Today I am working on confirming some details for my great grandfather, Charles Rickson. He is my maternal grandmother’s father. His story is a fun one for me to puzzle out, because he was married twice. Which isn’t uncommon, but is something that I was surprised to discover when I puzzled it out originally.
I did my original research on him when I was not so good at the research process, and I didn’t document my sources correctly (I am working on that now, but will keep the boring details of how I’m linking records together to myself). I discovered that he married a woman named Elizabeth in 1888, and Elizabeth for sure isn’t my great grandmother, so I had a bit of a puzzle on my hands. I turned to census records, as any budding genealogist would do. I discovered the following bits (not in order of discovery):
Charles Rickson was born in approximately 1868 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. In 1888, he married Elizabeth Ellen Seedell. They had 5 children, 3 of whom died before 1911, and I only have guesses as to their names and dates of birth and death. The other two were Nellie Rickson (also listed as Helen and Ellen in various places), and James William Rickson. I’ve been able to discover a fair amount about James William, as he served briefly in the military and died at a young age. I’ve been able to discover less about Nellie, except that my mother told me that she came over to Canada with my grandmother and grandfather and great grandmother, as she loaned them 700 dollars for the trip and wanted to make sure she got it back.
Charles didn’t live with his wife during the 1891 census. He was living on York St, in Rochdale, with a man called John Schofield, who was listed as a boarder. His wife was living with her parents and Nellie, who was just a toddler at the time. I can’t help but wonder why… maybe Elizabeth was living with her parents because she had a small child and needed their help? Or maybe they were waiting to move in together until they had enough money saved? I’m going to look into property records for the York St address, because it appears that became their family home, as per the 1901 census.
In 1901, they were all living together. Charles was working as a steam engine felter, which isn’t surprising, as the cotton industry was pretty big in Rochdale at the time.
In 1911, they were all living together still. Nellie and James William were working as well. They were all living on Crawford St, in Rochdale, which is where Charles lived until his death in 1949.
And now we’ve entered the post-census period… where information isn’t as easy to find as clicking on a census record. I know that in approximately 1918, Charles married Emily Tomlin, who was my grandmother’s mother. Family tradition has it that Emily was living with Charles and his wife Elizabeth, while she was dying, probably of cancer, and that’s how they met. I believe Elizabeth died in 1916. I plan on having a conversation with my grandmother about this, and seeing if she can shed some light on Nellie’s whereabouts during this time as well.
Charles died in 1949, and left his small estate to his widow, Emily Rickson. I know that Emily then moved to Canada with my grandparents, sometime in the early 1950s, and she died in Canada in 1977.
I don’t have any photographs of Charles, but I’m working on that. There are so many holes in my knowledge about him, but also so much that is just a few clicks away. For example, the 1871 census has given me a pretty clear idea about who is parents and siblings were, but that’s a story for another day.
Midnight Genealogy 