Author Topic: catholic records  (Read 980 times)

Offline Karen Coatsworth

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Re: catholic records
« Reply #9 on: Friday 10 December 21 07:51 GMT (UK) »
Oh my goodness yes thanks Jen B! I wouldnt make a handwriting interpreter...
Thanks Wivenhoe that is my family in 1861 census, and yes the births of the children.
So its John Conney not Connery? So perhaps no relation. I wonder about Patrick though? a younger brother to Mary?
Thanks Maiden stone. The couple were married by a Richard Gillow(I think thats the name).

Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: catholic records
« Reply #10 on: Friday 10 December 21 18:16 GMT (UK) »

Thanks Wivenhoe that is my family in 1861 census, and yes the births of the children.
So its John Conney not Connery? So perhaps no relation. I wonder about Patrick though? a younger brother to Mary.


One missing letter (or an extra one) is neither here nor there when considering Irish surnames of the era. Spelling was flexible.
Wivenhoe posted a transcription of a census enumerator's book of 1861 which was in turn a transcription of household returns. That's at least 2 opportunities for transcription and clerical errors.
Head of each household was responsible for accuracy of information on a household census return. S/he was dependent on what a boarder or visitor said when s/he filled in their line on the household form. The boarder may have given his details verbally, perhaps in an accent unfamiliar to the form-filler, and then it was up to the householder, (or whoever was writing on the form if householder couldn't), to decide how to spell names. Spellings of surnames weren't always consistent. Civil registrations of births, deaths and Catholic marriages didn't begin in Ireland until 1864 so Irish people weren't used to providing personal information for official forms. Add to that, the householder may not have been a regular user of pen & ink, they may have had imperfect eyesight, their handwriting may have been hard to decipher.
Census enumerators were regular scribes e.g. clergymen, teachers, local officials, but that doesn't mean their handwriting was legible.
I once looked at C.19th census records of Irish people in Newcastle. Many surnames and place-names were unrecognisable.
Birth registration indexes in England in 1860s & 1870s for children of my Irish ancestors had 2 variants for mother's maiden surname. One of my aunts was born into a large Irish family in England; multiple versions of her surname on her family records.   
Cowban

Offline Maiden Stone

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Re: catholic records
« Reply #11 on: Saturday 11 December 21 00:36 GMT (UK) »

 The couple were married by a Richard Gillow(I think thats the name).

That's definitely the right name. He died at North Shields 1853. Rev. Thomas Gillow, his uncle had been put in charge of the mission at North Shields in 1821. The new chapel was erected by a cousin of Thomas, Rev. James Worswick. Number of Catholics in North Shields was small in 1821 but there was a large increase during the elder Rev. Gillow's time and he called his nephew in to help.  Rev. Thomas Gillow remained at North Shields until his death in 1857.
Sources: Catholic Record Society volumes 6 page 322 historical notes to Calally Castle, Northumberland and volume 16 "Lancashire Registers - The Fylde 2"  page 575 in historical notes to Registers of Poulton-le-Fylde. Both sets of historical notes were written by Joseph Gillow, Catholic historian (died 1921), 1st cousin once removed of Rev Richard Gillow.  https://issuu.com/tcrs
Rev. Richard Gillow officiating at the wedding lends weight to my suggestion that the Tynemouth chapel was served by priests from St. Cuthbert at the time. On the other hand, the regular priest might have been away Richard Gillow filling in for him. 
The Gillow family played a large part in Catholic history. They were from Lancashire and various members pop up all around my Lancashire Catholic family history.
5 first cousins of Rev. Richard were priests. 2 of his more distant cousins, grandsons of another Richard Gillow, well-known furniture maker and architect of Lancaster, were young priests in Liverpool during the cholera outbreak 1847. Both caught it while ministering to their respective flocks, one died.
   
A more recent scholarly history of the Gillow priests has been written. "The Gillow Family and the Growth of Catholicism in the North of England in the 19th century" MA dissertation by Rev. Peter Morgan, University of Liverpool 1996

St. Cuthbert's, North Shields has come up before on RootsChat, a few years ago.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=689669.0
A contributor, Mrs Barlow, has done research into St. Cuthbert's church and school. Links she posted are out of date. She was online today with a new topic.
There's an old book "St. Cuthbert's Church, North Shields: Some Account of the Foundation and Early History"  published by St. Cuthbert's 1902.
Cowban