ENGLAND BEGINNING RESEARCH: THE TIDSWELL FAMILY UK CENSUS RECORDS

The Genealogists in Second Life group has been taking a course Tuesday nights
with "LadyClaire Ashbourne" on England Beginning Research.  There are video
lessons from FamilySearch to view and assignments to do before each class.
This week we'll be discussing the English Census and Civil Registrations, and
part of the assignment was

"Pick an English family and follow then through 2 or 3 census records on a
different site for each year."

All  of my English ancestors came over long before the English census began
in 1841, but my great grandmother's first husband, Charles Tidswell, had immigrated
to America in the late 1800's. I knew Charles'  parents were John C Tidswell
and Elizabeth Mary Sharpe(I'd found their names on FamilySearch in the record
of Charles' second marriage.) I tried FamilySearch first but the few hits I got
led to pay sites, so I turned to Ancestry.com where I have a World membership
and had better luck. First I found Charles and his parents on the 1861 Census in
the Clerkenwell St James Civil Parish, Middlesex County. Their Registration
District was Clerkenwell in the Goswell St  sub-registration district in Enumeration

 District 12. The family is listed as follows:

From this I found out that Charles' father John was a plumber by trade, was born
in Middlesex St Lukes Parish, and was 39 in 1861. Wife Elizabeth was a year
younger and  had been born in Shoreditch, as had four of the six children. The
oldest, John, had been born in St Andrews Parish and was employed in something
 having to do with with art and photography.(I can't read the last word). The
youngest, Robert, was one year old and had been born in St James parish.
Charles was the next youngest and four years old at the time of the census. 
The next household after John and Elizabeth's is headed by a Benjamin Tidswell,
a widower with two sons both in their early 20's.

I can't find the family yet on the 1871 Census. Since Charles had immigrated by 1880
it's possible the family had left England already by 1871. So I went back to the 1851
Census and found the family was living in Shoreditch Middlesex England. There were
three children at this time, one of whom, the one year old Elizabeth, does not appear
in the 1861 Census so she had probably died before then.  John worked as a plumber,
and Elizabeth as a Seamstress. The family lived at 22 Wellington St. I didn't find any
other Tidswells on this page, the preceding page nor the following page.

Finally I went back to the 1841 Census where I found the 19year old unmarried
plumber John C Tidswell in the St Leonard Shoreditch Civil Parish of Middlesex
County. I couldn't find any other Tidswells on nearby pages, nor did I find any Sharpes.

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It was an interesting exercise, and if you'd like to learn more about English genealogy
research, join us on Tuesday nights in Second Life, or check out the online classes at:

1. Getting Started
2. Understanding Census Records