Christopher Wilson

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PRONI records – missing deceased records for the Wilson family

I’ve searched and searched and tried every option I can think of, but I cannot located the deceased records for Christopher Wilson and three of his children – Edward, Mary and Emily.

Christopher died in a shipyard accident (probably in Belfast) sometime in the late 1880s-1891 (when Catherine emigrated).  I’ve searched on every name variation I can think of, but he is not coming up.

I thought perhaps he used a different surname or first name.  So I did a search for the children’s deaths – I’m almost certain the three were deceased at the time Catherine left Ireland, otherwise she would have taken them with her too?

None of the children’s death records are on PRONI either.

So I give up – for the time being.

 

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Christopher Wilson – PRONI record of date of death?

I’ve been searching for Christopher Wilson’s death certificate.  It is not easy.  Ireland have civil records dating back to 1864, and also have non-Catholic marriages recorded from 1845 onwards.   Records are stored by the Public Records Office Northern Ireland (PRONI). So I should be able to type in Christopher’s name with a range of years for his death (I don’t know what date or year he died), and his name should pop up with a year of death and age.  I understand 1800s records are not completely accurate, but a record of Christopher’s death should be stored somewhere?

Well, I’ve tried typing in ‘Wilson’ ‘Christopher’ and various date ranges up until 1891 (When Catherine, Abraham and Robert left Ireland to emigrate to Australia).  Nothing has turned up so far.  I’ve found just three ‘Christopher Wilsons’ who died between 1880 and 1891.  I’ve also searched on ‘Chris’, ‘Christy’, ‘Christie’, ‘Kris’ and I’ve left the forename blank altogether.  I’ve also looked at various entries for other names which might be his middle name eg. ‘Robert’, ‘James’, ‘William’. And some odd looking names like ‘Reid’ (just in case the transcriber read the name wrong) and ‘Charles’ (just in case the transcriber thought the name read ‘Chas’).  No luck.

Curious, I thought I’d also look up the dates of death for three of his children who probably died in childhood, and before Catherine emigrated (as I couldn’t imagine she would leave children behind in Ireland).  None of the children came up in the search for date of death.  The three children are:  Edward (b. 1869), Emily (b. 1871) and Mary (b. 1875).  I also checked if perhaps Emily and Mary might have got married before Catherine left Ireland (as I don’t think she would leave them behind as young single women).  No marriages.  So why are there no records of death for Christopher, Emily, Mary and Edward?  No idea.

Perhaps Catherine left the reporting of death to her local Church – all the births were recorded, but none of the deaths.  Why?

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Christopher Wilson (father of Abraham) – why did he switch from Weaver to Shipyard worker?

On Abraham’s birth certificate, Christopher is listed as being a weaver.   However, Christopher died in an accident while working in a shipyard in Belfast, which prompted his widow Catherine, and their sons Abraham and Robert, to emigrate to Australia.  Why did Christopher switch jobs from weaver to Shipyard worker?

Irish Linen, up until the late 1800s, was handmade, and highly sought after.  There was plenty of employment as a weaver in Ireland (and in England too, in places such as Manchester).  The Industrial Revolution eventually introduced machinery to replace the weavers.  Initially Irish weavers working in Ireland (as opposed to working in England) were unaffected by such machinery, because their wages were so low – Irish weavers working in Ireland remained cheaper to use than the new-fangled weaving machines.  Eventually though, this changed, with weaving machinery and factories set up, which replaced most of the weavers.   The Linen industry  in the  town of Lurgan, where Christopher most likely was employed as a weaver, was also affected.   Christopher was obviously affected, and needed to seek employment elsewhere.

In nearby Belfast, the Ship building industry was booming.   Railway now linked Lurgan to Belfast, meaning it was possible to commute each day to a Shipyard from Lurgan.

It is likely Christopher made the decision to get a job in the shipyard  as it was probably his only chance of employment, once he knew he could no longer work as a weaver.    Christopher was still a weaver when Abraham was born (1876), and he was then about 41-45 years old, a relatively late age to be making a career change.  But Christopher did change careers (no choice though), and eventually died in the accident at the Shipyard, an occurrence which was not uncommon.   I suspect as a newcomer to the shipyard, Christopher was given the menial jobs,  as well as the high risk jobs the more experienced workers would avoid at every opportunity.  Its a shame Christopher didn’t consider emigration to Australia, or the USA, as his sons eventually did.

Further information about the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the Irish linen and Ship building industries, via the following links:

A brief history of Irish Linen

Belfast History of Ship Building

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Christopher and Catherine Wilson (nee McFall or Bunton/Bunten/Bunting) – their missing children from the family tree

Christopher Wilson married Catherine Bunting (or McFall) on 14 March 1853 at Moyntaghs-Armagh.   So far I know the rough history of the younger three of the Wilson children – Thomas, Robert and Abraham, but nothing of the older ones.  More information on the other children, especially the older ones, might assist in further tracing both Christopher’s and Catherine’s family trees.

As I’ve said in a previous post, Catherine appears to have used her step-father’s surname earlier in life, so her history is not easy to trace, without knowing about her mother’s marriage to Thomas Bunting.

According to Catherine’s death certificate, Christopher and Catherine had 8 children in total.  Who were they, and did they also emigrate?

A search for the earlier born children were not easy to find, as Ireland did not have civil records of births, deaths and marriages until 1864 (however there are records of non-Catholic marriages from 1845 onwards).  So children born earlier than this only have christening dates (as I understand).

The Children are:

William John Wilson, born approximately 1854-55; died after 1922 (still living at the time of Catherine’s death)

Christopher Wilson – born  1858-59;  died after 1922 (still living at the time of Catherine’s death)

Thomas Andrew Wilson – born 1865; died 1945

Robert Wilson – born 6 June 1866; died 1915

Edward Wilson – born 2 June 1869; Christened: 803 Lurgan No2, Armagh,  died before 1922 (deceased at the time of Catherine’s death)

Emily Wilson – born 4 November 1871; Christened: 803 Lurgan No2, Armagh, died before 1922 (deceased at the time of Catherine’s death)

Mary Wilson – born 15 Feb 1875, died before 1922,

Abraham Wilson – born 27 June 1876, in Derry-Add; died 1969.

The Children’s birth records all list Catherine’s maiden name as Bunting, except Abraham’s where the name ‘McFall’ is listed (another mystery – why the name change then?).

What happened to the Children?

We know that Thomas, Robert and Abraham moved to Australia.

There are no death records for Edward, Emily, or Mary Wilson (on the PRONI database that I could search), but it is likely they died prior to Catherine and sons departing Ireland for Australia in 1891.

According to one of Abraham’s sons, the older two brothers (William and Christopher) possibly emigrated to the United States of America.

Given William and Christopher were listed as still living at the time of Catherine’s death, possibly there was still communication between the brothers in Australia, and the brothers in the USA (if they did emigrate there).  Should the descendants of William and Christopher be looking for family history on their mother, then hopefully they know about both of Catherine’s maiden names i.e. McFall, and Bunting.

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Back online

I’ve not done any posts for the last 12 months, as I temporarily stopped research on the family history.  I’m now finally able to get back into it.

At the time I stopped posting, I was researching three  issues:

(1)  Joseph Raynor – looking for clues on what Joseph might have been living and doing prior to getting his job on the SS Bobby Towns.  So I’ve been looking at the history of the SS Bobby Towns, the Seaman Union.

(2)  Joseph Raynor’s brother – there is a photo of Joseph Raynor and his brother – who was the brother?  Where was the photo taken?  It appears to be a professional photo, taken in a studio?  If so, it might be stored in Archives somewhere, and perhaps show the name of the brother?  So I’ve been looking on the internet on any information relating to Townsville photograph studios that operated in the early 1900s.

(3) Christopher Wilson – father of Abraham Wilson – when and where exactly did he die in Ireland?  It is known he died in a shipyard accident somewhere around Belfast.  If I can find the date of death, I might be able to get a copy of his death certificate.  Then we might have some information on Christopher’s birth, parents and further family ancestors.

I don’t have any answers on the above yet.

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Christopher Wilson (father of Abraham)

Christopher Wilson was the father of Abraham Wilson.

Christopher married Catherine McFall at Daleyard, Ireland.

Christopher and Catherine were later living at Derry-add, when their son Abraham was born.  At this time Christopher’s occupation was listed as a weaver.

Christopher was later working at a Shipyard in Northern Ireland (his occupation listed on son Abraham’s death certificate?).  He died in a Shipyard accident, possibly Jan-Mar 1888 in Belfast (based on a search I did on http://www.familysearch.org)

Christopher was most likely Anglo-Irish, originating from Scotland, based on the following:

1.  Christopher is a Scottish name (patron saint of travel)

2.  Middle name of son Thomas ‘Andrew’ is a Scottish name

3.  His son ‘Robert’ , also a Scottish name.

4.  Abraham’s religion was Methodist, also a Scottish religion.  Normally the son would be baptised in the Father’s Church, so Christopher must also have been Methodist.

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Catherine Wilson – McFall, Bunting, Bunten or Bunton?

Catherine Wilson was married to Christopher Wilson and they were the parents of Abraham Wilson.

When I first viewed Catherine Wilson’s death certificate, I saw that the informant was a Ann Eliza Wilson (Half-sister).  Was this a mistake?  Surely this was a daughter-in-law or sister-in-law – how could Catherine’s sister also be a Wilson?

So after some digging I found the answer.

After checking on the QLD Births, Deaths, Marriages website, in the historical section, I found Ann’s death listed in 1940.  Her father was listed as ‘Bunting’.

I had also looked up the death certificates for Abraham’s two brothers – Thomas and Robert.  Both listed Catherine’s maiden name is listed as ‘Bunten’ or ‘Bunton’.  However, Abraham Wilson’s birth certificate clearly lists Catherine’s maiden name as McFall.  So how did the mix up in names come about?

Piecing the jigsaw pieces together, I released relationships are:

John McFall and Mary Sturger were the parents of Catherine Wilson

John McFall died, and Mary Sturger married a Thomas Bunting.  Bunting and Mary were the parents of Ann Eliza.

Catherine must have adopted the surname of Thomas Bunting in earlier life (possibly to cover not being seen as illegitimate?)

This would explain Thomas and Robert thinking their Mother’s maiden name was Bunten – they may not have been aware of the re-marriage.