Find Ancestors

Trying to find the parents of Eleanor Ritson b abt 1835 Cumberland, died 1889 Liverpool, married William Charles Aitkin/Aitken , any help appreciated
regards Margaret.

Have you found her marriage at FreeBMD?

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

The marriage certificate will give her father's name.

Is she not with her parents in any census?

1881 for ref (source of info?)


Name: Eleanor Aitkin
Age: 46
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1835
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: William
Where born: Cockermouth, Cumberland, England

Civil parish: Toxteth Park

The only Eleanor in early censuses - 1841 and 1851 - is shown as born c1830. In 1851 she is a servant; ah, I see the problem - in 1841 that Eleanor and, presumably, her sister Mary Ann are in the workhouse in Brigham.


Name: Eleaner Ritson
Age: 11
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1830
Where born: Cumberland, England

Civil parish: Brigham
County/Island: Cumberland
Country: England
Registration district: Cockermouth


I assume that's her and she reduced her age a little later, to match her husband's?

There's no marriage for your pair that I can find by any search.

This one's interesting, though:


Marriages Jun 1886
> AITKIN William Charles Liverpool 8b 166
CLEWORTH Hannah Isabella Liverpool 8b 166
Foggo John Ramsay Liverpool 8b 166
Kerr Jane Dounie Liverpool 8b 166


Had they become estranged before her death, after living together unmarried?

Thanks to you all for your help,
I have searched to find her marriage but no luck, she was married to my 2x grandfather william Charles Aitken sometimes spelt Aitkin i have his birth and death certs also the birth certs for their children but cant find anything about Eleanor,
Margaret

hI Janey the marriage you found for William and Hannah i have that one he is William and Eleanors son, so no mystery there

Thanks Florence, I think I will have to go through all these Ritson s there are so many of them in cumbria its hard to find who belongs to who but she must belong to somebody so i will keep trying thanks to all for your help
Margaret.

Oh evil-minded Janey! It was their son who married!

Can't find anything on BVRI, either.

Hmph, Margaret2. You think Margaret1 should be the only one among us with unmarried ancestors?

;)

There's something screwy with this list:


Marriages Mar 1860
Jackson John Cockermouth 10b 585
Park William Cockermouth 10b 585
Pennington Margaret Cockermouth 10b 585 )
Pennington Margret Cockermouth 10b 585 )
Ritson Eleanor Cockermouth 10b 585
Tinnion Mary Cockermouth 10b 585


Three brides, two grooms. I don't find a William Aitk*n in that quarter, though ...

I think I would order that one up. There just doesn't seem to be another Eleanor Ritson in the vicinity around that time, to account for that marriage.

Flo -- I've been investigating that. ;)

There's only one other Eleanor Ritson marriage anywhere around that time:

Marriages Dec 1852
HEDLEY William Stockton 10a 110
OUGHTRED Jane Stockton 10a 110
Ritson Eleanor Wright Stockton 10a 110
WATON John Stockton 10a 110

although I can't find her in 1861.

She's in the 1851 census:

Name: Eleanor Wright Ralson [it says Ritson]
Age: 16
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1835
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Robert
Mother's Name: Mary
Where born: West Pets, Durham, England

Civil parish: Pittington
County/Island: Durham


and in 1841 in Dalton Le Dale:

Robert Ritson 36
Mary Ritson 25
Mable Ritson 12
Thomas H Ritson 9
Elenor Ritson 7


Since our Eleanor does seem to have been some years older than William, it would make sense if she were the one with the pre-existing marriage, if that were the case, but it could also have been him!

In 1861, she's shown as 28 and he as 26, with a two-year-old. Either of them could have had a previous marriage.

John Waton is a pretty unusual name (assuming it's not an error) -- it's definitely a Durham surname, what there is of it (search FreeBMD for all Waton events) -- and there is this death:

Deaths Mar 1859
WATON John Chorlton 8c 371


But there are also a couple of John Waton marriages in Lancashire before that.

And hm, yes.

Has anybody spotted Mr. Aitkin in a census before 1861?

Not I. Perhaps he did have a different surname.


Although this birth matches his details in later censuses:


WILLIAM AITKIN
Birth: 30 DEC 1834
Christening: 25 JAN 1835 Scotch Presbyterian, **Maryport**, Cumberland, England
Father: HENRY AITKIN
Mother: REBECCA GAMMON
Batch No.: C064381


HENRY AITKIN
Spouse: REBECCA GAMMON
Marriage: 27 NOV 1831 Crosscanonby, Cumberland, England
Batch No.: M035581


Margaret, you presumably have all the William info. It may be useful for trying to place Eleanor too.

The description for the parish where William was born:


http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CUL/Maryport/index.html

MARYPORT, Cumberland

"MARYPORT, a chapelry, seaport, and market town in the parish of Crosscanonby, ward of Allerdale-below-Derwent, county Cumberland, 5 miles E. of Workington, and 7 N.W. of Cockermouth.


There is this christening in the IGI -- Ellen and Eleanor are very interchangeable in that era:

ELLEN RITSON
Christening: 21 MAR 1832 Crosthwaite, Cumberland, England
Father: EDWARD RITSON
Mother: RUTH
Batch No.: C003012


http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/CUL/Crosthwaite/index.html

CROSTHWAITE, Cumberland

"CROSTHWAITE, a parish partly in the ward of Allerdale-below-Derwent, and partly in Allerdale-above Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, half a mile N.W. of Keswick, and 13 miles S.E. of Cockermouth.


Reasonably close.

Found William in 1841 -- the IGI shows a brother Robert born 1832.


Rebecca Jemmens 52
Margret Lester 55
Robert Akin 8
William Akin 5
Joseph Dixon 56
Mary Dixon 56
Civil parish: Workington


and in 1851:

Rebecca Atkin 44
Robert Atkin 18
William Atkin 13
Eleanor Atkin 12
Civil parish: Workington

You might try contacting Cumbria Rec Off, prob at Whitehaven, but my impression was there aren't any workhouse inmate records early enough to cover these Ritsons:
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/contact/default.asp

Re JaneyC's couple of John Waton Lancs marrs:

http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/
Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1848
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
WATON * John HALLIWELL Alice Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/67/65
WATON * John THORNLEY Alice Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/67/65
[Same marr - Alice was a widow]


The second John Waton is more problematic - the GRO definitely shows a John Waton and a John Watson, both with a p=614 reference,
but LancsBMD only shows Watson. I think there is only one groom, but his name is hard to read, and it's been transcribed twice in different ways.

Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1850
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
FARADEY Richard WILLETT Eliza Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/79/174
WATSON John LORD Sarah Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/79/175
BOWDEN Leigh SMITH Elizabeth Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/79/176
BACKHOUSE * Thomas PARRY Mary A Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/79/177
BACKHOUSE * Thomas STEWART Mary A Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester CATH/79/177
[Thomas Backhouse married a widow]


Here's the contentious FreeBMD hit(s):

Marriages Sep 1850 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bowden Leigh Manchester 20 614
Faradey Richard Manchester 20 614
Farad[e]y Richard Manchester 20 614
Lord Sarah Manchester 20 614
Smith Elizabeth Manchester 20 614
Stewart Mary Ann Manchester 20 614
Waton John Manchester 20 614
Watson John Manchester 20 614
Willett Eliza Manchester 20 614
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backhouse Thomas Manchester 20 616 [correction to FreeBMD submitted 16/7/09 changing 616 --> 614, with Janey's help]

EDIT - Problem re Thos Backhouse's page # sorted now - see preceeding post

(Margaret - my apologies for hijacking the thread for a bit of housekeeping)

I think I know what you're after and I'll mosey over to Ancestry and do the check. ;)

... Reporting back: definitely 614.