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Anita Brown (#54) in Wem writes to tell me that the last Newsletter led her from Deryk Darlington to his Rudman connection and a substantial addition to her tree. Her Darlingtons come from Shocklach between Wrexham and Nantwich in Cheshire. This is not a village that has appeared in any previous trees.
Census Gleanings
While looking at the 1891 census for Chester Castle I found a few Darlingtons. One is a true Stray, and two are step children which may explain to someone what happened to a family. The Stray is Martha age 16, domestic servant in the house of Albert Parry of Thornleigh, Chs. From the 1881 census it is obvious that she was the daughter of Job and Antonetta of Chester. The two stepchildren are; William age 29, born in Saughall, son in the home of Thomas and Mary Earlam. Presumably Mary has made a second marriage. Then there was Annie age 20, a dressmaker, born Birkenhead and step daughter in the home of Charles and Fanny Bennet of 49 Tarvin Road.
Also there were two ordinary families; Charles 57, a Porter, wife Hannah 64 and son Richard age 24 at 15 Potter's Court. And another Charles age 30, an Ordnance Stores corps labourer, wife Elizabeth age 29 and son Charles age 1 at 15 Duke Chester St.
Strays At Sea
One night at the Family History Center a lady brought to my attention a fiche showing persons "at sea" for the 1861 census. The four Darlingtons listed are shown in the attached photocopy. The 6 year old (sic) "Master" of the Friar Tuck is actually my great uncle John Williams Darlington, born 1826 in Liverpool. Hopefully one of the other three will find a descendant among our readers. I suspect that the ships Doris and Conqueror were Royal Navy while the ship Sir George Gray was Merchant service.
I did not take note of the LDS film number which would contain the complete surname listing, but the sequence is obvious from the right hand column showing film numbers of the census in case you are looking for another ancestor.
ADDRESS CHANGES
In this world of peripatetic people it is not surprising when I receive my fair share of Members who have changed their address. Here are the latest;
- #42 Carey L. Hollars
P.O.Box 573
Weare, New Hampshire
USA 03281-0573
- #58 Elton Darlington
20 Burnhill House,
Norman Street,
Islington, EC1V 3PQ
London, U.K.
- #52 Deryk Darlington
Melbourne Cottage
Milfield, nr Wooler
Northumberland NE71 6HS
1851 Census
As most serious researchers are aware, the Liverpool Family History Society is producing an Index to the Liverpool and outlying parishes for the 1851 census. A gentleman sent me via e-mail some of the Darlington names with a cross reference to the PRO Ref HO folio numbers. He has promised to send me more and I hope to build up a picture of most of the families in Liverpool. This will be of use only to those interested in that area but I want to try it just to see how far one can go by comparing the 1851 and 1881 census returns since they are the only ones indexed at this time.
On that theme, Dave Jowitt sent me the complete list of 34 Darlingtons who were living in Devon in the 1851 census. That County does not have any current researchers in the Register so I won't include the list in the Newsletter but if anyone cares for a copy you need only ask. Most of them were born in Devon and lived near Plymouth indicating some more sailors who left their Mersey based ships for southern shores.. Exceptions were; Thomas from Lancs. (may have been Thomas born in Peel by Bolton and son of William and Ellen); Thomas born Deptford, Kent, son of the above; Elizabeth from Shrewsbury, Shrops.; two called James from Cornwall; Jessie from Norwich; Mary from Stone, Staff., plus Catherine, Hannah and Issabella from Warwickshire.
Later, Dave also passed along the names of the descendants of Abraham Darlington, born 3 August 1898, probably in Latebrook, near Kidsgrove and Audley, Staffordshire. Abraham had five children; Sarah m= William Peel: Harriet: Lisa m= Thomas Bromley: Abraham m= Blanche Stubbs: Arthur m=(1) Caroline Collis, and m=(2) Elizabeth Hankinson. Father Abraham was killed in WWI. I have the names of the third generation if anyone wishes to connect with any of these families.
Wendy and I spent three weeks in England in Sep/Oct. We managed to get to Bath, Nottingham, Lincolnshire (Holbeach), Hay-on-Wye, Taunton and London. Dinner with John Darlington just outside Taunton was a pleasure. We discussed the Newsletter and I told him that I do not have a "vision" for what it should do and what it should accomplish. It seems to be moving in the direction of a posting board for queries and maybe that meets the original concept I had. I would welcome any criticism or suggestions. During our six days in London we spent a number of hours at the new Family Records Centre. What a wonderful change from the old St. Catherine's House. Now everything is well layed out, plenty of space, lots of willing help and a cornucopia of areas for research. I made full use of the Will probates after 1858 since I have always been an advocate of Wills as a prime tool in family research. Copies can be ordered by post simply by quoting the Name and probate date and sending two pounds and your request to The Court Service, York Probate Sub-Registry, Duncombe Place, York YO1 2EA.
Newsletter 14
A Mr. Ken Jones wrote from 3 Park Court, Harwoods Lane, Rossett, Wrexham, Cheshire LL12 0H0 to inquire if we could help him. His ancestor was Benjamin Darlington who married Annie Shallcross near the end of the last century. This was a Cheshire family so it was not too difficult to give him the only two Benjamins in the 1881 census index and to suggest the strongest candidate. They farmed near Kinerton. Their daughter Lucilla, born 1899, married Joseph William Clubbe in 1923 in Great Broughton, with the marriage witnessed by Wilfred and Lilian Darlington.
He later wrote back with a copy of the marriage registration showing Benjamin and Annie married in January 1897. From there it was easy to find these two in the 1881 census living in Barrow and on consecutive census pages. The moral - if you have not yet found the value of the 1881 census index - you really should.
I am sure that Mr. Jones would be delighted to hear from anyone with a possible connection to his family.
A Sighting
The Island on which I live is named after Captain George Vancouver and it is almost 400 miles from the city of Victoria in the south to Cape Scott at the northern tip. A young lady who is an avid researcher here uses the Internet extensively and sends me the odd tidbit when she sees the Darlington name.
Her most recent item concerns some documentation on early settlers at a place where the Nahwitti River joins Queen Charlotte Sound on the east coast of Vancouver Island and a little south of Cape Scott. Of course there were aboriginals there for hundreds of years so I refer to "colonist" type settlers. And "early" means within the last 100 years.
In the summer of 1910 Henry Darlington and his brother Archie left the city of Vancouver on the mainland and joined some others in creating a settlement there. They built cabins within sight of an Indian burial area. The Indians put their burial boxes in the limbs of spruce trees. Henry married the daughter of another settler named Bragg. I could not find any earlier history of the two Darlington men. Apparently they joined the army when WWI began. They had probably emigrated from England. The 1881 census index does not provide any clues to their origins.
And speaking of wartime service brings me to he subject of "military research". I was recently asked if I could develop a short presentation on sources for that branch of genealogy. I had to confess that I had done very little and was not qualified.
Genealogical reference books list a fairly extensive number of sources. Officers are much better documented than "other ranks". For example, British officers are all found in Army Lists which began in 1754. Navy Lists were even earlier, 1718.
Of course knowing that a source exists does not make it immediately available. The LDS Family History Centres have Army Lists for the period 1779-1878 and Navy Lists for the latter half of the nineteenth century on microfilm.
Kew is the ultimate source for Military and Civil Service research. I spent one day there a few years ago just after they had installed the new system for drawing files and records. I found it to be somewhat intimidating but with a little more time I am sure it would have become more user friendly. After a slow start I found my great uncle's records as a Master Mariner in the middle of the last century.
Regimental records have also been kept by many of the Regiments and Corps. I was able to get a response from the Cheshire Regiment at their Regimental Museum in Chester Castle for one of Wendy's ancestors. But be prepared to pay a search fee and get little more that minimal information on dates of promotions.
As with every branch of genealogy there are many more sources for the dedicated researcher.
More Queries & Correspondence
A possibly significant letter from Mr. James Darlington of 9 Lakelands Drive, Upper Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan, County Dublin, Ireland. A retired hospital administrator, Jim was inveigled into genealogy by a letter from Fernando Darlington Rivera in Madrid who had traced his family to Dublin. Fernando's grandfather Alexander
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