Isaac Horsfall

[mikeh]

Hello,

I've just joined as I am trying to find out where and when my 3x great grandfather, Isaac Horsfall, was married.
I know he married a Mary Nicholson as I have her name from one of their childrens birth certificates. I've got them on the 1941 census living in Chapelhouses, Gorton with their five children. Mary dies in 1846 at 6, Short Street, Ardwick and Isaac is at 43, Beswick Street, Ardwick in the 1861 census and when he dies in 1862. I also have Isaac in the 1832 Manchester and Salford Trade Directory as a shoemaker in Gorton. I cannot find any trace of them on the 1851 census.
The only marriage I have found is between Mary Nicholson and Isaac Horsfield, not Horsfall, at St.Michaels, Ashton under Lyne on the 21 June 1830. I went to the Manchester Archives and have a copy of the marriage entry and it is definately Horsfield. The 1830 date ties in well as their first child was born in 1831 and baptised at Manchester Cathedral in May.
Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[lindylou]

Did Isaac sign his name on the marriage cert or make his mark? Is there any other info on the cert that you could post? I know that is highly unlikely but just in case! Could you look at a baptism for another of their children? My thinking at the moment is that you have found Isaac's marriage and that there's been a mis-heard/mis-spelling but definitive proof would be good. Regards Lindy

[Woody]

I'm with Lindy on this one and her posting reminded me that I did a bit of searching myself for evidence of the family's whereabouts. I probably located Isaac, Mary and several children living at what looks like 'Chapel Houses', Gorton in 1841, but I found nothing for any of these people in 1851. I wonder whether their details were in the batch of water damaged 1851 census returns, or is it just due to a major transcription error ?

Some of the children mentioned in 1841 are traceable up to 1881 and probably beyond. That's as far as I got, but if this is indeed your family, Mikeh, there was a George Horsfall christened 1833 at Gorton and that ties in with the family of the Isaac, Mary and Alice I found in 1841.

I think Mary Horsfall died in 1846 (registered at Chorlton which would be right for Gorton) and that would explain her absence from the 1851 census, and subsequently. Isaac appears living with son George in 1861 but the year after there's a death registered at Chorlton for Isaac Horsfall (Sep qtr of 1862). That would explain his absence from subsequent census returns.

[Gay J Oliver]

I can confirm that Horsefield and Horsfall are commonly interchangeable. I have Horsfalls in my tree and have found this happening often.

I also have access to Find My Past where the 1851 unfilmed series are hosted and haven't been able to find the family and can only conclude that they are on the portions which were not able to be recovered

[mikeh]

lindylou, Woody and Gay J Oliver,

Thanks very much for your replies and please accept my apology for not replying sooner. I've been chasing another line of the family and was given a lot of earlier work, done by an aunt of mine, which I've been verifying. I'm now back on the Horsfall trail.
In answer to your questions and suggestions. Both Isaac and Mary made their marks on the marriage record, so I assume they wouldn't know what had been written down for a name whether mis-heard or mis-spelled.
I've just ordered a copy of their youngest sons birth certificate and I have also found the baptism records for the three children born pre 1837 on which the name is Horsfall and Isaac along with Mary are the parents.
I've been through the 1851 census returns for both 6, Short Street and what survives of the Beswick Street record without success. They were not at the Short Street address and like you I think that if they were still living at Beswick Street the records are part of the water damaged ones that did not survive.
I have copies of both Isaac and Mary's death certificates and you are correct in the information concerning the dates and places.
I think I have the correct marriage but without cast iron proof I cannot put it down in my genealogy software as proven.

Once again, thank you all for taking the time to reply.