Mr William Atkinson married Miss Catherine Mans of Winchester, on 28 Jan 1819, at St Lawrence's parish church. They are gggg parents of me.
The Mans family I know somewhat about, including Catherine's grandfather William (1738-?) of Alresford, her father James (1763-1839) who spent most of his life as porter of the Close; and Catherine herself ran a millinery business in Winchester until the late 1830s -- first with her sister Ann and then in her own name -- and later is a school mistress, e.g. in Lymington in 1841, with the three children William, Catherine Ann, and Moorsom.
But I can't find out anything at all about William Atkinson, other than: in the marriage allegation he is a “gentleman”, and he was possibly a naval man, because at Catherine's death (Glastonbury, 1864) she's “relict of Capt. Atkinson RN”.
In 1851 Catherine is living in Wool, and she's a widow, with the two younger. Since there's a death of a William Atkinson in Winchester 1849, I take that as my man, aged 65 on the bishops transcript: hence the tentative dates above.
But I really know nothing: cannot find a birth or parents, and cannot find any actual naval records. (Moorsom the youngest son was a sketchy character who invented a naval career for himself in the late 1850s for the purpose of fraud (and bigamy!). Perhaps he learned this trick from his dad.)
Any help finding my William Atkinson, gratefully received.
