Chloe Flora Blanchard daughter of James and Phebe Carter Blanchard

Chloe Flora Blanchard was the mother of John Clark Thornton, grandmother of Paul Rowell Thornton. Chloe was born in 1819 in Greensboro, Vermont to James and Phebe (Carter) Blanchard. Her father was from Canterbury, New Hampshire and her mother's origins are difficult to trace.  There were Carters in New Hampshire and in Vermont at the time. She may have been born in Greensboro, Vermont. James Blanchard's father, uncles and some cousins went to Vermont after the American Revolution.

Chloe seems to have been the youngest of at least 9 children. Her father joined the Congregational Church in 1810 and several of his children were baptized later that year. Her mother was baptized in 1817. Three of Chloe's siblings: Ruth, Royal Carter and James Chadwick left Vermont to become Shakers, they lived in the Shaker Colony in Canterbury, New Hampshire. James Blanchard, her father,  moved to Wheelock by the time of the 1840 census.  Two of his neighbors are Samuel Thornton, on one side, and David Thornton on the other. Chloe's mother died in 1840 and her father died in 1843, they are buried in the cemetery in Greensboro, Vermont.

Record of James Blanchard's Death

Record of Phebe (Carter) Blanchard's Death

Chloe married Samuel Thornton in Wheelock, Vermont in 1841. In the 1850 census, Chloe and her husband and six children are living in Greensboro. Samuel was a farmer, they may have inherited her father's farm after his death in 1843.  One of her children, Alva,age one in the 1850 census, is not listed in the 1860 census, presumably he has died.  Also by 1860 her two oldest children,  Lucinda and Phebe, have left the family home. I cannot find them in the 1860 census, but both are married by 1870.  The rest of her children, William, Jabez, Nathan, Maria, Joseph, Benjamin and John. By the 1870 census the family has moved to Hardwick, Vermont.  In a land deed which refers to the Old Samuel Thornton farm, the farm is described as a sugar maple farm. Living with them are Maria, Nathan, Joseph, Jabez and John.

Chloe Blanchard Thornton

Samuel Thornton 

Samuel Thornton died in 1874 age 58 and Chloe in 1876 age 57. Most of their children lived and died in Vermont.  William went to Troy, New York, he was a laborer in a cemetery.  Nathan died young of TB, Maria died and her husband married the widow of her brother Joseph.

John Clark Thornton married twice, his first wife, Nettie Hazen died after only a year of marriage. He left Vermont for Boston, Massachusetts.  He ran a successful milk delivery business. 

Thomas Rowell Family Part II




Thomas Rowell Family continued:

This is one of the first posts on my blog. It was orginally written for my family and meant to be printed out. I decided to instead write it in blog format.  I have changed the layout of the article and have written individual blog post for most of these Rowells.  I was then going to delete this post but decided to keep it until I have a post about all the members of my Rowell family.


John Rowell
John, fourth son and fifth child of Philip and Sarah (Morrill) Rowell, my sixth great grand father, was born in 1683 in Amesbury, and baptized April 30, 1699, in Salisbury, MA. In 1729 he went to Chester, New Hampshire, and settled, June 14, on the north part of lot No. 114. On July 1 of that year he bought lot No. 50, and with Beniah Colby divided the two lots crosswise. He died February 1, 1736, in Kingston. New Hampshire. 
He married, March 2, 1715, Elizabeth,  daughter of Samuel and Dorothy Colby. She was born December 7, 1694, in Amesbury, and was living in Chester in 1741. Three of their children were, born in Amesbury and the others in Chester, namely: Enoch, Judith, Benoni, John and Eliphalet. 

Note about Chester and Candia:  Chester was incorporated in 1722. It is in Rockingham County. Candia was once part of Chester, it seperated and was incorporated in 1763.

Note about Kingston:  Originally part of Hampton, New Hampshire. It was the fifth town established in New Hampshire.

Enoch Rowell Senior
Enoch Rowell, Senior, was my fifth great grandfather. He was born in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts in 1725.  He married Miriam Converse in 1746, and died on his way home from fighting in the Revolution at Ft. Ticonderoga, New York. He was 51 years when he died.   There is little information available about Miriam Converse, her parents are unknown. Enoch moved with his father to Chester, New Hampshire.  He assumed control of some of his father’s lands after his death.  Enoch was one of the first settlers in Candia, New Hampshire.  In 1764, Enoch was elected to serve as town constable. 

No.l. Enoch Rowell was the first settler on the lot on the south corner of the road where the Masonic Hall is located. He was a soldier of the Revolution and died at Ticonderoga in 1776. Various parties owned the place and About the year 1820 John Sargeant, who was a son of Jacob Sargeant, jr., and a grandson of John Sargeant, sr., who was the first settler on the B. P. Colby lot, bought the place. He sold to Henry M. Eaton. When Mr. Eaton retired the place was owned by various persons. Moses D. Richardson owned it several years and on his death it fell to his heirs. Mrs. Thomas Bean and her son, Gilman Bean, has resided there few years.

Enoch Rowell Junior 
Enoch Rowell, Junior, was my fourth great grandfather. He was born the third of July 1756 in Candia, New Hampshire.  He married Rachael Worthen on 8 September 1778 and died in Plainfield, Sullivan, New Hampshire on 2 August 1840. Enoch was a veteran of the Revolution, his time in service is well documented. (See Enoch Rowell war service). Rachael Worthen came from a long and distinguished New England family; she outlived her husband and died in Plainfield New Hampshire on 1 December 1844. In his later years, Enoch waged a lengthy battle with the War department to reinstate his veterans pay; some of these documents are copied and included. Enoch died prior to the final decision. Both Enoch and Rachael are buried in the Plainfield East Cemetery. William Rowell was my third great grandfather. He was born 23 January 1789 in Candia, Rockingham, New Hampshire and died 1 August 1871 in Albany, Vermont.  He married Sarah Leavitt on 22 March 1818 in Albany.  She was born 10 August 1795 in Hatley, Stanstead Quebec, Canada and died 4 September 1873 in Albany, Vermont.

This is from the Vermont Gazetteer

 Enoch Rowell, a native of New Hampshire, married Betsey Hodges, of Lebanon, N. H., and resided a time in Plainfield, and from there removed to Irasburgh, in 1806, and thence to this town in 1812, and located upon the farm now occupied by his son, Zuar Rowell, and his daughter, Mrs. Cass, and her husband. In company with his brother William he purchased the farm, and upon it was built the first and only distillery ever operated in the town. They contracted to pay a stipulated number of gallons of potato whiskey for the land, and when the contract was filhd the still was stopped. After paying for the farm the brothers divided it between them, William taking the northern half and Enoch the southern, which contained the buildings where he resided the remainder of his life, dying in 1839, aged sixty years. His wife survived him until 1865, aged eighty-six years. William died in 1870, aged eighty-three years. Both of these brothers took a decided interest in public affairs, and both held town offices, William was a representative in the legislature twenty-two years. He was also a strong Methodist and his house was always made the home of itinerant ministers.Eliphalet Rowell, brother of Enoch, William, Daniel and Converse, was born February 8, 1796, and came to Albany, from Plainfield, N. H., in 1818. He run the distillery for his brothers, Enoch and William, about a year, then purchased the farm where his son, Levi, now resides, near South Albany. He married Sally True, of Plainfield, and reared eight children, five of whom are yet living, and died in 1875, aged seventy-nine years.Converse Rowell, the youngest of the Rowell brothers, came to Albany, from Plainfield, N. H., about 1820. He married Orpha Chamberlin, daughter of Aaron Chamberlin, and in his early life here taught school winters. He lived for a time with his brother, Daniel, but afterwards purchased a farm on the Creek road, where Mr. Ruen now resides. His son, Willard, chose the legal profession, and is now in Arizona. Converse died in the autumn of 1882, aged eighty-four years. Mrs. Rowell died a few years previous.Daniel Rowell immigrated to Irasburgh, from Plainfield, N. H., when twenty-three years of age, and two years later married Miss Mary Johnson, of that town. In 1820, he came to Albany and located on Chamberlin hill, where he resided until his death, aged sixty-two years. Uncle Daniel, as he was familiarly called, was noted for his excellent judgment and unquestioned integrity. He was extensively employed by the merchants of Craftsbury in buying cattle and other stock. He reared a family of eight children, five of whom are now living, Mrs. Plumley, Enoch, Mrs. Miles, and Mrs. Frazer, in this town, and Mrs. Carter, in Craftsbury.

Samuel Duncan Rowell
Samuel Duncan Rowell was my third great grandfather and brother of William, He was born 10 July 1793 in Plainfield, Sullivan New Hampshire and died 7 July 1850.  He married Mary (Polly) Moore on 2 January 1825 in Grantham, Sullivan, New Hampshire.  She was born 3 July 1801, daughter of Capt. Reuben Moore (died September 28, 1850), age 75 years and Anna Foss (died May 14, 1862).  Mary Moore died in Plainfield New Hampshire on 9 August 1845.

Enoch Converse Rowell
Enoch Converse Rowell was my second great grandfather, son of Samuel Duncan. He was born in Plainfield, New Hampshire on October 18, 1835.  His father Samuel Duncan Rowell died when he was 15 years old, his mother was already dead at the time.  In 1851 he moved to Albany, Orleans, Vermont to live with his Uncle William Rowell.  Enoch married his first cousin, Viola, daughter of William in 1865. He was a local politician and served in the State Legislature.  He died in 1900.  He and his wife had three children:  William Wallace, Jennie Clover and Mary Viola.


From a copy of the Vermont Gazetteer

ROWELL ENOCH C, (East Albany) r 45, selectman, sugar orchard 1,200 trees, dairy 15 cows, and farmer 300. 

 ROWELL LEVI, (South Albany) r 43, ex-assistant judge of Orleans county, sugar orchard 3,600 trees, wool grower 40 sheep, dairy 15 cows, and farmer

ROWELL LOIS P. Mrs., (South Albany) postmistress, dealer in general merchandise, and owns store and h and lot. Rowell Sidney, (South Albany) r 43, son of Levi, farmer, leases of his father

ROWELL TYLER M., (South Albany) r 45 cor 42, prop. of South AlbanyHouse, and painter. 

Rowell Zuar, (East Albany) r 45, retired farmer, aged 78.

Viola Rowell
Viola Rowell was my second great grandmother, daughter of William, wife and first cousin of Enoch C. Rowell. She was born in Albany, Vermont on 23 September 1837 and died in Hardwick, Vermont on 16 June 1914. Her son William was living in Hardwick and she probably lived with him.  She married her first cousin Enoch C. Rowell.  They had three children:  William Wallace, Jennie Clover and Mary Viola.



My Rowell Family Ancestry with links:

Thomas Rowell of Mancetter, England

Valentine Rowell and Joanna Pinder

Phillip Rowell and Sarah Morrill        Phillip Rowell and Anne Carr

John Rowell and Elizabeth Colby

Enoch Rowell and Mirriam Converse

Enoch Rowell and Rachel Worthen

Samuel Duncan Rowell and Mary Moore

William Rowell and Sarah "Sally" Leavitt

Enoch Converse Rowell and Viola Rowell

Jennie Clover Rowell and John C. Thornton

Paul Rowell Thornton and Elizabeth Marjory Bowker

Are you a descendant of Thomas Rowell of Mancetter, England?  You might be interested in this book on the Rowell Family. The book follows the family through multiple generations. 

Thomas Rowell of Mancetter, England and Salisbury, MA



english origins

Almshouse and St. Peter's

Thomas Rowell was born in 1594 in Atherstone, in the parish of Mancetter, Warwickshire, England. He was the son of Valentine and Elizabeth Hampton Rowell. Valentine was born probably 1565/1570 and died in 1613. Elizabeth was buried in 1647/48.  The family lived in the village of Atherstone, which is about 10 miles north of the city of Coventry.  In those days Atherstone was much smaller than Mancetter and had no church. Thomas married for the first time in St. Peter's Church, Mancetter on 12 October 1615, his wife was Margaret Milner. 

St. Peter's church was old even then. The church was begun in 930AD, the main section of the church that we see today was begun in the 13th century with the bell tower being built in the 15th century. The church and almshouse next would have been a familiar sight to Thomas Rowell and his family.

mancetter



Mancetter was not mentioned in the Doomsday Book, but it has a long history. The Roman road, Watling Street forms its northern boundary, and the Romans built a fort or staging post here. In the 4th century AD, it was called Manduessedum. In fact, it is believed that Boadicea, the ancient British queen fought her last battle against the Romans somewhere between Mancetter and Hartshill.



The Manor House, Mancetter



Mancetter was famous in Valentine the elder's time for being home to two Protestant Martyrs who were burnt at the stake during the reign of Queen Mary I. Robert Glover was the educated and wealthy owner of the 14th century manor house in Mancetter. He was educated at Eaton and King's College Cambridge. He became interested in Protestant theology during the reign of King Henry VIII. He was burnt in Coventry on 19 September 1555 for heresy. Joyce Lewis of Mancetter was burnt at Lichfield in December 1557. It is entirely possible that these deaths weighed heavy on the minds of Thomas and Valentine as they embraced the Puritan faith and swayed their decision to come to America. 

family

Thomas and Margaret had at least seven children. It is possible that she died soon after the birth of their last child Samuel in 1636. There is a marriage on record of Thomas Rowell and Jane Baghes on 5 October 1637. Athough, there is a baptism for a child of Thomas and Jane Rowell in 1646, which would have been after he was in Massachusetts. In any case his wife did not accompany him to the Massachusett Bay Colony. The follow is an exert from the Salisbury Records:

Ordered that Tho. Rowell of Salisbury, having used all proper means to fetch over his wife from old England, and she being disenabled by sickness to come at present, shall not be constrained to go over to her at once, only he is to  use what means he possibly can to get her over. 

coming to america

Thomas and his son Valentine came to the Colony in 1638/39, Thomas would have been about 45 years old and Valentine less than 20, at the time. It is not known on what ship they sailed or where they first landed. They were, however, among the first settlers in a new plantation eventually called Salisbury.

The original residents were given one small house lot near the center of town, and one larger planting lot just outside the center for farming. Families also owned large sections of "sweepage lots" near the beach, where apparently they harvested the salt marsh hay. At the time, the area was almost entirely unbroken virgin forest, which had to be cleared for the construction of houses and the planting of fields. (from Wikipedia) 

 





salisbury



The town of Colchester, soon after named Salisbury, Massachusets, was chartered in 1638, and in the first division of land there, Thomas Rowell received a house lot and forty acres. The original roads at the center of the town formed a compact semi-circle, which allowed the residents to quickly reach the garrison house in case of attack. Those roads still exist, though the shape today is triangular, being bounded by Elm Street, School Street and Bridge Road. Thomas became a large landowner in the town and he bought and sold land throughout his life. He was a carpenter by trade, but he and most of the townsmen were also engaged in making pipe staves for barrels.

Thomas' name crops up in the records fairly frequently so we know something about him, here is a timeline of his life based on those records:

1640 1641 1642 Thomas is an original proprietor of Salisbury receives land

1641 sued by William Holdred, cause unknown

1645 he was fined two and one-half pounds for using more than his share of the common timber for  making staves.

1646 Thomas and Valentine took the oath of fidelity in December 

1648 he was fined five shillings and twopence for non-attendance at public worship, at the same time that John Bournd was fined for selling strong water, from which it may be inferred that Rowell was somewhat inclined to be convivial, though he must have overcome his appetite later, as we find him a deacon of the church at Andover.

1648 he and Richard Currier are sued by Samuel Winsley, cause unknown

1649 Thomas is declared legally disabled and unable to perform military training, he must pay 3 shillings yearly instead

1649 Roger Lemon charges him with defamation, he later defaults on the case

1650 made a commoner and taxed in Salisbury

1651 he married Margery Fowler Osgood, widow. She was born 1615 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, daughter of Philip Fowler, a cloth worker, who was born 1591. There she became the second wife of Christian Osgood of Ipswich, with whom she embarked, March 24, 1634, for America. His third marriage and her second. Thomas adopted her children at that time.

1652 Thomas moved to Ipswich, home of his son's father-in-law, Henry Pinder

1653 Thomas and  Henry Pinder,  were sued by the city of Ipswich for failure to finish building a prison house. 

1654 Thomas moved to Andover

1654 he was fined for taking tobacco out of doors and and near a house.  His wife was admonished for cruelty.  

1656 on behalf of his stepdaughter Abigail Osgood, he sued Frances Leach for having slandered her by saying she was with child.  The charge was withdrawn.

1656 birth of his son Jacob, Thomas is 62 and Margery is 41.

1662 May 8th Thomas died aged about 70

remarriage and death 

His will, proved September 30, following his death, was made February 24. 1651, and on the same day he entered into an ante-nuptial agreement with Margery (Fowler) Osgood, by which he bound himself to bring up properly her two daughters by a former marriage.



After the death of Thomas Rowell, her second husband, Margaret Fowler Osgood Rowell married Thomas Coleman of Nantucket, who died in 1682. Her fourth husband was Rev. Thomas Osmond, a Baptist clergyman who was forced to flee from the Massachusetts Bay colony by the intolerance of its citizens and took refuge at Nantucket. She survived him, and died at Andover, November 20, 1701. She was administrator and guardian of numerous children, of her own and her several husbands by other wives, and seems to have been a person of strong mental and physical powers. The records preserve the names of two sons of Thomas Rowell, Valentine and Jacob, the latter the son of Margary (Fowler) Rowell.

Sources:

Threlfall, John Brooks. Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their Origins. Bowie, MD.: Heritage, 1992. Print.

Hoyt, David Webster. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts: With Some Related Families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Hampton, and of York County, Maine. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub., 1982. Print.



Records and Files of the Quarterly Court of Essex

My Rowell Family Ancestry with links:
Thomas Rowell of Mancetter, England
Valentine Rowell and Joanna Pinder
Phillip Rowell and Sarah Morrill        Phillip Rowell and Anne Carr
John Rowell and Elizabeth Colby
Enoch Rowell and Mirriam Converse
Enoch Rowell and Rachel Worthen
Samuel Duncan Rowell and Mary Moore
William Rowell and Sarah "Sally" Leavitt
Enoch Converse Rowell and Viola Rowell
Jennie Clover Rowell and John C. Thornton
Paul Rowell Thornton and Elizabeth Marjory Bowker

Tips for Finding Your Ancestors

I would like to share a list of sources that have been really useful to me in compiling my family tree. Some have been more helpful than others and some have been of no help at all.  I have found that there is no one source that will solve your family mysteries, the more places you look, the more stuff you find. This is especially important if you are interested in more than just names and dates.  I am always trying to add some flesh to my ancestors and finding little details here and there helps me build up a picture of their lives and who there were.

1.  Your Family  The best place to start is with your own family.  Ask grandma and grandpa what they remember about their parents and grandparent.  Ask to see old family photos and mementos.  Not only will your family be thrilled to have someone to talk about the past with but you will pick up a lot of good information for starting your hunt. My parents were able to produce a mountain of photos of old family members, many long deceased.  I had my mother put names to all the faces and I scanned them into my computer and labeled them all.  From my husband's side of the family, we were able to get a lot of wonderful old photos and a report card from 1880! Best of all, getting information from your family is free! FREE

2.  Ancestry.com  This pay to use site is well worth the money.  I could not have done as much as I have without it.  I started with a month to month subscription, but finally bit the bullet and paid for an annual subscription, at a cheaper rate.  I also have the international component as many of my family were from England and Ireland. It's easy to use and very addictive.  One word of caution: not all ancestry members are good researchers.  There is not only bad information out there but some rather silly stuff as well ( my husband is a descendant of Pocahontas's niece Princess Nicketti, NOT!).  My advice would be to find trees that seem reliable and then go to other sources to find documentation to prove your connections.  COST

3. Google Books  I found an enormous amount of information just by searching Google Books.  It seems that after the Civil War  people became very interested in genealogy and wrote massive amounts of books and family histories, some even traveled to England to find ancestor information from records in local parishes and cities.  Many of my ancestors lived in New England and I was able to glean details from books with subjects such as: the history of Hampton, New Hampshire, the history of Watertown, Massachusetts and so forth.  Sometimes just goggling names was enough to get a hit. I downloaded a lot of these books onto my nook to keep them handy for future references.  FREE

4. Archives.com  This is also a pay to use site.  It is a bit different than Ancestry.com but I have found it valuable for searching newspapers and city directories. They are now partnered with Fold3, formerly Footnote.com, and you can search for and order vital records from their site.  COST

5. Fold3 ( Footnote.com) Also a pay to use site. I have not used it since it changed names, they are a great resource for military records.  I found a lot of information on different ancestors who participated in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812. Very easy to use. COST

6. British-Genealogy.com This is a tremendous site if you are looking for ancestors in England.  The best part about this free site is the forums.  There are all types of forums from general, historical, and best of all  forums for each county.  When I was looking for help finding ancestors in Manchester I was able to zero in on that area.  The participants on the forum were terrific, helping with look ups and even copying and emailing information.  The website has lots of great content as well.  FREE

7. nekg-vt.com Northeast Kindgom Genealogy is a great site if you are looking for information on anestors in Northern Vermont.  Vermont seems to have the best records of any state I have encountered, maybe because of its small population.  Anyway, this site has many local records, newpapers and other data, it's really be a help for me and they also have forums.  The owners will also assist with questions, at least they have helped me out.  You can use the site for free, but for a small fee you can get a membership to use the search engine, it is well worth the money.  FREE/ COST

8. freebmd.rootsweb.com  This site is a search site for the BMD, births, marriages, and deaths in Britain.  It starts in 1836 and can tell you in which quarter of the year the event took place.  It also gives you a reference number so that you can order a copy of the record.  I was able to get several marriage and birth certificates for ancestors from Manchester, these records list parents which is especially helpful if you don't know who they are! It is very easy to order certificates from the GRO,  the general registrars office, they take credit cards so you don't have to worry about currency.  FREE

I will post more to this list as I have time so check back.

Manchester, England Connections

My genealogy search for many of my ancestors has been relatively easy. Many  ancestors on my father's side of the family tree  first came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600's and their lives are fairly well documented. But, I am finding that the closer the ancestor is to current times, the harder it seems to find them.  Case in point, the family of my grandmother, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth left England for Boston in the late 1920's.  She grew up in Manchester.  Trying to find her family was and is a needle in a haystack! Elizabeth's family belonged to the lower working class, eeking out a living in the cotton mills that had sprung up all over Manchester in the early 1800's at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.  They lived in poorly built row houses thrown up by the mill owners.  These houses had no electricity or running water and were of the two up two down variety.  Whole families were crammed into tiny houses. Infant mortality was sky high and life expectancy was low. A really great book to read is by Friedrick Engels called The Condition of The Working Class In England. (I know, I know, he was communist but its a great book anyway!)

Luckily for researchers, the British Government instituted a countrywide census.  Beginning in 1841 the census was and is done every 10 years.  Also, in 1836 the government began tracking all births, marriages, and deaths,and this compiled source is known as the BMD. Armed with a street map of Manchester, the census, BMD and alot of help from people on the web, I was able to find a few generations of Elizabeth's family.  I will never know much about these people, were they happy, desperately poor, were their lives a crushing grind?  Still, I know more about them then I did when I started.

Elizabeth Marjorie Bower was born on 21 April 1905 in Manchester, England to William and Margaret Ann (Banks) Bowker.  She died in Friendswood, Texas in March of 1981.  She had two sisters and three brothers who lived to adulthood.  She left home at age 18, and travelling by ship (RMS Samaria), arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on 23 July 1923. Her oldest sister, Catherine, was already living in Boston. 

St. Cross C of E, David Dixon
Creative Commons License

William Bowker, her father, was born 21 November 1871.  In 1892 he married Margaret Ann Banks in Clayton, Manchester, England. In the 1891 census he lived with his sister Jane and her family, he was a coal miner.  The family lived in the Bradford district of Manchester.  I am waiting for the 1921 census to be released to see if he was still living at that time. 

William's parents were John and Elizabeth (Emerson) Bowker. John was born in 1821, date of death unknown, and Elizabeth was born in 1829.  They married 16 December 1849.  John is not found in the census after  1861.  He worked as a cotton spinner in a mill.  John and Elizabeth had at least 9 children, several of whom died in childhood.  John's father, James Bowker, died sometime prior to his 10th birthday and his mother Hannah Unknown Bowker Currie remarried.  Hannah, amazingly, lived to be 85. Elizabeth, John's wife also lost a parent at a young age, her mother was dead prior to her 12th birthday.

St. Chads by David Dixon, Creative Common License

Margaret Ann Banks was the daughter of James Banks, born 1841 in County Mayo, Ireland and Mary Lynch, born 1843 in Roscommon, Ireland.  Margaret was born 1873 in Manchester, she died in the first quarter of 1914. James Banks and Mary Lynch were married at St. Chads Catholic Church in Cheetham, Manchester on the 6th of August 1865.  James was a cotton spinner and Mary and her family were hawkers, pushing carts in the street.

Mary Lynch Bowker died sometime between the 1871 and 1881 census.  In 1881, James Banks and his oldest son, Thomas, lived in what is called the Chadwicks Buildings.  These were buildings built specifically to house the  poor and destitute.  His other four children, including Elizabeth's mother, Mary Ann, are in the Crumpsall Pauper House.

James remarried in 1886 and had more children with his new wife Emily.  In the 1891 census his older children are back with him in the family home.  This is the last census in which I can find him.  The only thing I can find about James's father is that his name was Thomas.