George & William Wilson, coachmen

[DEW1942]

I have the certified copy of my great-grandfather's marriage certificate as follows:

13 March 1863, Register office, Ashton-Under-Lyne, William Wilson to Mary Hughes, both aged 22 (though a note written by my grandfather gives William's birthday as 1/8/1840). He is a coachman in Middleton, she a servant in Dukinfield. Their fathers  are respectively George Wilson, coachman and Owen Hughes, stonemason.

William and Mary Wilson can then be traced through censuses up to 1901, and his birthplace is consistently given as Bowdon in Cheshire (now part of Greater Manchester).

With all this you would think it easy to trace George Wilson; but I cannot find any William Wilson of that age born in Bowdon; there are George Wilsons who are coachmen with sons called William and of the right age but the wrong place entirely; there are George and William father-and-son combinations from near but not at Bowdon but none are coachmen!

Can anyone help? Other branches of the family have proved trivial by comparison!

(Mary Hughes came from Anglesey, and I have at least got back to parents Owen and Mary there , and siblings)

[stanmapstone]

The chief clerk of the GRO claimed that the birthplace tables were probably the most inaccurate of any of the census tables..... a great many people did not know in which county they were born. There was also a tendency to record the place of residence, or the earliest one which could be remembered, as the place of birth.

Stan

[danuslave]

Hi DEW1942 & welcome to RootsChat

A couple of things to bear in mind -

people often exaggerated their 'profession or calling' (a bit like dustbin men being renamed as refuse disposal operatives!)

an illegitimate child would sometimes invent a father for a marriage certificate - I have one such in my tree

Try looking for William Wilson born in Bowdon, but without a father named in the census  

Linda

Added - crossed with Stan's post!

[danuslave]

I can't find the family in 1871 - do you have the reference?

Also, who are the witnesses on the marriage cert?

Linda

[avm228]

I can't find the family in 1871 - do you have the reference?

I think in 1871 they are in the Welsh census (Denbighshire) at RG10/5658/118/14.

[DEW1942]

Witnesses are J H Maxwell and Thomas Yoxall.

William and Mary Wilson moved around a lot

1871 Record Office reference RG10/5658 in Rhossddu Wrexham
1881 Record Office reference RG11/3834 in Little Bolton, Bolton (where my grandfather, John Charles, appears)
1891 RG12/4680 in 19 Derby (?Darby) Square, Onchan, Isle of Man
1901 RG13 3540 86 High Park Road Southport with John Charles though Mary is in Manchester at this time

I had already tried William Wilson born in Bowdon 1841, no father included in search; the nearest I got was one born in Altrincham. I sent for a copy of that birth certificate, but alas! the father's name was not George but another William.

[avm228]

Does the marriage certificate give any more detailed address for William than "Middleton"?

[DEW1942]

Thanks to everyone for jumping in and chasing this for me.

I'm afraid George's address is just given as 'Middleton' though Mary's address is given more fully as Crescent Rd., Dukinfield

[avm228]

Witnesses are J H Maxwell and Thomas Yoxall.

A male J H Maxwell, 20 b Ashton, was an apprentice grocer in King St, Dukinfield in 1861: RG9/2993/91/5.

He seems to have been James Henry Maxwell born Ashton under Lyne, Jun qtr 1840.