My 4th great-grandfather, William Dickinson, was named after his father, William Dickinson, which both helps and hinders genealogical research. In this case, however, in addition to sharing the same name, they shared the same occupation, lived in the same area, and both married women named Ann. This makes them difficult to differentiate in some records and causes a bit of confusion when researching, summarizing, and presenting the family's history.
After finding the record of my 4th great-grandfather, William Dickinson's baptism, I searched the parish registers for other children baptized in the same church, around the same time, whose parents were William & Ann Dickinson. I was surprised at how easy it was to find these, and whereas I had previously known nothing about any of these kin of mine, a vision of the family began to emerge, albeit blurry and void of much detail.
This picture that's coming into focus is of a family with at least eight children - four boys and four girls. I haven't invested much time or effort into researching each of them yet, but it appears that at two of the girls and one of the boys died young. An 1842 report by the Health of Towns Commission stated that nearly 1 in 3 (32.7%) of children in Sheffield died before the age of five and the average age of adult deaths was age 51 years 6 months. (Royal Commission on Health of Towns, Report on the Condition of the Town of Sheffield By James Smith, Esq., 1842).
The children born to William Dickinson, the Tilter, and his wife, Ann, baptized at Sheffield Cathedral are shown in chronological order in this graphic. The three burial records are also shown:
Summary of children of William and Ann Dickinson:
Joseph* Dickinson (1790– )
William Dickinson (1791–1864)
Hannah Dickinson (1792–1799)
John Dickinson (1794– )
Harriott Dickinson (1796–1798)
Susannah Dickinson (1797–1877)
Harriott Dickinson (1798– )
Henry Dickinson (1801–1803)
*Note: There was another Joseph Dickinson, son of another William Dickinson, baptized at Leeds on Sept. 27, 1790, which could cause some confusion in researching this family. My great-uncle Joseph was baptized on February 17, 1790 at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Sheffield, as shown above.
Have a look around Sheffield Cathedral using this interactive map. There are many areas to explore in this church, which was the venue for many important Dickinson milestones.
Stay tuned for next week's blog to see what I've learned about the marriage of William Dickinson and Ann Hawksworth! In the meantime, you can learn more about the Dickinson family here.
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