Moody Family History in Manchester 1800 - 1900

[Ezilay]

Hi,  I'm trying to track down my Great, Great, Grandfather Thomas Moody born around 1818.  I have my Grandfather's birth Certificate - Thomas Hawley Moody Born 1861.  Parents were William & Elizabeth (Hawley).  I have a copy of their marriage certificate (1861) listing Williams father as Thomas Moody.  William is listed as a wireworker.  Thomas's occupation as listed is very hard to decipher - In some documents it says he is a Mason.  I can decipher from the listed occupation that he could be a Wire? if you compare it to Williams occupation.  This could be true as most children followed in their fathers trade (Williams daughter Elizabeth became a Wirewinder).  In trying to track down this elusive Thomas Moody I cannot find a record of a Thomas Moody who is listed in any Census as a Wireworker, or a Mason with a son William).  The only Thomas Moody who I can find with a son William (Married Alice Smethurst) is first listed as a Miller and every Census after that is listed as a labourer.  I don't think this is our Thomas as he would be listed as a labourer on Williams Marriage Certificate.  Hope someone can help.  Thanks Dave Moody Australia.

[AMBLY]

Hi Dave :-)

It does rather seem like Thomas Moody and Alice Smethurst at a very good fit, given all the details for them, connection to Worsley and so on

Is their William a MOODY, though?

1) He was baptised 9 Sep 1838 as William Smethurst, and apparently illegitimate. No father on Baptism (transcript). Mother : Alice Smethurst
2) Thomas Moody and Alice Smethurst married 1 Jan 1841
3) 1841 Census : Thomas 22, Miller and Alice Moody 20, and William Smithurst 3, are in same household as a William and Alice Smithurst, both 30.

If Thomas & Alice are your William's parents - it's very possible the occupation of William's father on the 1861 Marriage is a deliberate 'fudge" or could even be what William understood his natural father to be? and who may or may not be a "Thomas"?

Here are the details for Chatters to review. Noting, William and Elizabeth were recorded as married in the 1861 Census - but didn't actually marry  until a week later:

CENSUS 1861: At 1A Fairbairns St, B****,  Store St, Manchester
Head: Hannah Hawley 56, widow, Housekeeper, b Derbyshire
Son: George Hawley 28, unm, Glasscutter, b Salford, Lancashire
Son-in-Law: William Moody 22,marr,  Iron Wire Worker, b Worsley, Lancashire
Dau: Elizabeth Moody 25, marr, b Salford, Lancashire
Plus a female servant, and 3 male boarders

MARRIAGE  1861
Married St Mary's Church Manchester on 14 April 1861
William Moody, 23, Bachelor, Wireworker, of 27 Albert Str. Father : Thomas Moody, Mason
Elizabeth Hawley 25, Spinster, of Albert Str. Father: George Hawley, Brewer
Witness: Ge. Hawley, Elizabeth Vaughan.

Note : William is consistent in the  Census thereafter  as born Worsley abt 1838/1839

Here is the MOODY-SMETHURST Marriage

MARRIAGE: 1 Jan 1841, Parish  Church of Eccles, Lancashire
Thomas Moody full age, Miller. Of Worsley. Father: Abraham Moody, Miller
Alice Smethurst , full age, Spinster, Of Worsley. Father:  John Smethurst, Weaver
Witness: Richard Farnsworth. Thomas Gorse

CENSUS 1841:  Tyldesley with Sharckely, Leigh, Lancashire
William Smithurst 30,  F.S. (sic)
Alice Smithurst 30
Thomas Moody 22, Miller
Alice Moody 20
William Smithurst 3

Re: Occupations  in my experience, on civil marriages 1837+ - and on births:  there was a propensity to talk up the occupation (for the groom or father)  or talk it down (by the officials & clerks), depending on the record so a Miller could be a Labourer at a Mill, for example

BAPTISM 1838
William Smethurst 9 Sep 1838, Tyldesley
Mother: Alice Smethurst

Registration District for Worsley at the time William Smethurst  born is either SALFORD or BARTON, WORSLEY & FLIXTON.

Reg District Barton, Worsley & Flixton  was Created 17 Dec 1838 out of Salford registration district.
It was Abolished 12 Mat 1841 & divided between Chorlton, Salford and Worsley registration districts.

There is this Birth Registration, possibly Alice Smethurst's child?:
Smithurst    Male     , Salford    Vol 20, Pg 441

GENUKI
Described 1870-72  "WORSLEY, a village, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Eccles parish, Barton-upon-Irwell district, Lancashire. The village stands on the Bridgewater canal, and on the Manchester, Tyldesley, and Wigan railway, 6˝ miles WNW of Manchester.....  Pop., about 2,300...."

Cheers
AMBLY

[Ezilay]

Hi Ambly,

Thanks for your reply.  Yes, I have all the information that you have put forward.  I like to deal in actual facts and because I have Williams Marriage Certificate which lists his father as being a Thomas Moody we can safely say we are looking for a Thomas Moody.  How do we try and distinguish which Thomas Moody?  The only other information on that Certificate is his occupation.  Very hard to decipher but he is definitely not listed as a Labourer - dont know why this is.  The part that makes me think this is our Thomas Moody is the fact that William & Alice are residing with Hannah Hawley in 1861.  William son born 1861 is named Thomas Hawley Moody.
I have started a Moody Family Album documenting all the Moody heritage.  I am the youngest of 11 children.  I have reported the following information in the album for future generations.
"Thomas and Alice married on the 17.1.1841 and lived with Alice’s brother William and his wife Alice Smethurst at Mill Cottages, Leigh, Lancashire – Ref – 1841 Census taken 6.6.1841. Alice’s son William was also living with them – he was 3. Note – Smethurst surname listed as Smithurst.  William occupation was a Miller.
In 1851 they were living in Fairfield Street, Manchester, Lancashire with their three children, William aged 12, Elizabeth 9, and Mary 4. Ref – Census taken 30/3/1851.   He was a farm labourer.   
Interesting to note that William’s surname has now been changed to Moody.  Did Thomas adopt him or was William Thomas’s son born out of wedlock?
I believe that he may not have been Thomas’s biological son.  So, who was William’s father?  Did Alice have William out of wedlock to Thomas and then they married two years later.
I cannot find any birth certificate or baptism certificate naming Thomas Moody as the father of William Moody.  I have a record of a William Smethurst being the son of Alice Smethurst being Baptised on the 9th of September 1838.
So it looks like William Moody may not be a true Moody but may be a Smethurst.  Cheers Dave