The winner of WDWTYA? 21st February 2008 is.......

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

Shirley silver surfer

Well done Shirley!

[Shirley silver surfer]

O goody goody!
I will just make a search for my brick walls

[Shirley silver surfer]

Here is the first of my brick walls:
My gggrandfather was William Prescott. I believe he was born in Liverpool (1851 Census) about 1813, and he married Mary Smith (that's unusual!) around 1832. I found a marriage in Broseley, Shropshire in 1832 on the IGI. They had a son called John who was born in Broseley about 1832, which makes me think that the IGI marriage is correct. The family settled in Chester and Mary died in 1857.
My problem is that I am unable to tie down William's origins as his age given on census varies so much and Liverpool is a big place! He appears to be very versatile as his occupations range from silk dyer to boot maker!
Do you think I have any chance of tieing him down?

[borobabs]

Coingratulations Shirley hope you get some wall broke down babe

[BigShaz McCreadie]

Ok,,, never tried to help on this thread before :o

If my input is rubbish feel free to ignore.... :o

There is a William Prescott on the IGI Christening date 17th Jan 1813

Saint Chad, Kirkby by Melling, Lancashire.

It jumped out at me because of the Kirkby thing.... I'm not sure about Counties and Boundries changing in England as my research is all Scottish so I stuck Kirkby near Melling into google and Liverpool Meryside did come up.

Anyway just a thought... its a jigsaw peice that may or may not fit and can be binned if wrong.

[KiteRunner]

I suppose one thing that might help is if we could get a look at the parish register entry for William and Mary's marriage to find out the names of the witnesses. I don't suppose you've already had it looked up, have you, Shirley?

[Shirley silver surfer]

Thanks Shaz - I'll take a look.

I didn't think of looking at the parish register for St Leonard's Broseley - how would I go about that from a distance? (I'm not sure exactly where Broseley is in Shropshire)

[Shirley silver surfer]

Sorry - must go to bed now as husband has already disappeared!
It's been a good day!
Night night

[Mary from Italy]

Here it is:

broseley shropshire - Google Maps

You can order the parish records from your nearest LDS centre:

FamilySearch.org - Family History Centers

It doesn't look as though the parish registers have been filmed, so you'll have to order the bishop's transcripts:
Topic details ('England, Shropshire, Broseley - Church records')

[KiteRunner]

I don't think the Bishop's Transcripts will give witnesses' names, will they?

[KiteRunner]

Looking at the 1841 and 1851 censuses, I wonder whether the first Mary could have died in betwen and been replaced by a Mary Ann?

1841 Chester:
William Prescott 25 Lab No
Mary Prescott 20 I
John Prescott 8 No
Margaret Prescott 6 mo Yes

1851 Chester:
William Prescot Head Mar 46 Dyer Liverpool Lancashire
Mary Ann Do Wife Mar 35 Charwoman Do Do
John do Son U 19 Bricklayer Lab Salop Broseley
Margaret do Daur 10 Servant Nurse Chester
Mary Ann Do Daur 8 Scholar Do
Jane Do Daur 5 Do Do
Frances Do Daur 12 mo Do

Of course, it could be the same Mary and she just doesn't like to say she was born in Ireland.

[Mary from Italy]

I don't think the Bishop's Transcripts will give witnesses' names, will they?

Oh sorry, I didn't realise that.

[KiteRunner]

Ok, forget my theory about the two Marys because I've found baptisms for some of the children on the IGI, all extracted records, all at St. Werburgh's, Chester:

Margaret born 15 Nov 1840 chr 29 Nov 1840 parents William Prescot and Mary Smyth
Mary Anne born Aug 1843 chr 26 Aug 1843 parents William Prescot and Mary Smyth
Jane born 9 Feb 1846 chr 22 Feb 1846 parents William Prescot and Mary Anne Smyth.

[KiteRunner]

I see that in 1861 William is 40 and in 1871 he is 61. Then in 1882 he is 72 and in 1891 he is 81. If I have the right death reg for him, Sep 1891, his age at death is given as 78. He really didn't know when he was born, did he? At least Liverpool is consistent for place of birth, though not very helpful.

[KiteRunner]

Oh dear, there are a lot of William Prescotts baptised in Liverpool, aren't there? I would expect his father to be a John because that is the name of William's oldest son, but that doesn't help much either, does it?!

[Shirley silver surfer]

Thanks for all that.
I have Margaret's birth certificate and her mother is definitely Mary Ann.

You see what I mean about William's age!!!!
However, in 1841 his age is given as 25 (I know it was rounded up to the next five) so he is likely to have been born between say 1816 & 1820, although he appears to be older than Mary on both 1841 & 1851 Censuses and Mary's death age was given as 40 in 1857!!!!
I note that I have omitted to send for Mary's death certificate so I will make that a priority.

A William did not re-marry maybe someone guessed his age when filling in later censuses?

My head hurts!!!

[KiteRunner]

The ages were supposed to be rounded down, not up, in 1841, Shirley, which should mean he was born between 1811 and 1816. As he got married in 1832, the marriage entry should state that he was a minor if he was under 21, though of course he could have pretended to be over 21, especially if he didn't know his date of birth!

[KiteRunner]

We do have a member who is offering lookups at Shropshire Record Office:

http://www.familytreeforum.com/wiki/...php/Shropshire

Might be worth asking for a lookup of William and Mary Ann's marriage entry in case there is a clue there?

[Shirley silver surfer]

Thanks for that. I have contacted Wilf and hope that he can throw some light on the matter.

[Helen Smith Too]

Not very helpful,but.....there is a place on Merseyside called Prescott, which is probably why there are a lot of them around.:o