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me too lancashireAnn, I'm not the first to use new technology, lol.

that's the site I was using, thank you.

I still tend to use the pilot site

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

but you can also use the new version of familysearch.org

Hi Ann

Do you have a web address for the family search address, i am interested to check the info you gave me out. Thank you.

on the family search pilot there is also a Henry Brotherton mother Hannah - no father named

Also Eliza Blakey parents William and Ellen Nield Blakey baptised Dec 1840

Chrissie ......

Thank you once again for your research on my behalf i really do appreciate it as i think Ann is the first person who starts the family tree. I have all of the other branches up to the present day but obviously i am anxious to try to find out who Ann's parents were and although i know i am into Parish records with her, i shall do my best and look through all the other areas you mention.

On Ann's marriage certificate in 1848 her father is written as Labourer - no mention of Agricultural Labourer but i suppose he could have been.

I even wondered if William Henry may have been John Brotherton's brother and Henry was, in fact, his child but then he couldnt have had two, i.e. John (deceased) as it says on his 2nd marriage certificate.

I am also wondering if Mary Blakely aged 2 years is, in fact, Ann and Thomas' child, she was born in 1849 which would mean the year after they married - maybe she was preggers when they did marry! Perhaps i should also find out when Thomas lost his wife and that would help as
William Blakely is listed as being 20, Eliza as being 10 and then there is the gap and Mary aged 2 hmmm.... back to the drawing board methinks.

Gawd grant me the strength to progress lol my head is whizzing with Brothertons and as we come down the years to the present day they seemed to breed like rabbits! I suppose without tv its to be expected lol.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html

John Brotherton married Jane Brereton (and I had already wondered whether Brereton might be another variation !) in Middlewich in 1831 but it doesn't say his father

and there are no christenings of Brotherton children in the early 1800s shown

there are way more Bratherton events in Middlewich in the early 1800s (7 pages of results) no children of John and Elizabeth or marriage for them


I think maybe there was a John Bratherton with wife Hannah

daughter Margaret Bratherton born 22 august 1809 (looks like the one in 1841)
son John born 28 april 1807
son John born 21 august 1814
daughter Jane born 24 november 1824

........... actually lots ...........

and daughter Hannah born 12 February 1813 that Ann of green gables posted above

I wonder whether Hannah was the first wife of the John in the 1841 census maybe.

In 1841 Henry is in an actual household in Manchester ... the head of household couple are on the preceding page, Wm and Sarah Faulkner, and the other children would be theirs ... if we can be sure that is the right Henry ? there doesn't seem to be another possible one ...

there are kids all over the 1841 in households that seem unrelated and it can be really hard to tell what they are doing there ..................

Does Ann's marriage certificate say an occupation for her father John?

it was not rare for children of an unmarried mother to name her fathre as their father when they got married especially if they grew up with their grandparents.

Children born 20 years apart ...... it happened ........ it's more likely not though .........

Ann was born in Middlewich, there is this couple in Middlewich in 1841

John Bratherton 60 Ag Lab
Elizabeth Bratherton 60

looking at the names on the page with A in them I think that could more likely be Brotherton.

In 1841 there are also these in Middlewich

Thos Lea 20 Draper
Harnnet Peover 15 assistant draper
Margt Bratherton 30 abt 1811 looks like Bratherton, female servant

Anthony Whittam 50 farmer
Jane Whittam 50
Peter Basford 25
William Bratherton 20 abt 1821 looks like Bratherton, male servant
Thomas Dutton 12
Jane Jones 15
Catharine Jones 10
Elizabeth Buckley 20

John Brotherton 37 abt 1804 Ag lab ... could he be Ann's brother?
Mary Brotherton 41
Mary Ann Brotherton 8
Elizabeth Brotherton 2



maybe Margaret William John and Ann are all children of the same parents ?

I would browse in later censuses for Br*therton born in or living in Middlewich, there are quite a few, and see whether they seem to belong to one family and so on.

Chrissie.......

I had not connected BRATHERTON with the name BROTHERTON but i suppose in theory you could possibly be right. The other side of my family tree is Welsh (Jones) and you can imagine what i have been up against finding a Jones in Wales, but i have made progress back to 1736!!

However, i think William Henry Brotherton the supposed husband of Ann came about because on the 1st marriage certificate for Henry (born 1835) his marriage in 1856, it is stated that his father was William Henry Brotherton, Plumber. So one can assume that WHB was connected to Ann if henry is indeed her illigitimate son?. Another mystery is thrown up when after Henry's 1st wife died in 1900 and he got married once more in 1902, his father is stated as being JOHN Brotherton, Mechanic on that certificate? Ann has a John Brotherton on her marriage certificate also as being her father, so was Ann and Henry brother and sister albeit with the age difference? I have even considered whether his father died and Ann being a Brotherton also looked after him and then had an illigimate daughter Emma - what do you think? On the 1841 census Henry aged 6 years old is listed as being at St.James Street with a number of other children in the name of Faulkner. I wonder if that was a school, a place where he was being minded or some other sort of establishment. As the census are taken usually with a view that the people on it are there at night, one wonders what he was doing there? Ann in 1841 was listed as being at Chatham Street, Chorlton!

Any thoughts you have on this one would be appreciated.

Eileen you sensible person, lol

don't dismiss Bratherton out of hand,

this could be as simple as a modern transcription error, only the original would show whether it really reads Brotherton

Bratherton could just be a variation of the name, spelling was not a science in those days

I think the names Brotherton and Bratherton are probably so closely related as to be really one and the same, if you search for Bratherton events at FreeBMD yu find them in Lancashre and Cheshire, two sides of the same coin I think.

That's probably the best we can do to solve the mystery unless there is a baptism record for the first child, you're right, before 1837, no certificate.

just one question, where the name William Henry Brotherton her supposed husband, came from, just a family story or a document? still think he's a fiction but the source would be interesting to know.

Chrissie.......

I think you have hit the nail on the head. I also think William Henry who she was supposed to be married to was a fiction, i dont believe she was married until she married Thomas Blakey/Blakely and had the two children illigitimately. I do not have a birth certificate for Henry born 1835 can you get a certificate from the GRO for that date, i thought it was after 1837 only?

It is important for me to find about Ann because she is the starting point of all the lineage from 1816 downwards and there are so many Henry's and William Henry's in the Brotherton line that im dizzy with it! I have of course, yet to find who Ann's parents were?

the name BRATHERTON is not correct as this tree comes down from my mother's side and she was a BROTHERTON. I also think that the Hannah on Emma's certificate is Ann and thanks for that as i did not know Hannah and Ann were often one and the same!

Thanks for everything - keep info coming, i am now off to bed to hopefully not dream of them all........

Chrissiex I tend to agree.
Looks like both children were born to single mum - poster did say that the marriage cert to Thomas said she was a spinster.
So I guess we can stop looking for a previous marriage to William or anyone else for that matter.

Mike I think that is the certificate Eileen has


There is a mystery about Emma's birth also as there is no father mentioned on the birth certificate and the mother is mentioned as being Hannah Brotherton?


and it doesnt give a father's name, that's why I thought the name of Mr Brotherton must have come from the other child's birth, but he was born in 1835 so no certificate .................... ?

I was wondering if she married a cousin!

I would think this is daughter Emma's birth.
The certificate could answer your question as to the father.

Births Dec 1846 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BROTHERTON Emma - Chorlton 20 239

Ann of greeen gables


this one


Hannah Bratherton

England, Cheshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1598-1900
residence: , Middlewich, Cheshire, England
parents: John Bratherton, Hannah

record title: England, Cheshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1598-1900
name: Hannah Bratherton
gender: Female
event type: Christening
christening date: 12 Feb 1813
christening place: Middlewich, Cheshire, England
father's name: John Bratherton
mother's name: Hannah
principal's residence: , Middlewich, Cheshire, England
digital folder number:


could possibly be Ann

but all the others ................

do they need to be in the thread or can they be deleted so as not to confuse matters ?

Eileen ---------

Ann and Hannah were often treated as being the same name

I would be very sure that Ann Brotherton was not married when she had the two children, and the Hannah on the birth certificate is her

are you saying here that the other birth certificate has William Henry Brotherton as the father?

I would guess that he was a fiction and Ann may have named the real father, William Henry Unknown {to us} and pretended he was Brotherton so she looked married

stepdaughter and stepson in the 1851 census very definitely mean they are the stepchildren of the head of household, Thomas, which makes them Ann's children except for some other complicated possibility iike they were the children of his first wife with a idfferent father but that is very unlikely

Eileen are you saying she was born Brotherton and then married a Brotherton too ?

Ann i don't understand what any of those people have to do with this question, can you put an explanation with a record when you copy it ???

These all appear to be too late.
Ann was born 1816 according to poster.

She was Mrs Blakey by the 1851 census.

Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1848
BLAKEY Thomas - BROTHERTON Ann
Manchester Cathedral (formerly Manchester Collegiate Church) Manchester

Hannah Bratherton

England, Cheshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1598-1900
residence: , Middlewich, Cheshire, England
parents: John Bratherton, Hannah

record title: England, Cheshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1598-1900
name: Hannah Bratherton
gender: Female
event type: Christening
christening date: 12 Feb 1813
christening place: Middlewich, Cheshire, England
father's name: John Bratherton
mother's name: Hannah
principal's residence: , Middlewich, Cheshire, England
digital folder number: