Currently a number of events have brought my focus back to the Williamson Family – my maternal grandmother’s family (through my mother’s adoption).
The purpose of this post is to summarise the current areas of research and what is being done (September 2021) in order to help others and via search engines to catch the attention of people currently unknown to me who may be researching the same family.
Currently we know of the Williamsons in Cork in the first half of the 19th Century, later emerging in Worcester in England in the 1861 Census. That same census indicates that there was a branch of the family in New Jersey United States.
(more…)My mother’s adoptive mother’s paternal grandfather (my Grandmother’s Grandfather) was William Blizard Williamson (born Cork, Ireland 1811, died Worcester, England 1878). He had two sons: William Blizard Williamson (the younger) and George Henry Williamson – my grandmother’s father.
I have written previously about them. This post ponders the origin of the Blizard name in our family tree and whether knowing that helps identify further ancestors or the geographical origin of the Williamsons. (There is a rumour that they may have originated in England and another that they originated in Londonderry.)
This post summarises what I know about the name (not much) and what I would like to know. It is a work-in-progress both in terms of research and content editing. Suggestions are very welcome!
This post also details the genealogy of Sir William Blizard (1743-1835), a surgeon and founder of the first medical school attached to a hospital, The London Hospital. It may be that William Blizard Williamson was named after this famous person, but if anyone reading this identifies a genealogical link between the two of them … .
On the other hand, perhaps he was born during a blizzard?
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James Keighley was my Great Great Great Grandfather. His daughter Martha (1834-1920) married Robert Fell (1924-1910) and their eldest child, Elizabeth Fell (1856-1929) was the mother of my paternal Grandmother, Marjorie Fell Lendrum (1887-1963).
Reconstructing James’s family or families is of interest not just because he is at the time of writing the most distant Keighley relative but also because of two outstanding genealogical itches:
As a “read” it is probably only of interest to Keighley, Fell and Ramsden relatives and those wanting to find out a bit more about the two posts referenced in the paragraphs above.
genealogyWe know from census records that after Elizabeth Ramsden died on 26th April 1851 (aged 40, at home in Manningham), James Keighley remarried at least once. In the 1861 Census (7 April 1861) James is recorded as residing in the same house as in 1851 (1 Belle View, Manningham) with his wife Sarah, a 49 year old born in Farnley, Yorkshire. This would imply a year of birth of 1811/12.
A note in the Leeds Times of 25th October 1862 (page 8 column 5) states: “DEATHS … Bradford … On Monday, age 51, Sarah, wife of Mr. James Keighley, Belle Vue.” This death announcement would indicate a year of birth of about 1810/11 – reasonably consistent with the 1811/12 implied from the 1861 Census. No probate record has been found.
This note is about the steps taken to identify her given her 1861 Census entry and the above death announcement, in support of another note about James Keighley’s families. It is also written in the (not entirely forlorn) hope that other researchers will find this note and add their thoughts.
A marriage announcement in an on-line Newspaper archive identifies her as “Mrs. Sarah Knight, eldest daughter of the late Thos. Ingle”.
genealogy
I have recently acquired a Carte de visite (CDV) of my Great Great Grandmother, Martha Fell. The purpose of this post is to record some details of it and see whether others who find this post can offer any thoughts on the card’s origin.
Carte de visites are small cards 2⅛ x 3½ inches (about 55mm x 9mm) in size. Typically they were made in the mid Victorian era by photographers. They consisted of a piece of cardboard – usually with the photographer’s details on the back with a thin albumen print pasted to the front. The process was patented in 1854 by André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri, and their usage continued until the early 1870’s when they were superseded by Cabinet Cards (about the size of a modern post card). [Ref: Wikipedia: Carte de visite, accessed 7 April 2021].
On 5 April 1981 the 1981 UK Census was taken. Normally this is not a particular issue but for my mother it was. She was adopted but had traced her birth mother. On the approach to Census night she realised that she would be staying with her birth mother that night so would be listed as a “visitor” on her mother’s household census form.
This meant her mother would have to record their relationship. In 1981 this was “a secret” and left my mother in a quandary; knowing her mother had promised her (later) husband that she would keep my mother’s existence a secret but also knowing she wanted to be honest – how could she complete the form?
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