Canal Boatmen

[Curly]

Hi John,
You only quote the two Harrisons, so it's difficult to say exactly which line they are in, because i suppose you do know that there were many Harrisons that were Watermen/ Boatmen/ Flatmen working the Canals and Rivers of Cheshire.
Flats usually worked on the Canals, because they were [ initially], horse drawn, and a lot of Harrisons were on the Canal out of Barnton [ Gt Budworth Parish], to the Potteries, or to Runcorn, Ellesmere Port etc.
Certainly in the 1860's i have for example in the Register of Flats,  ' Governor', a 130 ton Flat owned by William Harrison, and he Captained it.
'Polly' 100 tons Thomas Harrison Owner and Captain,   'Nelson'. - Robert/ William Harrison,  'Newton'. -Thomas/ Thomas, and 'Dempsey'' - Robert/ Robert Harrison, just to give you some idea that they were very active in the trade.
Two Harrisons are listed in the recent Book by Geoffrey Buchan, - -  'Barnton',   Ralph. 1740-1823, and James' 1777-1863, his Son, and i am connected to them, although i have not gone into their origins,  Geoffrey say's they were from Staffordshire.
The Book follows his previous one [ now out of print], 'Barnton a Portrait of Times Past', which was mainly, a collection of Old Photo's which had lots of Flats, Barges, etc, and some Flatmen.   
His latest is more Historical [ lovely production], but also has lots of River/ Canal references and Photo's.   The last time i spoke to him it was selling fast, and this 'Run' could well be sold out.
  Cheers,
   Curly.

[JohnJean]

 Many thanks once again. I know it has been a bit dificult tracking ancestors with a not uncommon surname.  I have found census information on UK 1841 to 1911 good as also the Cheshire BMD listings. The last known listing of James Harrison was in the 1871 Census aboard the vessel "Polly". I am originally from England immigrated early in life to Australia and remiss not to find out more Family History years ago. I appreciate all your information. It does help.John.

[Curly]

Hello again John,
Yes i know  it is difficult at long range, but the people on this site are very helpful.   I am myself still here in Sydney 44 years later, but can tell you that Technology has been a Fantastic help to this subject.  The old way when i used to go back to Chester RO was no fun at all, and took forever.
Thomas Harrison was Married at Gt Budworth on the 2nd of February 1818 to a Sarah [ name not given in IGI], and James was Christened on the 1st of November 1818 at Birkenhead.
It was usual for the Boat people to take their Wives and young children with them, and there were Churches along the Routes that they used for Weddings and Christenings.
You found James at Northwich Mooring in 1871 on 'Polly', and out of interest, on my listings she is still registered in 1887, with a Thomas Harrison the Owner and Master. It is extremely doubtful that it would be the Thomas, James's Father [ i have a potential birth in 1796], rather his brother.
I am sure you know that with the male line moving around all the time, you have to concentrate on their wives [ making sure you know as much as you can], because as the children grow up and go to school, they stay home with them, and this is the only way to keep track of the Harrison line.
There is a James death for DecQ 1877 at Northwich aged 60 which could fit.
Cheers,
  Curly.

[odessa]

Hi John,

There's a James & Mary Harrison buried at St Helen's, Witton and there is a stone.............
James Harrison of Witton d.DEC 30th 1877 a60y, Betsy dota d.JUL 17th 1854 a16m. Mary wota d.MAY 6th 1884 a64y. Betty Burgess of Witton d.JUN 30th 1873 a85y.

any use?
odessa.

[jane harrison]

hello john
i come from a long line of harrison boat people, as curly stated lots of them all over the country on census time.i cant find your james in my tree but then i still after following & tracing members for over 30 years still have large gaps iv even found cousions of my dads he didnt know he had if you let me know others in your tree around 1880 onwards i will see if i can make a connection
jeannette

[JohnJean]

  Wow. Thanks for that. Every time I check, another piece of interesting information comes in. I will get back to you folks again. I really appreciate this feedback. John.

[JohnJean]

Hello again. I have checked my resource information about James and Mary Harrison and the details provided do match. Regarding the Harrison line, Jeannette, I found that James and Mary Harrison had three sons. They were Thomas (1842), William (1852) and Frederick (1856). Thomas is my direct line but he was not involved in later life on the boats. I am not sure about William at this point but I found that Frederick was still on board the vessel "Polly" in the 1871 census with his father James noted as Master and his mother Mary as Master's wife. My direct line comes through Thomas (1842) Witton, then Frederick William (1864) Northwich, and Thomas (1886) Weston Point Runcorn.  Although there would be many people from the ancestry line within Cheshire, my origins then go to the other 3 corners of family in Lancashire.  Harrison-Hampson and Bramhall-Williamson. I would be interested to learn of any connections. Thanks John

[AdrianB38]

Flats usually worked on the Canals, because they were [ initially], horse drawn... in the 1860's I have for example in the Register of Flats,  ' Governor', a 130 ton Flat ...

While I wouldn't want to say that everybody used the same terminology, "flat" normally means a vessel on the river - specifically, the Weaver and Mersey round this area of Cheshire. The canals round Northwich are all narrow canals, which means all their locks are just a couple of inches over 7 foot wide. Narrow-boats are no more than 7 foot wide (plus or minus an inch or two - usually minus, these days). Capacity varies but the National Waterways Museum refers to a narrow-boat named "Ferret" now at Ellesmere Port museum, built by WJ Yarwoods of Northwich in 1926, with a cargo capacity of 30 tons
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat and http://nwm.org.uk/Ferret.html

Vessels rated at 90t (like Polly in the 1871) will be the bigger flats and will be on the river. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey_Flat which quotes a width of 14 feet 9 inches to 17 feet.

It's clear then that what is usually called a flat couldn't navigate the Trent & Mersey from Northwich to the Potteries, etc. While a narrow boat off the canals could go onto the river system (Weaver then Mersey), they're not ideal, especially when getting out into open water. I saw a television program some time ago showing someone taking a narrow-boat from the Leeds & Liverpool canal out onto the Mersey and into the Albert Dock - it was made clear that this was a very tricky thing to do as it would be easy to get rolled over. (There's now a new link along the Liverpool waterfront to avoid this tricky passage). The only physical connection in the Northwich area is the Anderton boat lift and I'm not sure a Weaver flat would fit into it.

(Just to confuse matters, some of the earlier canals were built to take boats of width more like 14ft - indeed one could see 2 narrow-boats lashed side by side working such canals)

It's perfectly possible that someone started their career on the flats on the Weaver, moved onto the narrow boats on the canals but always called themselves a flatman, but generally my instinct would be that flats and flatmen worked the Weaver, Mersey and any other connected rivers, not canals.

[canal woman]

I have a marriage in St Michael and All Angels  Church   Middlewich  Cheshire

Maybe they are yours??

September 1st 1862

William Bayley  21   Bachelor     a Salt Boiler   Newton        Father was     James Bailey   a Boatman
to
Eliza Harrison   18   Spinster                               Newton        Father was    Thomas Harrison  a Flatman

Witnesses were John Harrison  and Elizabeth Stockton
The marriage was by

Good hunting!!!