what information are you looking for?
Probably relates to this earlier thread ...
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=868743.0
That is it, yes.
I really narrowed what I want to know down to what happened to Thomas and Bridget Greenwood between around 1857 and 1861, when they were not on the census.
I did find the Manchester Rate Books on Find My Past, showing that Thomas Greenwood was in Medlock Street in 1849, 1850, 1852 and 1853, and in River Street in 1856 and 1857.
The Manchester Guardian article case from late 1856 probably ended up in court in 1857, so whatever happened there explains why Thomas Greenwood isn't on the Manchester Rate Books after 1857, and why none of the family are on the 1861 census.
On the 1848 birth certificate of their son James Henry Greenwood, they are living at 48 Cellar, Medlock Street. I assume they could have been living in the same place in 1849, 1850, 1852 and 1853. Missing 1854 and 1855 (maybe connected with Bridget's 1853 arrest for receiving stolen brass steps).
Oddly the Manchester Rate Books don't show Thomas Greenwood in 1851, which was the year of the census when he and his family were living in 3 Clegg Court, which lay parallel to Medlock Street and at right angles to River Street. It is on an old map that I have.
There is a lot of detail that I probably need to fill in myself, such as where were they imprisoned (presumably), and I definitely know that Bridget was imprisoned for 6 months in 1853, but not where. It does seem that what happened to them after 1857 was the end of Thomas Greenwood's Marine Store, as I think it is him who signed his wife Bridget's 1867 death certificate, same signature as his marriage certificate, he could write, he had quite big handwriting, and he was working as a porter at Smithfield market, Ancoats, where most of the porters were Irish.
Maybe I am making a huge fuss over very little, but it has long puzzled me exactly what happened to them. They might be considered nobodies, but they are my ancestors and I just feel driven to find out.
I am considering all options at the moment. It would be very, very expensive to travel to Manchester and stay there, not to mention train strikes and stress. The Mancheseter Central Reference Library is excellent.
This is what I was told
The Quarter Session court record you identified (GB127.M116/2/4/76) can be checked to see whether it provides any further information, although as you say it might not tell you anything you don't know already from the Manchester Guardian article. We have Manchester directories for 1856, 58, 60, 61 and 63, so we can check the River Street address you have supplied to trace Thomas Greenwood's Marine Store and see whether it appears in those years. We can also search by name and trade so we might be able to find a different address for the family if they moved within ManchesterFrom the above paragraph, if they were in prison they simply won't be on the Manchester directories for those years. The 1856 Manchester Guardian article at least implies that Thomas Greenwood would lose his Marine Store licence, so it is very likely he wasn't there after 1857. Thomas Greenwood was a fairly common name in Manchester, and I think I found them in Bennet Street, Ancoats from Bridget's 1867 death certificate. It seems I really need to pinpoint my questions if I want a researcher to find anything, they don't like vague questions and they aren't psychic to know my family tree and all its information like I do.
If I want loads of historical background, at some point I am going to have to travel to Manchester myself to find out, it is too much diverse information for a researcher to find, such as Smithfield market, Ancoats, and what Medlock Street, River Street and Clegg Court were like, exactly what commodities Thomas dealt with, the prison conditions, what happened to their children. I did uncover a photograph from the 1930's of a street nearby, gives a rough idea. At some point I need to comb through all the historical sources they have.
As somebody recently mentioned on another thread relating to their ancestor, prison records might have photographs, which would be genealogical gold.
So in answer to what am I actually looking for, prison records, even photographic. I don't think they can be found anywhere else. And what happened to them and their children. I could be wrong, maybe Thomas' Marine Store licence wasn't taken away or maybe it was re-instated, but I don't think so.
