George WARD (1821 – 1892) and Alice DOBSON (1829 – 1873)
George WARD was the son of Robert WARD (1789 – 1862) and Charlotte PARISH (1797 – 1866). He is the second of nine born to them between 1819 and 1837. During the time they were living on the north edge of Shifnal 1, Shropshire, England where Robert worked as a Sawyer.
Despite both families originating from Shropshire it seems that the couple married in Greenwich, Kent, England during 1818 before returning to the county to settle down. George was baptised on 24-Oct-1821 in the town and has not been found in any other documents until the 1841 Census.
In this his parents ages are given as 55 and 40 with the roundings whilst he is shown as 20. All eight siblings still living as well at this date which seems unusual. He and his older brother are both also employed as Sawyers with the property address being given as High Street.
Further research required on the fates of many of his siblings as do not even have dates of death for four of them at this time. Sadly one died the year after census was taken at just eleven years of age. Some point over the next few years George moved to Liverpool, Lancashire.
Here he married Alice DOBSON, the daughter of George DOBSON (1781 – 1853) and Sarah ROBERTS (1786 – TBA). Their background information is limited because of mixed information for him and many of the same name as her but believe he originated from Ireland and know she was from Denbighshire, Wales.
Alice had three half siblings (through her mother) and five full siblings but several died early on in life. Again more information needed as to what happened to the remaining siblings. She was the third child for the couple but sixth in birth order of Sarah’s progeny.
She was born on 08-Jul-1829 and baptised on 12-Jul-1829 in St Peter’s, Liverpool, Lancashire. This is where her parents had also married a few years before and where she and George were hitched on 11-Oct-1846.
By the time of the 1851 Census they had two daughters and were living with Alice’s parents at 13 Forrest Street, Liverpool, Lancashire. Also in the household was a 13 year old girl working as a Servant. Alice’s father is described as a Sailor with birth location Ireland which is also from where a number of the neighbours originated.
The couple went on to have five more children before the next census return with the first of those being my direct ancestor. The birth certificate states Back Bridport Street, Liverpool, Lancashire which is an area that has been significantly redeveloped 2.
On 07-Apr-1861 the household numbers ten as they have a 63 year old boarder by the name of Sarah DOBSON. Now this would appear to be Alice’s mother. She has no marital status shown but know from other documents she was widowed in 1853.
By this time the family are found in Blackburn, Lancashire and believe the area is known as Whitebirk 3. The birth locations of all but the last child given as Liverpool so can establish they moved after 09-Mar-1858 and before 23-Aug-1860.
In this document George is stated as a Timber Sawyer, the two eldest children are working in the Cotton Trade and the next three described as Scholars. In this document his birth location given as Stafford which is close if they mean Staffordshire but not correct.
At the start of 1863 they had another child but then extremely sadly their eldest daughter died on 24-Oct-1863 of smallpox during the Cotton Famine 4. She was just sixteen years old and the family must have been very concerned about the survival of the rest of their household and friends.
They then had another three children with the last arriving after the 1871 Census (02-Apr) although his birth was registered in Q2 1871. One son is a Farm Labourer but all but the rest of the surviving children over age of eight are noted as Cotton Weaver. They may have worked in the same factory with members of the neighbouring households as well.
Their next door neighbours are all Cotton Weavers apart from the youngest child so perhaps Alice looked after him along with her own two when they were not being Scholars. I presume by this point her mother Sarah has passed away but not yet confirmed.
Alice herself died, at just 42, in Q2 1873 leaving George with ten children and only the second eldest was married by this time. This event must have been the catalyst for the fact their family had a big split by the early 1880s . I do not know why my ancestor ended in Kent but he was the exception.
Some of the others stayed in the Lancashire area but others migrated, presumably in the search of a better life, to Massachusetts, USA. In tracing their offspring this is how I realised that no they didn’t constantly move but that could easily be documented in Rhode Island and then day later in Massachusetts because Fall River is so near the border of the two states.
This is probably best shown by listing the children of George and Alice and their birth, marriage and death locations.
Elizabeth Alice WARD
- b 1847 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
- d 1863 Blackburn, Lancashire, England – aged 16 from smallpox
- Sarah Ann WARD
- b 1849 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
- m 1871 Blackburn, Lancashire, England to Timothy QUIRK (1842 – 1919)
- d 1928 Blackburn, Lancashire, England – aged 78
- George Dobson WARD
- b 1851 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
- m 1876 Elham, Kent, England to Julia TUTT (1858 – 1913)
- d 1925 Lyminge, Kent, England – aged 73
- Charlotte WARD
- b 1853 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
- m 1880 Blackburn, Lancashire, England to Joseph BARKER (1854 – 1931)
- d 1944 Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA – aged 90
- Alice Dobson WARD
- b 1855 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
- m 1874 Wigan, Lancashire, England to James WARING (1852 – 1925)
- d 1927 Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA – aged 71
- Eleanor Dobson WARD, AKA Ellen
- b 1858 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
- Some questions of the identities of the father(s) to her four children …… she was with someone calling themselves Thomas ENTWISTLE (1858 – 1917) that she possibly married after death of his first spouse in 1891 and think she was also connected to a Jacob ROBERTS (TBA – TBA).
- d 1920 Blackburn, Lancashire, England – aged 62
- Robert WARD
- b 1860 Blackburn, Lancashire, England
- m 1882 Blackburn, Lancashire ,England to Mary MALAMPY (TBA – TBA)
- m 1893 Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA to Elizabeth COOPER (1865 – TBA)
- d 1948 Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA – aged 87
- John WARD. AKA Francis
- b 1863 Blackburn, Lancashire, England
- m 1884 Blackburn, Lancashire, England to Theresa ROSTRON (1862 – 1914)
- d 1911 Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA – aged 48
- Elizabeth Alice WARD
- b 1865 Blackburn, Lancashire, England
- Not sure if married or when died at this time. In 1891 Census, aged 25, found with sister Sarah in Blackburn but not confirmed any record after this date.
- William WARD
- b 1867 Blackburn, Lancashire, England
- m 1890 Blackburn, Lancashire, England to Margaret Ellen HACKING (1859 – 1930)
- d 1950 Blackburn, Lancashire, England – aged 82
- Henry Hacking WARD
- b 1871 Blackburn, Lancashire, England
- d 1894 Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts, USA – aged 22 from meningitis
Meanwhile, in the 1881 Census potentially find their father as a boarder at 31 St Thomas Street, Blackburn with the HOSKER family. This George Ward is a widower, working as a general labourer, aged 66 which would imply born circa 1815. His birth place though given as Staffordshire which know has been given previously so could be him and the family he was with not knowing his real information.
However, come the 1891 Census the father of 30 year old Ellen WARD is living with her and and eight year old son. She is stated as Single and a Cotton Weaver. George here is given as aged 68, a Wood Sawyer born in Shifnal, Shropshire. Think the property address is 48 Kenyon Street, Blackburn.
The decade before Eleanor (as Ellen) was also given as a boarder with a family and already stated is that the surviving Elizabeth is with her sister Sarah. William was staying with Charlotte. Robert, John (as Francis) and Henry are with their sibling Alice. George the younger is already in Kent by this date.
The move to the USA, for those that went, seems to occur in the latter part of the 1880s starting with Robert in 1886 and ending by 1890. Therefore, this reduced the options of who could look after their father and may explain his sad ending.
George died on 09-Jan-1892 at Blackburn Police Station and was buried two days later. The Whitehaven Advertiser and Cleator Moor and Egremont Observer of 16-Jan-1892, accessed via FindMyPast 5, provides the detail.
ONLY A PAUPER
The Blackburn Coroner on Monday received information of a fatality which has aroused much sympathy. An old man, George Ward, went to the parish offices for relief, but the relieving officer told him he was short of small change. Ward went into an adjoining woodyard to warm himself at the boiler fires, where he was shortly afterwards found in a dying condition. He was removed to the police-station, where he expired late on Saturday night.
Those of George and Alice’s children that left the country did suffer some tragedies themselves including the loss of their youngest sibling but seem to have made reasonable lives for themselves. Overall I believe that this set of 3x Great Grandparents have over 420 descendants and have managed to identify a number over in the States thanks to them taking DNA tests.
Footnotes –
References to be provided for evidence at a later date but most research has been done using Ancestry, FreeBMD and Google Maps.
- Wikipedia, Shifnal – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shifnal ↩︎
- Geograph [Wikimedia], Back Bridport Street – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Back_Bridport_Street,Liverpool–geograph.org.uk-_1630846.jpg ↩︎
- Wikipedia, Whitebirk – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitebirk ↩︎
- Historic UK, Lancashire Cotton Famine – https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Lancashire-Cotton-Famine/ ↩︎
- FindMyPast – https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/c03a1144-0934-4ad8-8f22-2ec55c12eb5a ↩︎
