Where did my ancestor Joseph DENNISON of Dalston come from?

[This Boy]

I wonder if anyone can help me with a brick wall. I think I have got so that I cannot see the wood for the trees. Let me set out the facts I know for sure first.

One of my maternal Great, great grandfathers was Joseph DENNISON who married Hannah Potts on 21st May 1877 at the Parish Church, Dalston, near Carlisle. They were both of full age. He a bachelor and husbandman and she a spinster. He was resident at Bishops Mill and she at Pickups buildings. His father is listed as Thomas Dennison (deceased) Blacksmith. Her father is Isaac Potts (deceased) a labourer. Hannah's side of the family poses me no problems. Joseph, on the other hand is proving tricky to track with certainty before his wedding. I confess to being a touch suspicious of the entry suggesting Josephs father was a Thomas Dennison a deceased blacksmith.

After his wedding I have good evidence. His daughter Elizabeth was born on 29 th May 1878. Joseph and Hannah are listed on the birth certificate at The Green, Dalston and he is a farm labourer. In 4th Q of 1880 another daughter, Dinah is born. On the 1881 census the family are at the same address and he is still a farm labourer.

On 5th March 1883 a son, Thomas Dennison was born and on 27th May 1887 another daughter, Ann. By 1891 the family are resident at New Rookery, Dalston and Joseph is now listed as a husbandman.

In 1891 and 1901 the family remain at New Rookery but by 1901 are all, except Hannah and Ann, working in the Cotton Mill. Joseph is listed as a Carter which accords with family legend that he drove a horse drawn carriage. In fact my late grandmother gave me a brass vase which apparently was presented to him upon his retirement.

On 9th June 1905 the Carlisle Journal printed an account of the funeral  on Mr R.W. Cowen the proprietor of Mill Ellers and the funeral car was led by Mr Cowen's carman, Joseph DENNISON.

The family are still at New Rookery, Dalston in 1911 and employed in the cotton mill. Joseph is listed as a Carter there. 

Joseph dies on 13th July 1928 with Probate at Carlisle for Joseph Dennison of Dalston, Carlisle to Hannah Dennison widow. £338, 15 s, 2d.

The problems arise around my uncertainty about Joseph before his marriage to Hannah Potts in 1877. The census returns post marriage all list his place of birth as Dalston. The 1881 to 1911 census returns suggest alternate years of birth as 1848 and 1847. However his death index in 1928 suggests he was 82 when he died giving a year of birth in 1846. I cannot find a baptism. There is a Carlisle birth in 1846 and I am awaiting the certificate.

I do have census possibles (some may say probables and opinions are very welcome) in 1851, 1861 and 1871 but they pose more questions than answers. In 1851, Joseph would have been aged somewhere between 3 and 5 years depending on which source you believe (census or death record). I have a 5 year old Joseph DENNISON living at Ivegill as a lodger with a 78 year old widow called Mary Robinson, an independent landed proprietor. He is born at Dalston, she at Middlesceugh, Ivegill. In 1861 I have a 15 year old Joseph DENNISON, living on a farm at Raughton and listed as a farm servant. His birthplace is listed as Dubsyke, Scotland. However, this looks to me like a clear mistake as the labourer listed before him was the only non Cumberland birth on the page, there is no Dubsyke in Scotland but I have found 2 ancient references to a 'Dubsyke, Dalston.' In 1871 I have a 25 year old Joseph DENNISON as a farm servant at Knockupworth. This time he is listed as born at Broadfield. All three of these entries put him as born in 1846.

I have looked on the 1841 census and subsequent decades and only found one well established family of Dennison's headed by John and Margaret from Dalston resident as farmers nearby at Newby, Cummerdale. They has a son called John born in 1846. I cannot find a Thomas Dennison, Blacksmith or otherwise who fits the bill as Josephs father. The census entries for 1851, 61 and 71 seem plausible but who were Joseph's parents and what happened to them? Was he illegitimate and the Thomas on the birth certificate is a fiction to enhance respectability or does the fact that he named his first son Thomas support it as being true? 

Any evidence, opinions or discussion will be very gratefully received.

Thank you for reading.

[wivenhoe]

Marriage certificate, 1877 - what names do you see for witnesses?

[Annette7]

From the GRO's own index Joseph Dennison b.1846 Carlisle was illegitimate (mmn blank).   It may well be that his father was named Thomas and a blacksmith but just not a Dennison!

I feel sure this birth is your man and at least you will find out who his mother was.

Annette

[This Boy]

Wivenhoe, The witnesses were Elizabeth Potts who was Hannah's older sister and a Joseph Graham, a name that means nothing to me. Your question has made me wonder if the Victorian fathers of illegitimate children ever, often, or occasionally kept in contact/relationship with their illegitimate child. Does anyone know of any research or informed views about such? Probably unlikely but could Joseph have been named after his father, Joseph Graham. I guess the fact that the groom named a fictitious Thomas Dennison as his father on the very form that the witness Joseph Graham had to sign makes that highly improbable.

[This Boy]

Annette7, Thank you so much. I really need to educate myself about how to find mothers maiden names from the index of births. I use Ancestry primarily and am unaware of it ever giving mothers maiden names. I also have 'Find My Past' and had learned that they sometimes give such. I have never used the GRO index - I need to start. I had also not figured out that a blank mmn probably means an illegitimate child although your post has made me see that such is a logical conclusion. Your opinion that the 1846 Joseph DENNISON is likely my man has helped bolster my own confidence in such.

Top lesson. Thank you so much for helping in this case and helping me improve my skills.

I am now wondering if the 78 year old widow, Mary Robinson who Joseph was living with as a 5 year old in 1851 could have been his maternal or even paternal grandmother.