what there is.

What I really hope for is finding some of the descendants of George Day's family who are researching their family tree, as perhaps they would be aware that one of their ancestors went to sea and married an Irish woman. Until then, there is not a lot more I can do.