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Joseph Wilks Printer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sarah W
  • Start date Start date
S

Sarah W

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I wonder if anyone could do a lookup for me to track down a tricky ancestor.

I have a marriage certificate for my husbands great grandfather James Wilks. On the 1901 and 1911 Census, it says James was born in Birmingham, Warks although he married in Sheffield.

According to his marriage certificate, his father was a Joseph Wilks and his occupation was specified as Printer.

I have been unable to find any matches on the earlier census returns, so was wondering if anyone appeared in the trade directory that could be a match.

Many Thanks

Sarah
 
Sarah
could you give some idea as to the years you are interested in. Also I understand joseph was a printer. what occupation was james?. i think its best to look for wilks and wilkes, and will do so if you can let me have a tad mor einfo
mike
 
Last edited:
Mike,

Many thanks for replying.

James was 22 at the time of his marriage to Ada Rowe on 2nd May 1897.

His occupation is shown as what looks like "Trammer"

I agree that Wilkes is also a possible variant as people insist on spelling our surname as that today.

Kind Regards

Sarah
 
Sorry Sarah, i seem to have had no luck. Went through my birmingham directories 1870-1912 (a reasonable selection which should have shown him if he was there unless he only was in for 1 year ) . No Joseph anything to do with printing. though there is a pub landlord, greengrocer, shopkeeper, black ornament maker, gun filer, gun maker, and glass toy cutter .
The only James I found (1892-1912) were a general smith and a boot & shoe maker, neither seeming to fit with "Trammer". and anyway i would think if he was married in sheffield he probably was living there.
Mike
 
Mike,

Thanks anyway. I can't find any trace of either James or Joseph in Sheffield either, so its a bit of a dead end.

My only other option is to start sending for birth certificates of some of the likely suspects around 1875, but there's a few to go at...

Thanks again

Sarah
 
Hi Sarah,did it say on the marriage cert if James's father was deceased or not?
Had a quick look on the 1881 and 1891,here's the results!
1881 census has the following
Davis Jane 28 Head born Birmingham, Warwickshire Tobacconist
Wilkes Caroline 28 Boarder born Wiltshire
Wilkes James W 7 Boarder Scholar born Birmingham, Warwickshire
all living 36 Sherlock Street, Birmingham, Warwickshire
1891 census
Nothing apart from a James Wilkes who was a patient in Summer Lane Hospital.(age given as 14,though)

PS A Trammer is "A miner who loads ore into tram cars and pushes them to the shaft for loading into kibble or skip"
At least this may rule 2 out!
 
Hi,

Many thanks for checking for me, I'll do a bit more digging on the record you found. There was no mention on the marriage certificate to say Joseph was deceased, but I know that sometimes that only depends on whether the vicar actually asked the question at the time of the marriage.

I also wondered if the name was a red herring. I know they sometimes made a name up to cover up being illegitimate.

Kind Regards

Sarah
 
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