Hi all,
I’m a descendant of Mary Ann Parkinson (b 27 Aug 1861 Kings Lynn) and Joseph Partridge (b? d Birmingham 1899) and am returning to genealogy after a very lengthy break.
I’m in the middle of tidying up the complete muddle that constituted my research but am keen to take my Partridge/Parkinson/Chapman lines further back. My Partridges are even more elusive than the Parkinson/Chapmans and when I looked into this many years ago I suspected (hoped) the families may have travelled the country together.
As I say I never moved on from the novice stage of genealogy but hopefully some of the following is relevant:
1) Birth certificate Mary Ann Parkinson, born Aug 27th 1861 at (?) Yard, Norfolk Street, daughter of Margaret Parkinson formerly Chapman and Edward Parkinson, a herbalist. (Interestingly, the registrar was named Horatio Nelson who I believe was the grandson of Lord Nelson).
The 1861 census, giving us Edward and Margaret as living in Wellingborough, was taken on April 7th 1861 so the family must have moved from there to Kings Lynn between then and Mary Ann’s birth in August.
There were seventeen other Chapmans living in Kings Lynn at the time of the 1861 census, three families and six individuals. One of the families lived in ‘Thurrock Yard, Norfolk Street’ which is either close to or the actual place of Mary Ann’s birth.
MARY CHAPMAN, 66 ,Head, born Hunstanton, Norfolk
ANN CHAPMAN, 41, Daughter, born Kings Lynn
WILLIAM CHAPMAN, 21, Grandson, born Kings Lynn, and curiously an ANN CHAPMAN, 72, Lodger, born Kings Lynn.
Is it possible Margaret had a connection to this family or the other Chapmans in Kings Lynn?
2) Certificate of Baptism John Edward Partridge, son of Joseph Partridge and Mary Ann Parkinson, June 5th 1892, St Peter’s Catholic Church, Cardiff. Edward Parkinson is listed as godfather.
3) Marriage Certificate Edward Parkinson (36, widowed) and Emma Watkins (38, widowed) 1868 Pontypool. It’s difficult to decipher but says the church was Catholic.
Edward and Emma’s residence is simply given as Pontypool, her father being David Thomas, a collier. The big news though is Edward’s father is given as Francis Parkinson (deceased), a builder.
4) Edward Parkinson’s occupation on death certificate of Margaret Parkinson (d Dec 26th 1866, Frosnant, Pontypool) is a cotton spinner.
5) One family member claims that Mary Ann was known as Polly.
Cardiff and Birmingham are two of the main clusters for Partridges, and to a lesser extent around Pontypool and Wellingborough, so the theory that they travelled with the Parkinsons holds up. Indeed, in the 1861 census Edward and Margaret live two doors away from a Partridge family in White Place, Wellingborough.
Anyway, my apologies for the ramble and jumbled up information but hopefully it all helps.
Steven