Genealogy Forum UK

hello everyone, started looking into the family history the past few weeks and got a long way i think. ive got a few questions and one problem... hopefully you nice people might be able to shed some light on it?

ive worked out my great great great grandfather was born in 1817 and so was his wife, charles merrick, and amelia adams, both born in marylebone london/middlesex. now it says that they were married on 20 nov 1833 in paddington london. that would make them 16 years old. is that very young to marry back then or not?

how do you guys go about finding things about the family members other than just their date of birth and death? like stories and things they got upto in their lives/careers?

where do you find info on the people pre 1841, as ive read that from the start of the census' being taking in 1801 to 1831 they werent that complete and not online. what would i have to do to find these two poeple mentioned parents and grandparents and go back even further than just 1817?

now for the mystery....
as ive said they were married in 1833 in paddington, strangely after this though amelia disappears.. i can find charles merrick and his living locations in central london on all census after their marriage but amelia doesnt reappear until 1861 where she is living with charles, their twin sons and a seamstress (lodger). while shes missing charles seems to be living with his brother (i assume its his brother, thomas merrick 4 years his senior) and also living on his own.. what do you think could have happened to amelia, or where she could have gone for them 28 odd years..?

any help would be amazing, thank you for taking the time and reading my post!

How sure are you that they were born in 1817. What age are they in the census's that you have.

hi jimmy thank you for the reply.

well on the census in 1861 it gives the ages of 44 for both of them. the wedding cert gives the date for the wedding 1833. on all the census' when charles is living with his brother or on his own the ages all work out for him being born about 1817 (1816/1819/1820) and hes living within the area of marylebone on all of them so im pretty sure its the same charles. would you agree to this?

thanks again for the input

Could this be them?? Bear in mind that the 1841 is not very accurate on ages.
1841 Exceter St, St Marylebone

MERRICK, Charles M 20 1821 Middlesex
MERRICK, Amelia F 30 1811 Middlesex
MERRICK, Thomas M 6 1835 Middlesex
MERRICK, Charles M 4 1837 Middlesex
MERRICK, John M 2 1839 Middlesex
MERRICK, Mary F 0 (3 months) 1841 Middlesex

1851 Exeter St, Marylebone

MERRICK, Charles Head Married M 40 1811 Shoe Maker Middlesex
MERRICK, Amelia Wife Married F 41 1810 St James Surrey

Their children are over on the next image

is this them in 1861 ?? Same sort of occupation
Bolsover St, Marylebone

MERRICK, Charles Head Married M 44 1817 Cordwainer Marylebone Middlesex
MERRICK, Amelia A Wife Married F 44 1817 Marylebone Middlesex
MERRICK, George R Son M 8 1853 Marylebone Middlesex
MERRICK, Richard Son M 8 1853 Marylebone Middlesex

they appear to be split up in 1871 ,

I can't find Amelia at all, did she die between 1861 and 1871 ?

From Free BMD

Deaths Dec 1863

MERRICK Amelia London City 1c 79

If that is the right one in 1851 then this fits,

CHARLES MERRICK.
Birth: 28 JUN 1813.
Christening: 18 JUL 1813 Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone, London
Parents:
THOMAS MERRICK.
MARY.

Possible,
THONAS MERRICK.
MARY BROWN.
Marriage: 09 APR 1804. Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone, London.

Maybe Charles was even younger than you thought -- I think it was still legal then for boys about that age but stating 16 might have been easier

1841 Exeter Street, St Marylebone
MERRICK, Charles M 20 1821 Middlesex
MERRICK, Amelia F 30 1811 Middlesex
MERRICK, Thomas M 6 1835 Middlesex
MERRICK, Charles M 4 1837 Middlesex
MERRICK, John M 2 1839 Middlesex
MERRICK, Mary F 0 (3 months) 1841 Middlesex

Sorry cid --got out of sinc here

hi cid thanks for your help too!

cid wrote:1851 Exeter St, Marylebone

MERRICK, Charles Head Married M 40 1811 Shoe Maker Middlesex
MERRICK, Amelia Wife Married F 41 1810 St James Surrey

Their children are over on the next image

in 1851 on the census i have here it says they were living with their children george r merrick and richard g merrick in 8 clarence gardens along with the lodger martha mckean. i believe its him as my great great grandfather was also a shoemaker.



this is a strange one though.. cos on the 1841 census i have a thomas and charles merrick aged 26 and 22, respectively, living in 13 park lane..?

"Could this be them?? Bear in mind that the 1841 is not very accurate on ages.
1841 Exceter St, St Marylebone

MERRICK, Charles M 20 1821 Middlesex
MERRICK, Amelia F 30 1811 Middlesex
MERRICK, Thomas M 6 1835 Middlesex
MERRICK, Charles M 4 1837 Middlesex
MERRICK, John M 2 1839 Middlesex
MERRICK, Mary F 0 (3 months) 1841 Middlesex"


all this info is amazing! where did you get it from?

from Free Bmd - Could this be his death

Deaths Dec 1878

MERRICK Charles 69 Islington 1b 226

That would have him being born about 1809 ??

Got the info from various census sites.

Bear in mind that a lot of the time they didn't know how old they were, the 1841 can be quite a bit out as they did round up or down to the nearest 5 years. (One of my ancestors age is 12 years out on the 1841 census.

Jimmy wrote:If that is the right one in 1851 then this fits,

CHARLES MERRICK.
Birth: 28 JUN 1813.
Christening: 18 JUL 1813 Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone, London
Parents:
THOMAS MERRICK.
MARY.

Possible,
THONAS MERRICK.
MARY BROWN.
Marriage: 09 APR 1804. Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone, London.

This was from,
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

The children I can see on the 1851 image are

Thomas age 16 Shoemaker
Charles age 14 -do-
William age 12 -do-
George age 11 -do-
Richard age 1

Possible births

Richard George Merrick 1842 Oct-Nov-Dec Middlesex

Richard George Merrick 1849 Apr-May-Jun London, Middlesex

George Richard Merrick 1849 Apr-May-Jun London, Middlesex

George Richard Merrick 1849 Apr-May-Jun London, Middlesex

cid wrote:The children I can see on the 1851 image are

Thomas age 16 Shoemaker
Charles age 14 -do-
William age 12 -do-
George age 11 -do- On the original there seems to be some annotation around the age on George but I can't make it out -- it could be just pen scratchings or something more useful
Richard age 1

Were these Geroge and Richard the twins or did they both die and then she had twins named George R and Richard G as the twins on the 1861 are only 8!