Researching England before 1837

Margaret8112

I have hit a brick wall. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Researching:

Parents of Thewlis Daye Abt1834–1919 BIRTH Abt.1834 • England DEATH 25 12 1919 • Marcellus, Onondaga, New York

I know that both Thewlis's parents are English from census records but have no other info in England. Thewlis immigrated to Scotland and married Euphemia Nelson 30 Oct 1863 in Denny, Stirlingshire, Scotland.

. Three of his children, John Alfred Bryden Daye Sr, Elenora Kennedy Daye, Amelia Mary Daye were born in Scotland. I believe he immigrated to Canada about 1871. The last two, Minnie Nelson Daye and Isabella Ferguson Daye were born in Ontario, Canada.

He is listed as Presbyterian in Scotland and Free Church while in Canada. Occupations include Designer and wool carder.

I realize that he was born before the England Civic Registration of 1837 . But without a town or county, I am lost

Thank you for any help your might give

Margie

lindastowemiller

This is certainly a hard one. I can find no hard evidence of a Thewlis Daye prior to his marriage. I found a few things without definite sources, which you may also have seen. Thewlis appears to be a surname, and I saw at least one tree that figures Thewlis Day was son of John Day and Amelia (or Amanda) Thewlis. There are several that have him in Yorkshire, especially West Riding or Birstall. There are also Thewlis families in that area. Again, I could find no census (anywhere) prior to 1871 showing a first name Thewlis or some corruption of that.

Second, the 1900 census in New York gives his birth month and year as August 1840. The 1840 is not consistent with other records, but the August may possibly be correct.

I could not find a marriage of a Daye and a Thewlis in the 1820s-1830s, based on a quick search using online sources (such as Ancestry.com). There are parish records prior to 1837; those are your best hope, but again, where to look is hard. Thewlis is not a common given name, but could be a mother's surname, or a grandmother's or other friend/relative. I give the August birth month fairly high credit in the reliability area.

If I was looking for this needle in a haystack, I would start in Yorkshire, probably West Riding. I would look for relationships between Thewlis and Daye families, and I would look for a child born in August (might not be baptized then, of course). I would look at years between 1832 and 1840. (Of course, he did not appear in the registration index which began in 1837. But still....)

This is really a challenging problem. The one good thing is the unusual first name. It is very weird that it does not appear in any census - England or Scotland (that I could see) - before his marriage.

Just my thoughts.

lindastowemiller

Postscript - I also found it interesting that Euphemie Nelson, widow of Thewlis Daye, is recorded in Montreal Notarial Records, as making a loan to Archibald C. Galbraith in December 1908. Not sure what that has to do with anything, but it was interesting.

lindastowemiller

.... Since the record is December 1908, calling Euphemia a widow, and Thewlis is said to have died in 1919, it brings up some interesting questions.... Here's a link: Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637-1935 - Ancestry.com

Margaret8112

Thank you so much for taking on this challenge.

I have decided to look into Euphemia to see any connections as well as researching in Yorkshire.

Several weeks ago I did a google search for "Thewlis" and found it translates to "Day"

Unfortunately I cannot find that search again.