Breaking Down My Brown Brick Wall
Firstly I'd like to apologise for there being no article last week - I got called away.
Earlier this month (September) I decided that I was going to break down the 'brick wall' I had for my 3x great grandmother, Elizabeth Brown, - she had stumped me for years as well as other descendants tracing the family origins to her.
I noted down all the information I had of her as a start. I knew she:
This gave me a time frame to work with as well as a county. From previous research I had drawn a blank with Ruttleback so I tried to find some suitable similar place names. I found 3 places in Cumberland (now part of Cumbria) which ended in 'beck' so I wrote them down and looked in those places. They were: Caldbeck, Kirkcambeck and Whitbeck - of which the most prevalent one for 'Browns' was Caldbeck at the very north of the Lake District. However, that didn't lead me to any stand out Elizabeth Brown.
So I carried on searching and decided to note down any possible Elizabeth Brown born around the same date that had the father George Brown. I narrowed it down to 6 possibilities and then further down to 3 by dismissing 2 due to finding them in the 1871 census as a Brown with her parents in the same place (no way near Hexham) and one as she died in 1866 - in Hexham.
Looking at the siblings names one in particular stood out - a Thompson Brown. Thompson is not a common forename and I know my Elizabeth had a son called Thompson Bibby (who is my 2x great grandfather). This Elizabeth was born in Patterdale, Cumberland before moving to Haltwhistle, Northumberland around 1857 which is where Thompson (her brother) was born in 1859. I decided I would look at old maps, from the National Library of Scotland, and saw near Glenridding (neighbouring village of Patterdale) was a small place, probably of only a few houses, called 'Rattlebeck'. Could this be the Ruttleback I was looking for? The more I looked into it the more certain I became that this was where my ancestor was born - it fulfilled everything I knew of her also.
Earlier this month (September) I decided that I was going to break down the 'brick wall' I had for my 3x great grandmother, Elizabeth Brown, - she had stumped me for years as well as other descendants tracing the family origins to her.
I noted down all the information I had of her as a start. I knew she:
- Married John Bibby on the 6 November 1870 in Hexham, Northumberland
- From her marriage she stated that her father was a George Brown
- On the 1871 Census she and her husband seem to be missing
- On the 1881 Census she states her birthplace is just 'Cumberland'
- On the 1891 Census she states her birthplace is 'Ruttleback, Cumberland' - which is written quite clearly
- Elizabeth dies in 1892
- From the above records it put her birth year around 1850
This gave me a time frame to work with as well as a county. From previous research I had drawn a blank with Ruttleback so I tried to find some suitable similar place names. I found 3 places in Cumberland (now part of Cumbria) which ended in 'beck' so I wrote them down and looked in those places. They were: Caldbeck, Kirkcambeck and Whitbeck - of which the most prevalent one for 'Browns' was Caldbeck at the very north of the Lake District. However, that didn't lead me to any stand out Elizabeth Brown.
So I carried on searching and decided to note down any possible Elizabeth Brown born around the same date that had the father George Brown. I narrowed it down to 6 possibilities and then further down to 3 by dismissing 2 due to finding them in the 1871 census as a Brown with her parents in the same place (no way near Hexham) and one as she died in 1866 - in Hexham.
Looking at the siblings names one in particular stood out - a Thompson Brown. Thompson is not a common forename and I know my Elizabeth had a son called Thompson Bibby (who is my 2x great grandfather). This Elizabeth was born in Patterdale, Cumberland before moving to Haltwhistle, Northumberland around 1857 which is where Thompson (her brother) was born in 1859. I decided I would look at old maps, from the National Library of Scotland, and saw near Glenridding (neighbouring village of Patterdale) was a small place, probably of only a few houses, called 'Rattlebeck'. Could this be the Ruttleback I was looking for? The more I looked into it the more certain I became that this was where my ancestor was born - it fulfilled everything I knew of her also.
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
I had finally broken down this brick wall at which many people stumbled - I then found her baptism, in Patterdale, on the 27 October 1850 to tidy it all up. It also turns out that Elizabeth's mother's maiden name was Thompson which I guess is why they started using it as a forename.
Published: 8 September 2016
Published: 8 September 2016
Comment Form is loading comments...
*Note - No copyright infringement was intended. If there is a breach in copyright contact me through the 'Contact' section so it can be removed. All photos are Copyright © 2016 Harry Clarke. All Rights Reserved. The photo of the map is reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland and is used for non commercial use only. The photo on the homepage for this article is courtesy of Diliff.