Thread: Need a mother for a William Watkinson born Saint John, Hackney 1775.

Hello Ancestry Aid. I have a lovely photo of William Watkinson, a relative of mine. Unfortunately I have yet to find a William Watkinson in my family tree!!
I am drawn to a William Watkinson baptised on 16th Feb 1775, Saint John, Hackney who is listed as having a father Thomas Watkinson. I am surprised that the mother is not listed.
I have a Thomas Watkinson in my family who had children in 1772 and 1776 with Elizabeth his wife.

Any of you clever folk able to find a mother for this William Watkinson?

Thanks so much. Neil.

Hi Neil,

I realise this is a long-shot, but did a quick search on IGI for a Thomas Watkinson, born 1772 +/-5 years, on the presumption that 1st born sons were given their father's names.

This is what I found:

THOMAS WATKINSON
Christening: 30 Aug 1773, Saint John, Hackney, London
Father: Thomas Watkinson
Mother: E

I am thinking that maybe the 'E' stands for Elizabeth and the fact that he was baptised at same place as William, it is possible he may be his elder brother?

Not irrefutable proof, I know!

Mrsp

Hello Neil
You don't give the age of your photo or how old William apperars to be on it. Is it a print or on glass etc? It's quite unlikely, though not impossible, that it would be of anyone born in 1775 - I think he'd be over 60 around the time of the advent of photography! Have you tried tracing the descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth for any Williams?
Good luck in your search.

William Watkinso&#110.jpg

Thank you both very much for your replies. Despite the beard, I wonder if this William is in his 40s 50s? Very hard to tell. I does look like quite an early photo compared with the quality of some of the others in the album. It is a print by the way - fortunately Great Aunt marked all the photos with their names - it is of course possible that she made a mistake in this case.
Very interested to see the Thomas with an E as a mother. We only have Stallwood born 1772 and an Elizabeth born 1776 at the moment.

Stallwood is the family name and intriguingly, Stallwood's first two sons were Stallwood and then Thomas and Thomas' first two sons were called Thomas and then Stallwood!!

I have looked for other William Watkinsons, but none have come up so far.

Dear Noggin, thank you very much for your help again. Elisabeth Longuet is indeed my 5 x great gran. I have had Stallwood (my direct ancestor) and Elizabeth on the tree. I am definitely going to add Thomas after seeing your records and mrsp's comments .
I am not confident enough to add William 1775 yet, if only a mother had been listed!!

Neil
Your photo looks to be dated around 1885 or later. There's not much to go on but the fact that it's a double-breasted jacket and the shoulders are fairly squarely-padded rather than the softer sloping shoulders of earlier decades. By about the mid-seventies shoulder padding started to be more fashionable, and afterwards the seam between the jacket back and the collar was higher, at the nape of the neck.
I'm not an expert by any means but it's definitely not of someone born around the 1770's! It's difficult to tell his age on the pic but I would say he's about 50 - some crow's feet around the eyes - so I would hazard a guess that he was born in the 1830's. You're looking at maybe two generations down from Stallwood (1772).
Hope this helps and good luck!

That is extremely helpful. I will be reassessing all my photos based on your comments!

This photo was on the same page just to confuse eveything!

About the same period or even a little earlier? The beard is a bit ragged, around 1885-90 I think men started trimming their beards a lot more neatly. The child (a boy I think) looks about 5 years old so I don't know if that helps. Looks like he is dressed up in costume for the photo, it looked as though it's meant to be 'Scottish' costume but without the traditional tartan, maybe an Englishman's stylised view of Scottish national dress...! Any Scottish links in your family?