Four Marsh families in 1841
The census of England lists every single individual at the place where they spent the particular census night. It therefore represents a complete 'snapshot' of the country and for most people lists them in their homes, showing their occupation, age, etc. The first detailed census was taken in 1841 and subsequently every 10 years (except 1941). The details are not opened to public view for 100 years.
This is a snapshot of the members of the same generation, in four families who had no connection with each other at the time but who were subsequently to become related by marriage. The details were recorded on Sunday 6 June 1841, probably by an enumerator who walked from house to house asking each occupant to provide the required information.
1. In Bridge Street, Saint Peter's Parish in the City of Chester, 4/9 George Marsh, a tailor, is living with his wife 4/10 Elizabeth and their five eldest children, probably above the tailor's shop at number 5 Bridge Street Row which he kept until 1871. The house was also occupied by George's apprentice George Tepper and two servants. The couple's three youngest children, including 3/5 Henry Marsh, had not yet been born.
2. There was no detailed census taken in Ireland until later but an 1841 commercial directory of the City of Dublin shows 4/11 James Cahill, who was practising as a Solicitor of the Court of Common Pleas and Court of Exchequer, at 40 Lower Baggott Street. James and his second wife, 4/12 Maria, had a son and daughter by this time, but their two younger daughters including 3/6 Elinor Jane, had not been born. After James and Maria died their three unmarried daughters moved to Chester and lived in Queens Park, where George Marsh lived after he gave up the tailor's shop in Bridge Street Row. They all worshipped at the Queen Street Congregational Chapel in Chester, which may be where Henry and Elinor Jane met.
3. In the second house in Back Islington Street in the City of Salford, Lancashire, 4/13 Thomas Wilcock and his wife 4/14 Isabella are living with their son 3/7 John, an office boy and their daughter Mary, a silk piecer. Thomas was a bricklayer, although his occupation was not given in the census. The family moved around the Manchester/Salford area, and by 1846 they were renting a house at 35 Bradshaw Street, Hulme, for 4 shillings a week from the owner, the Rev. William Stewart.
4. In the township of Piersebridge, County Durham, 4/16 Mary Carter is the Postmistress, sharing premises with Ann Hoddart, a licenced victualler. Mary's husband 4/15 Nicholas Carter died in 1834 at the early age of 34 and is buried at the parish church of Gainford, 3 miles away. Nicholas' father 5/29 Nicholas Carter, a shopkeeper of Piersebridge, and his mother Mary also died in 1834 all within two months of each other, so Mary may have taken over the family shop to support herself and their seven young children. By the time of the census Mary's youngest daughter Martha is still at home but the other children are not there. Her daughter 3/8 Dorothea, aged 11, is probably a servant to the Pick family at Lark House, Coniscliffe, about a mile away. By 1859 Dorothea was a servant at Stackhouse, Giggleswick, Yorks, 50 miles from Piersebridge, when she married John Wilcock from Manchester at the parish church there. Where John and Dorothea met is a mystery.