PICKSTON - Harpurhey

[tsgmoody]

Here is a conundrum that has been puzzling a lot of people.

Mary Ellen PICKSTON (born in Salford c. 1855 - 1859?) married James FLANAGAN (born in Stockport c. 1850?) on Sunday 29 May 1881 in Stockport, Cheshire.

They had 8 children.

James was a basket / skip maker and they lived in

Queen Street West, Stockport,
39 Melville Street, Harpurhey,
12 Williams Place, Harpurhey

We cannot find evidence of birth or parentage for these two.

Mary's father may have been Joseph PICKSTON
James' father may have been John FLANAGAN

There were several Mary Ellen PICKSTONs in the vicinity at that time, none have proved to be she.

James' antecedents are proving equally problematic.

1881 is the earliest solid evidence we have about them, but being apparently illiterate their ages on certificates and censuses are all over the place.

I shall post this on the Cheshire section too as they started married life there.

[RootsChat]

Hello !

I found a couple of Births which may be worth looking into !?
 
Births Dec 1844
FLANAGAN  James    Stockport  19 271  

Births Dec 1852
Flanagan  James Thomas     Stockport  8a 49

Also this one for Mary. (I know the date are not quite right but as you said the dates are up the wall so maybe it is also worth looking at.)

Births Jun 1864
PICKSTON  Mary Ellen     Manchester  8d 210

It may be also worth looking at the Pickstone surname as well as this is more popular than Pickston, both originate in Lancashire. It would not be hard to have dropped the "e"