William Taylor, Brick Row

[Dave Taylor]

Hi, I've been trying to find a date of death for my ancestor William Taylor. I have just received a death certificate for a possible match from 1910, with address given as 2 Brick Row, Bedlington (Bank Top). This led me to this forum and I've read the post on here around Brick Row, which was very informative.

However, I'm unsure if the certificate is a match for my William, as the location and occupation are different.

William Taylor was born in Scotland 1841 and all records I can find of him show him living in Newcastle working as a Carpenter. He is alive and living in Byker, Newcastle in 1901 census, and in the 1911 census his wife is a widow, stating that she was married for 43 years. As they were married in 1866, this gives a rough date of death at 1909. So both the age on the certificate, 68, and the year of death, match my William. It is possible that due to old age he stopped working as a Carpenter and took on the role of Cartman, so that could also fit.

So my question is, are there any other records of a William Taylor, born around 1841-42 living in Bedlington before 1910 that shows I have the wrong William, or is there anything that can show I have the correct person. I know this is a long shot, but I have been looking for this detail for many years now.

Many thanks in advance to all that take the time to read this.

Dave

[Canny lass]

@Dave Taylor Hi Dave, welcome to the forum. If William's wife was Elizabeth, born Newcastle and living in 1911 in Shieldfield (Canada Street), Newcastle with 2 of her sons, John and George, then I think you're in the wrong area with Brick Lane. Elizabeth is living in Newcastle and, while it's not impossible, it seems unlikely that she would move back with the boys so soon after her husbands death as the boys would have had jobs to go to in Bedlington if they had been living there. Another reason not to move would be that William would be buried in Bedlington (or Bebside which was nearer Brick Road) but still part of Bedlingtonshire. That would be a hard thing to do for a widow. 

There is a William Taylor, born abt 1842  who's death was registered in Newcastle in December 1909 and that might well be worth having a look at:

Name: William Taylor
Age: 67
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1842 [abt 1842]
Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration Place: Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, UK
Death Date: Dec 1909
Inferred Death Place: Northumberland, United Kingdom
Volume:10b  Page: 56

Hope this helps. Let me know how you get on with your search and if I can be of any more help.

Edited March 25 by Canny lass

[Dave Taylor]

Hi Canny,

Thank for your replay, and some good information. Sadly I think you are right, this is not my William Taylor. Looking at the 1901 Census for Bedlington, I found a William Taylor, b.1842, Occupations: Cartman. Addresses before his entry were Bank Top, and Bank Top Hotel, but his address was Ironworks. Much more likely this matches the death certificate I have.

As for the death you listed, I'm afraid I've already researched this one, and it's not a match either. That William was a Music Dealer and had a son Harry.

Thank you again for your input, but think I will just have to keep looking.

Dave

[Canny lass]

Hi again @Dave Taylor. It's not from the Death Index but at least you can know where he died and where he's buried and it gives you a date to work with in your research. It appeared in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, Thursday 2nd June 1910 and was repeated in the same newspaper Saturday 4th June 1910.

 

In case you might want to investigate further: Heaton Cemetery is now called Byker and Heaton Cemetery.

Edited March 27 by Canny lass

[Dave Taylor]

Wow, thank you so much. This looks like exactly what I've been looking for. 

The only registered death that matches that date in Northumberland has the age of 61 on FreeBMD, although this could be a transcribe error. I will look at ordering the certificate. 

Thank you also for the cemetery details, will do some research into this. 

[Canny lass]

Good Luck! Let is know how you get on.

[Dave Taylor]

Success, this is the correct death certificate, thank you. The occupation matches, Joiner (Journeyman), location, Byker, and informant is his daughter, in her married name. 

The only mystery now is that his age is recorded as 61, giving a birth year of c.1849. From his marriage certificate and 1901 Census it's c.1842, 1871 & 1881 Census it's c.1841. 

So either his daughter got his age wrong at his death, or he lied about his age to get married. At the time, 1866, if you were under 21 you needed your parents consent to marry. As he was from Scotland, he would have been the legal age of 17, but was getting married in Newcastle, so may have lied to avoid getting his parent's consent.

Still, this is the fun of researching the family tree, working out these mysteries. 

[Canny lass]

In my experience of family history research I've found people's ages to be the absolute least reliable when it comes to determining a date of birth! When the census started in 1841 children's ages up to and including 14 years were recorded accurately. Anybody 15 years and over had their age rounded up or down to the nearest 5 or 10. This practice was stopped for the 1851 and subsequent census surveys but I've found examples in my family of enumerators who continued.

Going back to the 1800s quite a lot of people didn't even know their birthday. You are right when you say that parental consent for under 21s was required in 1866 but the legal minimum age for marriage was 14 for males and 12 for females. However, William would be well over the age of 21 so he wouldn't be needing any consent and wouldn't need to lie.

The 1841 Scotland census isn't available to me in its original form but a transcription gives William's age as 7 "mo". That census was done 6-7 June so this would give a birth date between 6^th October and 6^th November the previous year – 1840.  This would fit in nicely with the birth date of William Taylor, registered in Meigle, Perthshire, as 25 OCT 1840 to James Taylor and his wife Jess (nee Walker).

That might be worth investigating further. Do you know that children in the 1800s were very often named in a certain order? I had a look at William and Elizabeth's children:

1st son is given his maternal grandfather's name. (Robert)

1st daughter is given her paternal grandmother's name. (Jess)

2nd son is given his paternal grandfather's name. (James)

2nd daughter is given her maternal grandmothers name. (Jessie)

As both grandmothers shared a similar name Jess/Jessie the 2nd daughter would possibly be given her mother's name - Elizabeth. 

Carry on with the detective work!