Investigating my Ridley family history.
My great-grandmother, Alice Ridley’s, birth certificate states that her father was Henry Ridley, a blacksmith, and her mother, Ann Ridley formerly Cotterill. Henry was ‘Harry’ on Alice’s marriage certificate.
I see her family in Birmingham on the 1871 census before Alice was born. Living there are Alice’s three elder siblings…
- Henry’s age is difficult to read but it looks like 30 (b. abt 1841), born in Birmingham, Warwickshire. He is a blacksmith on the census too.
- Ann (actually Hannah Maria Cotterill) was born in Dudley Worcestershire in abt 1842.
- Joseph (who is Joseph Henry), b. abt 1864 in Wednesbury, Staffs.
- Mary A, b. abt 1868 in Moxley, Staffs
- Alfred, b. abt 1870 in Derby, Staffs
I’ve traced Alice’s mother in later censuses and she was no longer with Henry. She married a George Oakes in 1874 as Cotterill, her maiden name. As I hadn’t been able to find a marriage between Alice’s parents, this fits.
My problem is all I have for Henry Ridley is one definite census where his age is uncertain. I believe he might be the same Henry that I see in later censuses living with ‘Elizabeth’ in various parts of Lancashire.
Firstly, how might I gather further evidence to support the supposition that my Henry is definitely the one with Elizabeth – there’s no marriage again as far as I can see?
Secondly, and even more pertinent is how can I find out who Henry’s parents were? FreeBMD doesn’t offer any clues as to his birth. The censuses show a possible family where the father is William and the mother is Lydia. FamilySearch reveals the same family with a baptism in 1839 in St Thomas, Birmingham. However, there may be other possibilities and I don’t feel there’s enough to go on so far to be certain that I’m tracing the correct ancestry. Even if I do manage to find a birth certificate for Henry, what information might it reveal to help me ascertain that he’s definitely mine?
[Update: since I first posted, the mystery has been solved with the help of DNA. See this post for details.]
