The McConvilles of Manchester England

Yeah, you read it right - England.  Mom always said that the McConvilles came from England - Manchester to be more precise - but, she said that they had moved there from Ireland because there was no work on the Emerald Isle.  So I figured that one generation back I would find them in Ireland, but apparently that is not the case.  I am pretty sure that I located the family in Manchester England back in about 1800.  So it looks like my mom's peeps (on her mother's side anyway) were limeys.

So I found the 1861 census for Manchester England on Ancestry.com, and there at the bottom of the page is Peter McConville - Boat Maker, age 25,and it says that he was born in Manchester:

Below him is his wife Catherine, age 24, weaver, also born in Manchester.  Last, but not least, is my great grandfather, Edward S. McConville, age 1, and born in Manchester - like he had a choice!  I was kinda surprised to see that Peter McConville was born in Manchester, I really thought he was my connection back to the old sod, but apparently not.

So next, I looked up Peter McConville to see where he lived before this, and I found another census from Manchester, England, this one from 1851:

So once again at the bottom of the page we see the McConvilles, starting with James, age 52 and his wife Alice, age 54.  James is a Lodge Porter, and looking to the right it says that he also was born in Manchester, as was his wife Alice.  So if this is the 1851 census - I am no math wizard, but - that means that both of them were born in Manchester somewhere around 1800.  I'm almost scared to go back any farther, I may have a relative who fought against the colonies in the American Revolution.  Any way it looks like Peter had a sister Elizabeth, age 20 in this census, who was a cotton spinner, and a brother Richard, age 17, who worked as a packer (of cotton - I guess), and then there is Peter, age 15, employed as a dyer (also of cotton - I guess).

Then I figured that I would push my luck and shoot for 1841, and Presto:

So ten years earlier, there are older children - at least four of them.  In 1841, James is working as a weaver, so it looks like the family works in the textile industry.  So, here is the rundown on the 1841 census:

We have James age 40, working as a weaver, and his wife Alice age 40, then we start with the children:  John is 20 and working as a  weaver, next in line appears to be fifteen year old twins - Mary and Alexander.  Mary has no occupation listed and Alexander is a weaver, next is James age 13, employed as a packer, then we get to the children listed in 1851 (only younger) Elizabeth is 10, Richard is 8, and Peter is 5.

So I'm really on the move now, but I don't want to get crazy here.  I'm not absolutely certain that these are my ancestors - but it sure looks like them.  The ages fit and even the names are  basically the same a few generations later.  You have Peter, James, John, Mary and even Alice.  But some of them are different too like Elizabeth, Richard, and Alexander.  I really believe that these are my McConvilles and I'm gonna work on proving it.

Next post is going to be some more English records that I found about Peter McConville's wife Catherine (McPartland).   So until then, Ta Ta.