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Emigration - where to start

Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 8:48PM GMT
Classification: Query
The Castle Garden site is at http://www.castlegarden.org/ for immigrants from 1820-1892 when Ellis Island opened.


If you l;ook on the Lancashire BMD sire www.lancashirebmd.org.uk you can see that the birth was registered as BURSCOUGH

Have you got the birth certificate? i if so what was his father's occupation please

Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 10:23PM GMT
Classification: Biography
Surnames: Burscough, Marsh
On the LanscBMD site you can get the marriage cert of James BURSCOUGH and Maria MARSH who married at St John's Church Preston in 1846.

Their son William seems to feature on the St John's Baptismal roll twice (see the lancashire OPC site for PR transcriptions www.lan-opc.org.uk)

Baptisms: 20 Jul 1856 St John, Preston, Lancashire, England
William Burscough - Child of James Burscough & Maria
Abode: Orchard St
Occupation: Fowl Dealer
Baptised by: Certified by H. R. Smith
Register: Baptisms 1856 - 1858, Page 37, Entry 290
Source: LDS Film 93989

Baptisms: 10 Aug 1856 St John, Preston, Lancashire, England
William Burscough - Child of James Burscough & Maria
Abode: Lancaster Road
Occupation: Beerseller
Baptised by: J. P. Murphy
Register: Baptisms 1856 - 1858, Page 43, Entry 338
Source: LDS Film 93989

The site also has siblings James (1846), Margaret (1850), Maria Ann (1853)

Please note that St John's is Anglican so the Burscough's were probably not Catholic

James BURSCOUGH then dies in 1857 (aged 35) and in 1866 the now widowed Maria marries John BATESON (registered as BOSCOW)

SHe then goes on to have 2 more children: Ann Jane (1867) and Elizabeth (1870)


Unfortunatly the 1846 and 1866 marriage registers for St John's have not yet been transcribed on the site. But they are on the LDS Familysearch site and on her marriage cert she states her father was Edward MARSH and that she was born in 1836 - her name here is transcribed as BOSCON

She is on the 1841 census with her family (mother Margaret) in Cotton Court, Preston (all children baptised at St John's, Preston on the OPC site)

There is also a family tree on the Ancestry site with copies of James' birth and death certs and his parent's marriage cert.

However - nowhere on the birth or marriage certificate does Mary have the middle name of Elizabeth

HTH

Fiona

Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 4 Oct 2014 7:24AM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you for all the information. I have a copy of my grandfather James born 1875 birth certificate and his last name recorded as Burscough, but he was the second child born to William and Mary, the first also James, born and died 1873 but last name recorded as Boscow. One thing I noted was the first child's birth was recorded by the parents, I believe Mary recorded it. Both William and Mary were literate so the surname was recorded properly. By the time my grandfather was born, William and Mary were both ill and my grandfather's birth was registered by Thomas Miller, Mary's father, who was illiterate. William died the same year, 1875, as my grandfather and Mary died in 1880 leaving my grandfather and orphan at 5 years old. It looks like Mary's older brother Thomas and his wife Fleetwood (nee Lawless ) Miller took custody of my grandfather after Mary died, but then I loose him and pick him back up in the records when he married my grandmother Mary Winifred Lomas in Fall River, Massachusetts, USA in April 1901. Census records and draft card in the US show different immigration dates also, but I haven't found how, when and with whom he came to the USA. I did find Fleetwood in Fall River with her son John, his wife Elizabeth ( nee Jackson ) and their 2 daughters but not my grandfather. Fleetwood is listed as a widow and died shortly after in 1900 USA census came out. I also have another mystery involving a William Boscow who signed as a witness on my Dad's sister Helena's death certificate in I believe, 1911 or 1913. I can not find this William anywhere in census or directories, nor how he was related to my grandparents. I would love to be able to find relatives for my grandfather's line. Thank you again. Lucille Boscoe Knight

Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 4 Oct 2014 8:07AM GMT
Classification: Query
On my grandfathers marriage certificate he lists her name as Mary Elizabeth Miller, but he also lists his father as Joseph Boscow. On his obituary it also states her name that way, but it does say he traveled under the name of Jimmy Miller, using his mothers maiden name, Jimmy the Dodger, and Pompadour Kid during his youth playing soccer, rugby and professional bag puncher, all of which I have had no luck tracing his information. I did see on some, I believe, census records, her listed as Betsy, which is a nickname for Elizabeth. As far as the Catholic is concerned, all the family here in the states are and were Catholic, with me being told it was not accepted in the UK, so I am wondering if when family came to the UK from Ireland ( Paternal Grandmother, Mary Winifred Lomas' mother, Mary Ellen Devanney's line came from Ireland ) if they registered with the Church of England so as not to be fined and persecuted for their true religion. Only a speculation though. Now the Boscoe, Boscow, Burscough, Boscough line may have been CoE and when he married my grandmother converted, but that is not what I was told. Then again who really knows. BTW, My grandparents went by Boscow but my Dad and 2 of his brothers and sister Mary were born with the surname Boscoe, but I believe one other sister and 2 brothers were born with the surname Boscow then changed to Boscoe. It all justs keeps the research interesting, Right! Lucille

Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 5 Oct 2014 9:48AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi Lucille

I am afraid there are some myths about Catholicism in the UK - yes there was serious persecution way back in the 16C and 17C - ( the recognised religion swapped around a bit then and in fact both sides used similar methods of persecution when they were in power). Then there was the Civil War and then the ' Glorious' Revolution which curtailed the rights of Catholics for a long time - not holding commissions in the army, not being MPs, not attending Oxford and Cambridge etc and above all not being in the Line of Succession. But that also applied to certain Protestant non-conformists as well.

However, there was freedom to worship - it was just that many Catholics had converted and stayed that way. However, Catholicism was no bar to being socially acceptable - the Duke of Norfolk - England's top non-royal duke is Earl Marshal of England and they are a catholic family.

So in the 19c no-one was officially fined or persecuted for their faith.

But (there always is) many people were mistrustful of those who were not of the official religion - this is the time when many of the protestant non-conformist sects were really getting established and challenging the social order (Methodists, Baptists etc) - some people would not employ them in their mills and factories because they were thought to be disruptive.

As the population grew In England many new catholic churches were built in the 19C in towns to replace the old small chapels. So no - you were not fined or persecuted for Catholicism in Victorian England , but being Irish may have been the problem

Many came over to find work in the 19c in large numbers and were felt to be a bit of an underclass - a lot of those who built the railways and canals were Irish Navvies and they also came to work in the mills and factories and in certain areas they may have got a reputation for not being trusted. So getting work may have been difficult and also if you didn't have a factory owner who was tolerant then he may just not have employed anyone who was Methodist/ Irish/catholic if he didn't want to.

Times are better now, with the discrimination laws etc and also we don't even know what denomination people belong to , unless we ask, which is not quite the thing to do as it is a personal matter.

Anyway I hope you don't mind me filling in a bit of background

As for the name changes - you can hear the accents coming out as they said their name and these clerks writing it down as they heard it!

Fiona


Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 5 Oct 2014 11:35AM GMT
Classification: Query
I find this all to be very interesting and also a bit familiar to the way things were when I was growing up in Massachusetts. I can remember having an actual fear of going into a non-Catholic church for any reason. It was taught for us by the Nuns to only go into a Roman Catholic Church. The way it was taught must have had such a strong impact on my young mind that I just knew something bad would happen if I did. I was a teenager the first time I went into a protestant church for a wedding and was glad I had gone with my parents. When I told my Mom how I feared going through the doors of the Church she acted surprised I felt that way. My grandparents on both maternal and paternal sides were very strict Catholics. When I started researching my Father's ancestors from the UK, I also read some articles on the laws regarding having to have a Registrar attend the wedding if not held in the CoE and also that many Catholics actually had 2 weddings. One by the government and then one by a priest. I appreciate any information that will help me to learn how to do my ancestors proper when I am recording what I find, so having knowledge helps me to understand more of what I find. I recently have been looking for street maps of Preston and the surrounding towns so I can see where my family traveled to and from and also to see the conditions they lived in. What I have found of the Boscoe line has all too often been a very sad picture, especially for the women who lost so many children and then died at a young age also. I have also looked into causes of death and how much health issues had a genetic disposition and handed down through the generations. My Grandfather, by all accounts was loved and respected and has been described by those who knew him, as being a character and a colorful man. To me, the stories are priceless. He died when I was about 18 months old, so I never really knew him at all, but my oldest sister tells of him letting her and one of our cousins play beauty shop and they would even try to pin curl his hair and he would just laugh. My Dad was a lot like that too when it was just his kids, but lord knows how staunch and serious he could get when others were around. He had a dry sense of humor that had my friends scared of him until they really got to know him. The Boscoe's are my road block in my search. My cousin and I have the Lomas side back into the 1700's and my Mom's side is French and three cousins have now documented the line back to the 1600's in France. My DNA results have not been too fruitful even though I have had many hits above the ones of cousins I already knew. They were to private trees or no trees and no response or the response being they do not see any connection to my tree, but will not let me look at their tree. My goal is to break the wall down, find when and with whom my grandfather came to the states, find out which William Boscow witnessed my Dad's sister's death certificate and try to find my Irish connections. I guess I hope longevity from my Mom's side works in my favor so I can accomplish what has kept itself hidden from me. Again, Thank you for the info. It is appreciated. Lucille

Re: Emigration - where to start

Posted: 5 Oct 2014 4:17PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi again

Please don't think the restrictions on marriage places were just getting at Catholics - they applied to Methodists, Baptists etc.

Hardwick's Marriage Act of 1753 was just a strengthening of the existing law and was intended to stop 'irregular marriages' where all the things you expect - in a church, banns or license, parental consent for under 21's etc were just not happening. The introduction of the act in 1754 introduced the dash for the border at Gretna Green as the only way to sneakily get married!

So in England you had to be over 21 (unless with parental consent), one of the parties had to live in the parish, it had to be in an Anglican church with an Anglican priest and there had to be Banns for 3 weeks or a licence. The only faiths that this did not apply to were Quakers and Jews.

So yes, some Catholics would have done the two marriage thing - once C of E and then RC.

After 1837 a Church had to be registered for it to be a place of marriage (as well as introducing the concept of civil ,marriage in front of a registrar) also the priest/minister had to be registered as a authorised person to perform marriages. So the C of E churches that could perform marriages (some could not) and the vicars still did marriages , but if your church had not yet registered as a proper place then marriages still could not happen there. Gradually the RC and protestant non-conformist churches started to register as places for marriage but sometimes the ministers and priests did not - so you get the situation where the marriage may take place in an RC church (for example) , but the registrar had to be present (they did not actually perform the ceremony - just were there to see the law was complied with and to do the actual registering) and the legal marriage register will be held at the Register Office and not at the Church (unless they kept their own).

My church decided to register as a place of marriage in 1905 - they then discovered it had never been actually registered as a place of worship!! (founded in 1866). The Minister became authorised in the 1980's.

I do like the sound of your grandfather !

Good luck in your research - a good list for Lancashire research is the Lancashire message board on this site - they are very helpful
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