What does I mean? - researching the Davenports of Radcliffe

[lancsann]

and just to throw anotherone into the mix - this Martha would also fit as the birth was reg in Mar qtr n1850 she would have been 1 yr old when the census was taken

Lancashire Birth indexes for the years: 1850
Surname   Forename(s)   Sub-District   Registers At   Mother's Maiden Name   Reference
DAVENPORT   Martha   Radcliffe   Bury   MELLING   RAD/5/70

Unfortunately the William Davenport Mary Melling marriage says William was a bachelor, occ dyer, father Thomas

[lancsann]

I would guess this is Prometheus (and Joseph's) mother

Burial: 21 Dec 1843 St Thomas, Radcliffe, Lancashire, England
Hannah Davenport -
    Age: 29
    Abode: Radcliffe

The only real way to make certain is to buy a birth certificate

[aggiebagwash]

Hannah's death proves my theory that I have the right couple on the 1841 census but trying to find William's marriage to Mary is  really difficult. I've spent all day going back through every reference I have for the family and then re-searched the data and I'm still of the opinion that the family were Unitarian and that's why I can't find any records for his marriage circa 1848. When the family emigrated to the US  in the early 20th century they followed and their descendants still follow the Unitarian faith.

The only other alternative is that they were C of E and worshipped at St Thomas's Radcliffe and there are no records for the years I'm looking for. One brickwall that's not going to disappear too easily I suspect. I need to look at it from a different angle I think.

[lancaster.jim]

Hi, Aggie,

Have a look at LancashireBMD Marriages.  Search from 1843 to sometime after 1850, and look for William Davenport marrying Mary, anywhere in Lancashire (All Regions).  I think that almost all the marriages in Lancashire at that time are listed.

This site lists marriages in Anglican churches and marriages by the Registrar.  Marriages in non-Anglican chapels are listed as "Register Office or Registrar Attended" and so marriages in Stand Unitarian Chapel would be listed in this category.  Remember, too, that Manchester Collegiate Church (later Cathedral) was a VERY popular place for marriages, even if you did not live in the parish.

Hope this helps

Jim Lancaster (Bury, Lancs.)

[aggiebagwash]

I've looked at the birth's for all  of William and Mary's children and they all have the mother's surname as Melling so it looks like the Manchester marriage is the right one. I think the fact he says he's a Bachelor could just mean he wasn't married when he should have said he's a widower. Also the fact he's a Dyer is additional evidence.

I've suspected that a Baptism I found for a William Davenport 1st March 1818 at Ringley and who lived in Pilkington was the right record. His father was named Thomas and his mother Martha.

[aggiebagwash]

I've looked at the children of Thomas a weaver, and Martha. They lived on Stand Lane and had 9 children. There's a Baptism for Miles born 1826 at Radcliffe Bridge Wesleyan Chapel and all the rest dating from 1810 to 1833 the record just says Ringley and their residence is given as Pilkington.

[lancsann]

If you are certain those children with mmn Melling belong to your family then that 1848 marriage will be the correct one. As jim says Mancester Cathedral was a very popular place for marriages and I have a feeling that I read somewhere it was cheaper to marry there.

the details for info

Name:    William Davenport - dyer of full age
Marriage Date:    7 Mar 1847
Parish:    Manchester, St Mary, St Denys and St George
Father's name:    Thomas Davenport - weaver
Spouse's Name:    Mary Melling of full age
Spouse's Father's Name:    William Melling - printer

both gave address of Gt Ancoats St

witnessed by Joseph Chadwick & mary Hilton

[aggiebagwash]

I've checked and checked again from other sources and it is the right family. I wouldn't have thought of looking in Manchester as all the family lived in the Radcliffe/Pilkington/Prestwich area.

Now on to finding a bit more about William's parents and siblings. I don't understand why if the family are C of E there's one  child Baptised  in the Wesleyan Chapel and the rest c of E then later generations become Unitarian.

[lancaster.jim]

You raise two queries -

> I wouldn't have thought of looking in Manchester as all the family lived in the Radcliffe/Pilkington/Prestwich area.

Lancsann agrees that the Collegiate Church was a popular place for marriages and suggests that it may have been cheaper than elsewhere.  I think that Hardwicke's Act and Anglican Church law required that the couple were married in the parish where one of them resided.  Lancsann shows "both gave address of Gt Ancoats St" which is fairly close to the Collegiate Church.  People from a wide area around Manchester used the Collegiate Church for their marriage and it is a bit of a puzzle as to the reason.  One reason I have heard is that being married in Manchester was something of an exotic place, just as today some people jet off to the Seychelles, etc.  This gave rise to some Mancunians allowing their address to be used as a place of residence to permit marriage in the Collegiate Church, so it is quite likely that the true place of residence could be outside the Parish of Manchester.  The question of cost seems to have related primarily to residents in the Parish of Manchester.  If they married at a licensed chapel of ease to the Collegiate Church, then they had to pay the standard fee to the minister who solemnised their marriage and also had to pay the same fee to the Collegiate Church as the Parish Church.  So, it was much cheaper to marry in the Collegiate Church.

> I don't understand why if the family are C of E there's one  child Baptised  in the Wesleyan Chapel and the rest c of E then later generations become Unitarian.

Marriage in an Anglican church does not mean that the couple being married were CofE, because the Anglican church is prepared to minister to all Christians.  Baptisms can also be a bit of a puzzle.  If you are not particularly religious and just want your child to be baptised then perhaps the nearest church would do.  The Wesleyan Chapel was probably the nearest one at Radcliffe Bridge (in the Township of Pilkington) which would be near the north end of Stand Lane.  The nearest Anglican church would have been St Thomas in Radcliffe on the other side of the river but not much further, though the official parish church would have been All Saints, Stand.  There were other non-conformist churches in the Radcliffe Bridge area,  Stand Lane New Jerusalem, Stand Lane Independent/Congregational, Chapelfield Primitive Methodist, Stand Unitarian, so there was quite a choice.  Just as today, the reasons people go to church or change the church they attend, are many and often not obvious.

Hope this helps,

Jim Lancaster (Bury, Lancs.)