John William Hughes in 1911

John William Hughes

From the 1901 census I found out that my great-grandmother's father was called John William Hughes and that she (Catherine Annie Hughes b1897) had two brothers Mathew (b1895) and Zachariah (b1900). He was born in 1872, but he did not know where as the census stated NK - not known. He was married to Margaret Annie Carr (b1871), the daughter of Mathew Carr and Ann Padley. I found out this information after consulting Catherine Annie's birth certificate and the marriage certificate of John William Hughes and Margaret Annie in May 1893.

Also from the marriage certificate I know that John William's father was Zachariah Hughes - I have previously traced the family of who I believe to be the correct Zachariah Hughes here, however, I need to find a birth record that associates John William with Zachariah.

In the 1911 census, I find John William Hughes living at Landsale Cottages (or Landsdale Cottages), Greenside, Ryton-upon-Tyne. The house had 2 rooms and he is still a coal miner/hewer. He is living with a new wife called Elizabeth Hughes (b1881, Dunston), to whom he has been married for 8 years meaning that he married her in 1903. Elizabeth Hughes has had four children, one of whom has died. The three surviving children are Elizabeth (b1902), Winnie (b1904), and John William (b1910). The first two children were born in Dunston and then John William was born in Greenside, Ryton. Therefore, as Zachariah was born to Margaret Ann Carr in 1900, she must have died between 1900-1902. Interestingly, two of John William Hughes' children with his previous wife - Mathew Hughes and Zachariah Hughes - are also living there but Catherine Annie is not.

I found Catherine Annie Hughes living in the same town, Ryton-upon-Tyne at 1 Holborn House in a house that has 4 rooms. She is living with her mother's parents Matthew and Ann Carr and three of her uncles - Matthew, Joseph and John Carr. Strangely, she is described as being a servant rather than a grand-daughter. All of the Carr men are coal hewers. The other interesting information from this census is that Ann Carr (nee Padley) has had 11 children and four have died. Other than Catherine Annie's mother Margaret Annie, I knew that Ann had had 8 other children, so that means that there are 2 further children who likely died in infancy that I do not yet know the names of.

The most useful piece of information here is that I have found out that John William Hughes was born in Consett, Durham in 1872/3.

Matthew Carr & Ann Padley

Introduction
I previously posted about my search for my Carr and Padley ancestors on my mother's mother's mother's mother's side of my family! My great-great-grandmother was Margaret Ann Carr, the eldest daughter of Matthew and Ann Carr. Through looking at the census I had managed to find that Ann's maiden name was Padley (her mother was living with the family in the 1881 census). This enabled me to search the Padley family back a couple more generations. I had also research Matthew Carr's family back another generation as I had only found in earlier censuses one Matthew Carr of the right age and born in the right place. However, in order to confirm these relationships (discussed in this post in further detail) I still needed to find the marriage certificate of Matthew Carr and Ann Padley. This week I received the following:


The marriage of Matthew Carr and Ann Padley

• On 11th February 1871, at the Register Office in Sunderland

• Matthew Carr, 20 years, bachelor, coal miner, 41 Queen Street Ryhope Colliery, father - Joseph Carr, coal miner

• Ann Padley, 18 years, spinster, 58 Queen Street Ryhope Colliery, father - Joseph Padley, coal miner

• The witnesses were James Carr and Ann Cope?

This is certainly the right certificate and confirms the relationships that I had previously believed. One interesting facet of this marriage is that it was registered in a register office, suggesting that the couple may have married in a non-conformist church such as a Methodist church.

Whilst researching this family I have come across a cousin who is also researching this family. They are descended from Sarah Carr, the eighth child of Matthew Carr and Ann Padley; I am descended from Margaret Ann Carr, the first child of the same couple. In an earlier post I mentioned that in the 1891 census when only a few days old she was called Isabella, but when she came to be christened she was named Sarah. Looking at their website, I have found out a few more details about the Carr and Padley families:

• Sarah Carr married Alexander George Bouas on 1st Jan 1909 and had 5 children. She died on 21 Nov 1951 in Gosforth.

• Ann Padley was baptised on 1st Jan 1854 in West Rainton, Durham and died around 1928.

• The marriage of Ann Padley's parents may have occurred in the September quarter of 1849 in Houghton-le-Spring, with the names Joseph Paddy and Ann Youn - the index was handwritten, the names should read Joseph Padley and Ann Young.

• The mother of Matthew Carr was Margaret McCartney - I had not previously known her maiden name. The reference for this was the GRO indexVol.25, p.150, Dec 1839.
  Whitehaven district, Cumberland. I shall get the certificate to find out the names of Matthew Carr's parents, Margaret McCartney and Joseph Carr.

Matthew Carr 1853-

Who was Matthew Carr?
I previously made a post following my maternal line back 7 generations. A lot of genealogists are initially interested in tracking their paternal ancestors, and while this is also interesting to me, I think the maternal line is the most important. In that post I mentioned Matthew Carr my great-grandmother's father, but I did not discuss much of what I knew of him as I was focussing on the maternal ancestors. I thought I'd put here what I knew about him.

From Catherine Annie Hughes' birth certificate I knew that her mother was Margaret Ann Carr, and from her marriage to John William Hughes, I knew that her father was Matthew Carr. This enabled me to track the family in the censuses:

In 1891, just prior to Margaret Ann's wedding in 1895, they were living at 5 Henry St., Whitburn, County Durham and Matthew Carr was a coal miner at Marsden Colliery. He was living with Ann, his wife, 8 children, his mother-in-law Ann Padley, and 2 coal mining boarders! Quite a household! His mother-in-law Ann Padley is a widow, so it is possible that she lives with them permanently, but given that his youngest daughter, Isabella, is only 9 days old, Ann Padley may have come to help her daughter with her newborn child. In this census, Matthew and Ann Carr are said to have been born in Roker, Durham (a part of Monkwearmouth) - but this turns out to be wrong (probably laziness on the part of the enumerator).



In 1901, Mathew Carr and family are now living at Seaham, County Durham, and Matthew Carr is a coal miner. It appears that he has moved around a great deal working as a coal miner. In this census we see that he was actaully born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, whereas his wife was born in Hetton, Durham. From his child birthplaces he seems to have been in Easington Lane (-1881), Monkwearmouth (1880-1884), South Shields (1884-1887), Marsden Colliery (1887-1891), Durham City (1891-1900) and Seaham. All the dates are approximate obviously. Also, 9 days old Isabella now appears to be named Sarah. I'm pretty sure that it is the same child, it is not uncommon for parents to settle on a different name for their child after they appear in the census - as long as they hadn't already registed the birth.


From the 1881 census in Wingate, Durham, we can see that Matthew Carr had been moving around prior to Easington. He had been working in Ryhope and Murton in Durham, each for about 3 years. He had also had his first child, my great-great grandmother Margaret Annie Carr in Crosby, Cumberland. (Other records suggest Maryport, Cumberland, but the two places are very close to each other). I have, however, found an IGI baptismal entry for 16 Dec 1871 for Crosscanonby (i.e. Crosby) for a Margaret Ann Carr born to Matthew and Ann Carr, which I'm sure is the right entry. Matthew's wife Ann's birthplace is given as Sherburn Hill, Durham in this census. Given that Margaret Annie Carr was born in Cumberland, I'm not sure how Matthew and Ann met one another - if the Padley family moved to Cumberland or if Matthew Carr moved to Durham. From my Padley work it seems as if they stayed in Durham, so perhaps Matthew came to Durham, moved back to Cumberland with his wife, and then moved back to Durham.

The image below tracks the movement of Matthew Carr and family between 1874 and 1901 across the North East of England. This website provides great information on this history of mines in this area.
















What about the early life of Matthew Carr?
I have not found definitive information on the marriage of Matthew Carr and Ann Padley yet, or on the parents of Matthew Carr. I need to get more information from marriage certificates and parish records before I will be able to find that out. See here for an update.


I have one strong lead for his parents, however. Searching in the 1861 census for a Mat* Carr born in Cumberland, I find only one Matthew Carr born in Whitehaven around the right date (1852). The census image abovet shows that his parents might be Joseph (b. 1820 Whitehaven) and Margaret (b. 1821 Workington) Carr. They are living in the Weston Quarter of Whitehaven and Joseph Carr is a coal miner. A good indicator that this is the right family is that all the names are family names, especially that one of his sisters is called Margaret Ann, the name that Matthew Carr gave to his eldest daughter.


Following Joseph and Margaret Carr into the 1871 Census, finds them living in Ryhope Colliery, Durham. It therefore seems as if Matthew Carr may have come with his parents to live in Ryhope in Durham and met his future wife Ann Padley there. The Padley family were living in Hetton in 1861 and in Seaham in 1871, so it is very possible that at some point the two families lived nearby each other.

I've found the reference for the marriage certificate, so this mystery should be resolved once I receive the copy: Matthew Carr & Ann Padley - Mar 1871, Sunderland, Durham, 10a, 644 - See here for an update. I've also found two Matthew Carr's that are born in Whitehaven in 1851. Once I am certain of the name of Matthew's father then I can get the right birth certificate.

Given that Matthew Carr and Ann Padley seemed to marry in March 1871 then I tried to find them in the 1871 census, as I had previously not found either of them living with their parents in this census. I found a Matthew Carr (b. 1851, Whitehaven) and Ann Carr (b1852, Rainton), who were living in Ryhope with a John Hardey (b.1851 Hensingham, Cumberland) and Margaret A. Hardey (b 1853, Whitehaven). Matthew Carr is a coal-miner and is described as the brother-in-law of John Hardey. Ann Carr is described as the sister of John Hardey, but I believe her to be the sister-in-law and it was a mistake by the enumerator. Margaret A Hardey is I believe the younger sister of Matthew Carr. This is confirmed by me finding that in the Sep 1870 marriage index, a Margaret Ann Carr married a John Hardy in Durham.

Therefore it looks like shortly after marrying in County Durham in March 1871, Matthew and Ann Carr were living in Ryhope on census night 1871 with Matthew's younger sister, husband and 2 day old son. By December 1871 they had gone to Crosscanonby, Cumberland to have their eldest daughter Margaret Ann Carr (probably named after Matthew's younger sister). However, they must have been in Cumberland for only a year or two before moving back to Durham and moving around the various coalfields.

Hughes, Carr, Padley, Young - Northumberland

Catherine Annie Hughes
The above image shows the family tree of Catherine Annie Hughes (known as Kate) - my mother's mother's mother, who was born in 1897 in Walker, Northumberland. I will post more above on what I know of this family at a later juncture, but first here is the outline of the names and dates of the family:

I think it may be useful for people to know how I found out this information. I have done relatively little on this branch of the family. My starting point was finding Catherine Annie Hughes in the 1901 cenus online (Ancestry.co.uk). I knew about Catherine from family, she died around 1975 a couple of years before I was born. We knew she was from the North-East of England and that her family may have been Methodists.


1901 Census image:






I found 'Kate' Hughes aged 4 living at 9 Athol St, Whickham, County Durham with father John William and Margaret Ann Hughes. This census return does not have Catherine's middle name, but refers to her by her familiar name. Her brothers are Mathew and Zachariah, which fit with the religious family. Her mother's younger sister, Mary Carr, is also at the house at this time.

I then got the birth certificate of Catherine Annie, confirming her birthdate and place, and the marriage certificate of her parents. It appears that John William Hughes' father died early as he was deceased by the time of his marriage. JW Hughes also appears not to know where he was born. JW Hughes spent his life moving around the Northeast as a coal miner hewer (picking at the the pit face).

I then used census returns back to 1841 to piece the maternal lines back. All of the information here is using that method. I was able to find Margaret Ann Carr's family from her marriage certificate.


Below is a summary of the female members of the family (click on the links to find out how I found out these relationships):

I have established that Catherine's mother was Margaret Ann Carr, who was born in Crosby or Maryport, Cumberland in 1872 to Matthew Carr and Anne Padley. Indeed, I have found an IGI baptismal entry for 16 Dec 1871 for Crosscanonby (i.e. Crosby) for a Margaret Ann Carr born to Matthew and Ann Carr - The church of Crosscanonby (St.John the Evangelist) is shown in the picture - The village is the site of historic saltpans and an old Roman settlement.

Following the female line, Anne Padley was born in 1854 in Sherburn Hill (or Hetton or Moorsley or Rainton) in County Durham to Joseph Padley and Ann Young. Ann was born in 1824 in Wapping? (or Longbenton) in Northumberland. I do not know her father, but her mother was also called Ann and born in 1796 in Newcastle.

1851 Census, Haswell, County Durham
Showing 'Ann Young' - mother-in-law to Joseph Padly






As someone who is very interested in 'maternal effects', it is very pleasing to have got some good information about my maternal lines - upto my 5xgreat-grandmother. I have not yet visited these areas, but would hope to in the future.

Also, it is interesting to see that the name "Ann" in its various forms has been passed from mother to daughter for 7 generations, just skipping my grandmother:

1)Ann ?, 2)Ann Young, 3)Ann Padley, 4)Margaret Ann Carr, 5)Catherine Annie Hughes, 6)Doreen Wright, 7)Doreen Elsie Anne Hughes - my mother