John Williamson (1816-1871), born Cheltenham

Question

My ancestor John Williamson was born c.1815/16. At the time of his marriage he lived in Cheltenham, Glouctestershire. His father was John Williamson, a farmer. Rumour has it that he was a victim of clearances. John junior married in 1846 in Cradley, Herefordshire to Ann Thomas. They then had a daughter Sarah, in 1846 and a son Thomas in 1848, both born Cheltenham. In 1852 their son (and my ancestor) Arthur was born in Leigh in Worcestershire. John was a gardener. The next they are heard of is when John dies in January 1871 in Chorlton upon Medlock, Manchester, and the rest of the family (except Sarah) are found in the 1871 census.

Most notably, they are absent in both the 1851 and 1861 censuses. In 1841 there is a John Williamson in Cheltenham in Tivoli St.

I would be very happy if anyone could find this family in either the 1851 or 1861 censuses. Also, any idea about a birth/baptism record for John would be appreciated.

Thank you

Alec van Helsdingen

Comments

This is surprisingly difficult ... there may be something wrong. Can I ask what you know for sure, as a starting point? Preferably knowledge that comes from your family's memories not from online sites.

I can see Arthur Williamson born in Martley in Q2 1852 (mother's maiden name Thomas) and Martley covers Leigh and Bransford. I assume we can take this as definitely your ancestor?

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All that I have written is known for sure from the families entry in the 1871 census- which gives their birthplaces, the marriage certificates of Arthur and Thomas in the 1870s, the birth certificates of Sarah, Arthur and Thomas, the marriage of John and Ann in 1846 and the death of John in 1871. This all comes from the documents of my great-uncle who died in the 1990s. He did this research in the 1980s.

 

8 Dec 2017: Thank you also for the 1881 census reference and death GRO reference to Ann Thomas

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Like the other posters I've really looked hard for them in the 51 and 61 censuses. I've used every trick I know and still not found them. Either they were out of the country (unlikely) or didn't fill in the forms or were using false names. Their re-appearance after the death of John is (very) circumstantial evidence that he was preventing the census data being recorded for some reason. In Victorian England moving to a new town and changing your surname would have been sufficient to defeat any detection attempts so I tried searching without a surname - still nothing though. There are several John Williamsons listed as Army deserters but none seemed a good match in terms of age/location.

Answer 1

If they are there Ancestry has failed to transcribe them in any reasonable variation that I can come up with.

Answer 2

Hi Alec, I have had a quick look on FMP, Thegenealogist and freereg. These folks are certainly well hidden.