Thomas Carroll, last seen in Liverpool 1851. What happened next?

[dtcoulson]

The Ann in Sunderland is not my ancestor.
Though I haven't looked at her data for a while I recall tracing her through the censuses and establishing that she had a different life journey to my ancestor.
My Ann marries John Collinson in 1884 or thereabouts.

The presence of yet another reasonably good match (Carll family) in 1851 makes it clear that
there are several families from Ireland that closely match the family I am looking for.

Is 'Cawell' a real name that appears frequently in the censuses or is it unique?
If so that would establish that it is a misspelling.

The Irish birth record for Thomas is a good match.
If the mmn Darcy is correct then it may be possible to see if that matches later
Carroll births in England.

-DC

[dtcoulson]

A Google search on several fronts establishes that Cawell is a surname deriving from Scotland.
Running counter to that is that the Thomas Cawell found in Liverpool in 1861 disappears from history.


There is a Thos Carroll of the right age in the military in 1861, stationed in Kent.
Would it happen that a young fellow from way up north would be inducted into the army and moved down to Kent?

-DC

[dtcoulson]

Catherine Carrol (unmarried) of the right age and born in Ireland working as a servant in St Oswald Durham, 9 miles from Chester Le Street.

[dtcoulson]

hehe... I see that this ties in nicely with the 1851 Carll family you mentioned, Heywood.
Perhaps I have been chasing the wrong family after all.

It might make sense now to examine census records for the Carll family siblings
for details of their origin.

-DC

[dtcoulson]

After some time I have tracked the Carll children as follows:

() Ellen is a servant in the Rixon household in Durham (city) in 1861 (nominally born 1844)
() Winifred died in Chester Le Street in 1854
() Catherine is working as a servant in St Oswald in 1861

In all cases the surname was spelled as Carroll or some close variant (one R or one L)

This would be a good match for the Carroll parents (James & Catherine) who later live in Chester Le Street in 1861 except that we have to compromise quite significantly on their ages.
In 1851 they are born in 1814 and 1816 whereas in 1861 they are born in 1807 and 1811.

Those 1861 ages match better with the parents living in Liverpool in 1851.
Furthermore the 1851 Liverpool family are running a boarding house
and so are the 1861 Chester Le Street family.

I really don't know which way to go on this choice for the 1851 family.

If the Liverpool parents (James 1807 & Catherine 1811) are coincidental matches we would expect to see them again in Liverpool in 1861 or somewhere else perhaps, but they seem to vanish.

Conversely, if the Carll parents in Durham are coincidental matches we would expect to see them in 1861 as well, but again they seem to vanish.

Any suggestions?

-DC

[heywood]

Firstly, Cawell is just due to a bad transcription. It should be Carroll.
Carll, although written as such, is most likely Carroll but due to enumerator’s interpretation of accent was written thus.

Ages can vary. Not much more to say.
Carroll is not an unusual name.

In 1851 Liverpool
James Carroll is a Dock Labourer. There are lodgers living with them but that was quite often the case. Several houses roundabout were the same. Conditions were very poor.
In 1861 similarly, the family has lodgers.

I don’t think you can yet make any choice re the parents. There is not enough evidence.

Heywood

[dtcoulson]

I have a death for James Carroll that matches the birth year for James Carll of Houghton Le Spring 1851: (from GRO)
[]
CARROLL, JAMES       
age at death = 40     
1855  Apr-Jun
STOCKTON 
[]

This predates the appearance of James Carroll in Painshaw in 1861. 
On the basis of this I'm inclined to favour the Liverpool family in 1851.

... However....

I can't find a well-matched death record for James Carroll born 1807 anywhere in the north of England, so your suggestion that ages are unreliable may prove to be correct in this case. If that is the case then no solid conclusions can be drawn from the death of James in 1855.

On a different note, I've been wondering if Liverpool was a major port of entry for Irish escaping the famine. There seem to be an awful lot of Carrolls from Ireland piled up in Liverpool during these years. Durham county seems to be knee-deep in them too.

Further to that point, would Liverpool have been an easily accessed city for people from central Durham, seeking jobs or buying/selling material etc? I've been thinking of people who might move TO the city (from Durham) for work rather than disperse from it.



 -DC

[heywood]

A good idea would be to look up about Irish migration post famine to the two places you are interested in.
I know more about Manchester and Liverpool but conditions were not good at all.
People from the same areas often lived together/alongside each other and moved to relatives or neighbours.
I would be wary of putting those two families together without good evidence but it is your choice.
Stockton isn’t the same area though is it?
There are several Carrolls in Stockton.
I wonder how good the baptism transcriptions from St Michael’s are. Often Catholic baptisms show the mother’s maiden name in the parish register.

[dtcoulson]

Taking your advice Heywood and stopping here, without conclusion.
Someday I will buy a few marriage certs and see what they turn up.

All my research has to be online as I live in a different part of the world.
Am still getting used to the place-names of Durham.

Cheers & thanks
-David C