Catherine Weldon Born C1841 Westmeath Ireland ?

[suejohnsoncroot]

I am trying to find the birth and parents of my 2nd Great Grandmother Catherine Weldon

This spelling, date of birth and place of birth are based on French census records where she lived at St Pierre, Calais, with my 2nd Great Grandfather Pierre Pointez and my Great Grandfather Louis Pointez.
She is on several census records in France but then seems to disappear when they come to Nottingham England.

 Pierre appears on the English 1881 census  & he is living with the Litchfield family and it states that he is married (I think she was his common law wife as on the French records she was described as his concubine!) Their son Louis is staying at another address but again a Litchfield family.

I am hoping someone my have further details on my Irish ancestors and if there are also any links with the Weldons and Litchfield family (Some of this family also seem to be from Ireland)

Also if anyone has any general information regarding the migration of Irish people moving to Calais possibly as Flax spinners (On one census record this was her occupation)

I seem to have hit a brick wall so any help would be appreciated.

[taramcdsmall]

Hi There and Welcome

Do you have a marriage record for Catherine to get her father's name and occupation ?

Tara

[taramcdsmall]

OOPS 

Sorry, I've just noted the concubine reference.

What a FAB word 

Did you find a death record for her in France ?

Tara

[suejohnsoncroot]

Thanks for your speedy reply.
I have checked deaths in St Pierre Calais up to 1885 (the rest of the family left France before 1881) Also missing are two sons again no deaths found. (To be honest it is a very slow task as French records  are not transcribed.  The original records have been scanned so you have to manually search through them and try to translate them as well. Once you find one the information they give is excellent)

The only records I have of Catherine are on the French census so I have no parents names.

The only record I could find in the English census in 1881 was a Catherine Weldon in Staffordshire Widow - Lodger - Occupation Breeze Washer.

I have checked BMD but could not see anything that looked to fit. The Pointez family seems to get their name misspelt on every record so I have looked at this as a possibility and some record the Anglicized their name to POINTER

[taramcdsmall]

I can see your tree online and I can see how hard it is for you with all the incorrect spelling of the family surname.

I can see the 1881 Census where Pierre says that he was married ~ could he have fibbed ?

The 1891 Census then has him as a widower.

Just so you now, the Irish civil registration only began in 1864 so prior to that you are looking for Church Baptisms.

For that you need father's name, mother's name and maiden name, and an exact parish then to see if records still exists for that area.

I'm afraid that at the moment you have none of these which means your Irish search needs to halt for now.

There has been great success though on this site and hopefully a relation shall read this and get in touch with LOTS of information.

Fingers Crossed 

Tara

[taramcdsmall]

By any  chance did you come across any other Weldons in Calais ?

I'm just wondering did her family stay in Westmeath or go to France too ?

Tara

[taramcdsmall]

I'm just looking at the GV, which is the nearest records available to Catherine's time in Ireland.

I'm looking to see if the surname Weldon appears there and if so where ?

A John Weldon here !

http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/westmeath/portnashangan.htm

A James Weldon here !

http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/westmeath/killua.htm

Tara

[taramcdsmall]

Weldons of Westmeath on the 1901 Census !

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?census_year=1901&surname=weldon&exact=&firstname=&county19011911=Westmeath&county1821=&county1831=&county1841=&county1851=&townland=&ded=&age=&sex=&relationToHead=&religion=&education=&occupation=&marriageStatus=&marriageYears=&childrenBorn=&childrenLiving=&birthplace=&language=&deafdumb=&search=Search&sort=age&pageSize=10&houseNumber=&familiesNumber=&malesNumber=&femalesNumber=&maleServNumber=&femaleServNumber=&estChurchNumber=&romanCatNumber=&presbNumberDiv=&protNumber=&parish=&barony=&yearsMarried=&causeOfDeath=&yearOfDeath=&familyId=&ageInMonths=&pager.offset=20

Tara

[suejohnsoncroot]

Thank you for all the information Tara.

The links are very interesting and could well show some of my relatives - just not sure which ones!

The only WELDONS in St Pierre that I can find are MARY JULIA WHEILDON born 1835 father GEORGE age 31, mother LATICIA (nee MURPHY) I have not found any more births which I thought was unusual so I also checked deaths but found none. Neither do they appear on the St Pierre census taken in 1836 the year after MARYS birth- I wonder if they returned home.

They only other records I have found which may be related are the 1846 census shows a Mary Murphy age 23- Domestic servant and on the same census their is an ANN LONGMIRE nee WILDON age either 39 or 35 and she is married with 5 children.

The first record I have of CATHERINE WELDON is the the birth of Pierre Louis in 1864 the last record I have is the 1876 census.

It is a possibilty that Catherine was still with Pierre Pointez in 1881 but just was not at home. Their son Louis was at another address and listed as a visitor.

On the 1891 census Pierre states he is a Widower. I have a death certificate for an ANN PONTER which states she was Pierre's wife (The address given matches that on the census)who died 2nd April 1891(I think this was census day) but I have no other record of her. No marriage found yet.

As you say someone else my be researching the Weldons and see my post lets hope so!