Genealogy Forum UK

My ancestor John Jacob Rietiker (born c 1797) arrived in London from Switzerland sometime in the early 19c and settled in the Soho area. In around 1826 he married Mary Sealy (born c1802 in Stansfield in Suffolk). They married locally to him in London and this is in the marriage registers. In 1835 he appears in the rate books at 61 Berwick St, Soho where he continued to live and work for the next 50 years (He was a successful master tailor.) In the 1851 census Jacob and Mary are living in Berwick street and have several children including my gg grandmother Louisa, who was born there in 1837 and older siblings.

However trying to go a bit further back, not a single family member appears in the 1841 census at the same address or anywhere else, even though the rate books show John Jacob was living there (presumably with his family) by 1835. (It is still there - it is a tall house with lofts at the top. ) The rate books show him as occupying the entire building and paying rates for it in 1835 and many succeeding years. He is also shown there on the electoral register well before 1841. So where were they during the 1841 census. It is a busy street in the centre of London.

In the 1851 census when they are recorded there, Mary gives her age as 49 and place of birth as Stansfield in Suffolk. I cannot trace her in Stansfield, as although there are Sealys there is no Mary in Stansfield, in the parish registers. There is a Mary Sealy living nearby in Suffolk much later but she is a widow and postdates the death of my ggg grandmother Mary in London in 1853.

I have tried alternative spellings of their surnames and still drawn a blank. I am particularly interested in how Mary Sealy came to meet John Jacob as she was born in a remote rural part of Suffolk and does not seem to have had any particular skills. (ie not a dressmaker or milliner etc) Anyone got any suggestions on tracking them down or why they are not in the 1841 census? Is there anyway I can look up the 1841 census by street? I have a full sub to ancestry.

1851; 61 Berwick street, Westminster

Jacob Rietiker 51 master tailor
Mary Ritiker 49
Charles Ritiker 24 Jounrneyman tailor
Mary A Ritiker 21
James Ritiker 16 Jounrneyman tailor
Louisa Ritiker 14 millener improver
Robert Creek 20 tailor improver
William H Pirice 40 lodger dentist
William Maltby 21 lodger dentist


a few more families sharing same address

Yes I found them on the 1851 census ok. It is the 1841 entry I cannot find, although I know (from electoral and rates records) they were living there then as well.

i posted that so people know who they are looking for in the 1841 census

I've been looking for the last hour but no luck

Unless the whole family was away (abroad possibly) on census day I think it's probably correct to assume, given the rates evidence, that they were in residence at No 61 in 1841 so had been deliberately missed off the census for some reason, either by Jacob or the census taker. Were foreign nationals included in the 1841 census?

Regarding Mary's presence in London, many young people who had been domestic servants in local big houses travelled with their masters to their London residences and then married other London based people. Or maybe, and here comes the Mills & Boone bit, her mother worked for a wealthy family in the country, had a secret (unregistered) illegitimate child which came with her when the family moved to town, the child was discovered, the mother sacked and things progressed from there. But the child, your Mary, still had contact with her mother in London so knew of her origins.

Is this still a Brickwall, or have you solved it?

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An old Rootsweb message says that Berwick Street is missing from the 1841 census
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/t ... 1293784995