Hi,
I've been trying to trace my family tree and despite always thinking my family's always been from Lancashire, I've found three separate Shropshire links...and then hit dead ends. I was wondering if anyone might have any information :-)
First one is a bit tenuous. I've been tracing a line of BLOCKSIDGEs in Liverpool and have noticed that it's a name found mostly only in Shropshire. However, the person who is my ancestor, Edward Blocksidge, claims his birthplace is Birmingham on census records later. In 1841 he is indeed recorded as being in Birmingham, aged 10, living on 'High Street' at a residence that houses many other young men and boys (6-25). I wondered if it might be an orphanage or workhouse and that maybe he were illegitimate. I was wondering if someone with any expertise might be able to shed light on this, or anything about the Blocksidge family.
Secondly, I'm interested in the WITHINGTONs/WHITTINGTONs of Newport, Salop who also moved to Liverpool. I know of Charles and Martha Whittington (nee MICKLEWRIGHT) who moved their family to Liverpool sometime between 1839 and 1851. Their daughter Elizabeth later married Edward BLOCKSIDGE as mentioned above. I wondered if anyone had any connections to Withingtons/Whittingtons or Micklewrights around this time.
Last of all, and this one is unconnected to the previous two. I'm interested in finding out about any members of the REEVES family from Shrewsbury area. My ancestor John Reeves was born in Shrewsbury around 1811, later moved to Prescot (then Lancashire) and married there and later moved again to the Oldham area. I know he married someone called Jane and their children included John, Elizabeth, William and Cathrine but these were all born in Lancashire. Again, does anyone have anything about a John Reeves from around this time?
Thanks in advance. This is all quite new to me. I've been most surprised to find so many links to Shropshire in my tree. I haven't even started on my dad's side yet!
Thank you. Draper makes sense as Edward moves to Liverpool and is a 'draper' living 'above shop' in Liverpool by 1851, so that is almost certainly him.
Do you think if the family were poor, he would have been sent to work there? Having dug a little deeper, I have found more in Birmingham but no links to which might have been his parents. Thanks for your help.
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Hello
With reference to the 1841 census entry in High Street, Birmingham (HO.107/1145/1 folio 10) I get the impression they are living 'above the shop' rather than being an institution, which often extend to more than a single page of entries.
The Head of the household, who is unusually young at 18, is a Draper with three males aged 20 and two males aged 10, one of whom is Edward BLOCKSIDGE. His entry says he was not born in the same county but I have had problems with similar entries in the past so it is difficult to know how much you can rely on this, particularly when he is giving the information at ten years of age.
Mike