Stories | Teare and Sons | Teare family and Manx fishing history

Teare ‘Clan’ – IoM, UK, USA

Posted on April 25, 2014 by admin

The information about the mining Teare family from Patrick and their voyages to and from the IoM to the USA and Canada was sent me by John Teare jr. now living in West Virginia, USA. (see blog : Teare mining families – IoM, USA, Canada http://teareandsons.com/2014/04/teare-mining-families-iom-usa-canada/)

When we started comparing notes and family tree information John Teare jr. had another insight into the Teare family connections.

Of the Teare family from Peel, that ended up as ropers, sail makers and ships chandlers in the 19^th century, there are now families living principally in IoM and UK. The UK families resulted from emigration to UK at the beginning of the 20^th century, after Dumbells Bank crash in 1900, which had such a negative impact on the Manx economy and especially the fishing industry. There were other Peel Teare’s at this time that emigrated to Canada but at present no connections to living families.

The IoM and UK Teare families had a common ancestor in Nicholas Teare (1766-1837) married to Mary Gibson (Cannel) (1770-1831).

It was John Teare jr. who noticed that Nicholas had a brother Edward (1757-1809) who was in his family tree. Edward married Margaret Caine (1766-1795) and these are the common ancestors for his family line, many of whom ended up in the USA and /or Canada.

The parents of Edward and Nicholas were John Tear (d 1789) and Jony Cosnahan (d 1797) so the Teare’s of Peel and the lead miners from Patrick are part of the same family.

At the end of the previous blog I commented on the contemporary accounts of how early Manx immigrants to the USA continued to speak Manx and were considered clannish. This summary family tree shows the connections of the Teare families now in IoM, UK, USA and Canada – and it’s only a summary there is much more detail if you’re interested.

It may have taken a couple of hundred years but the Teare family clan is connecting again.

Posted in Canada, Isle of Man, Mining, Peel, Teare, UK, USA | Leave a comment

Teare mining families – IoM, USA, Canada

Posted on April 18, 2014 by admin

Mining has a long history on the Isle of Man with earliest records going back to 1246 when King Harald granted mining rights to the monks of Furness Abbey. During the period from the 1830’s there was a great revival in the Manx mining industry and rapid development. In1848 the Foxdale mines had proved to be the most productive in the island. In 1871 a new lease was granted and the mine was renamed the Central Foxdale Mine, sometimes know as the east mine. The three main shafts were renamed ‘Amy’, ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Taylors’. Elizabeth was the deepest at 145 fathoms and was the engine shaft. The mine had a workforce 70 men underground and 45 at the surface in 1882 and the annual production of ore was between three and four hundred tons. (http://www.manxmines.com/FOXDALE%20MINE.htm )

John Teare jr. from West Virgina, USA recently contacted me with information about Edward Teare and his family from Patrick. He takes up the story – Edward Teare and Elizabeth “Betsy” Kennaugh, both of Patrick Parish, had eight children. In 1861, aged 24 he was married to Elizabeth and working as a fisherman and agricultural labourer but by 1871 he was a miner as well as farming 6 acres. He continued working as a lead miner in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses.

His eldest son, William Edward was born 1858, and another Teare relative reported that he had been in the USA at the time of the 1891 IoM census, but no record of his visit has been found, so far. He married Sarah Ellison and was living on Glen Rushen Road, working as a lead miner. He was a widower living in Douglas when he died in 1920.

Thomas Henry Teare was born 1861 in Patrick Parish and arrived at New York (age 26) along with William Christian (age 22) on March 10, 1888 aboard the “City of Chicago” and destined for Michigan. His wife Emily Margaret Cain (daughter of Philip Cainand Anne Callin) joined him later with their children and other children were born in Michigan. The family returned to the Isle of Man, arriving at Liverpool, England in 1899 aboard the “Campania”, prompted, I believe by his father’s failing health. He returned to the USA without the family and in 1900 he was boarding in Ishpeming but in 1901 he was in Port Erin (his father died 1 April 1901) and then he returned to America without his family, sailing from Liverpool on 4 May 1901 and arriving New York aboard the Camapnia on 11 May. He was killed in a mining accident 23 December 1901 (ironically, at the Foxdale mine in Ishpeming) and buried in Ishpeming. His widow Emily and 4 children arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in May 1907 aboard the Cymric destined for Cobalt, Ontario, Canada to join her brother, Cesar Cain. His son, Thomas Henry Jr., now age 16 is listed as a miner. Emily died in Timmons, Cochrane County, Ontario, Canada in 1932.

Ambrose Teare was born in 1863 in Patrick Parish but by 1900 the census shows him living in Ishpeming, Michigan with his Swedish born wife Annie Peterson (married about 1894) and adopted daughter Kate. He arrived in the US in 1886 and was working as an iron miner. In 1910 the family was living in Mace, Shoshone County, Idaho and he was a Quartz miner. Also in the household was Thomas Quilliam aged 43, also a Quartz miner. The following week Ambrose, Annie and Kate crossed the Canadian border at Kingsgate, British Columbia bound for Langdon and in 1911 the family is found at McLeod, Alberta, Canada where he is a farmer. In the same housing unit are Mark Crellin, his brother in law, married to Elizabeth, the youngest of Edward and Elizabeth’s children. After Annie died in 1913 Ambrose remarried to Eleanor Elizabeth Christian born Glen Maye, Patrick about 1875. They had one child, John Frederick Teare, born 1914 in Alberta Canada. Ambrose died in 1915 at Carseland, Strathmore, Alberta, Canada.

John Albert Teare was born Patrick 1866 and died 1885. He was a fisherman, aboard the Tartar in 1881 with James Cubbon, age 73.

Joseph Benjamin Teare, my great grandfather was born in 1872 in Patrick. In 1891 he was the oldest child still living with his parents at Kerroodhoo, Foxdale. He was a lead miner like his father. He arrived at Ellis Island, New York on 16 Apr 1896 aboard the “Teutonic” sailing from Liverpool; he traveled with Thomas Garrett 27, Fred Quine 25, and Wilfred Shimmin 21, all listed as Manx miners. He came back to the IoM and married Eleanor Jane Clague at Patrick Parish 01 Jun 1899 before returning, without his wife on his second voyage to the US on the S.S. Servia in 1900: passenger index shows that his 2 brothers (Thomas and Ambrose) are in Ishpeming, Michigan. On this trip he traveled with John McQuiggan, 25, Irish from Foxdale, who was previously in U.S. in 1892 for 2 years and was going to Ishpeming to visit his nephew. Joseph and Eleanor had two children whilst in Ishpeming, Robert Edward (called Eddie) born 1903 and Eva Elizabeth born 1906. The family moved to Cuyuna, Minnesota in 1911 and then to Crosby, Crow Wing County, Minnesota in 1912. By 1930 the census shows Joseph is still an iron ore miner. Eva, a schoolteacher, is living at home. She never married. Robert married my grandmother, Louise Marion Simpson in 1930 in Brainerd, Crow Wing County, Minnesota and the newlyweds lived in Crosby; Robert was a grocery deliveryman. Robert and Louise had three children, all born in Crosby: Robert Edward born 1931, Joseph Moses born 1932 and John Richard (my father) born 1934. My grandfather died when the children were young in 1937 and my grandmother, her mother Alice Simpson and the three boys moved to Philadelphia. Robert grew up to be a butcher, Joseph was an airline mechanic and my father John an insurance salesman.

John Teare jr. now lives in West Virginia. This story gives so many insights into where families started out and then end up in the world and the work they did. Also the voyages made between USA and IoM, in both directions. The number of marriages recorded to people with Manx names, even after leaving the island, is fascinating and fits with contemporary accounts of early Manx immigrants to the USA which show how they settled in the same areas, they spoke Manx and were considered clannish.

Posted in Canada, Family History, Isle of Man, Mining, Peel, Teare, USA | Leave a comment

Schoolmaster Tear suspended . . .

Posted on March 19, 2014 by admin

William Tear,was buried at Jurby in 1756. He is mentioned by A. W. Moore in Manx Worthies (1901) – “Manx schoolmasters have usually been clergymen also. Of the Schoolmaster whose name follows we know nothing except from his epitaph.”

But as you will see that’s not quite all we know.

The original epitaph in latin was translated by the Rev. John Quine:

Remains of Sir (Bachelor) Will.Tear, schoolmaster of Peel, buried.July 5th, 1756, in the 74th year of his age.

By way of epitaph of WILLIAM TEAR, an author having written.*

Death, alas! the penalty indeed (of life) is nevertheless a most certain portal of a blessed life, and that ‘I glad one to the good.

Although the bonds of death retain me here temporarily, hope nevertheless in Christ, (a hope) that will not die, remaineth.

In the merits of Christ and in the pitying Father’s love is my humble hope: in this faith I die.

Thou God Thyself knowest. my heart and the heart’s secrets, to whom obscurity not hidden all things are open.

Here nothing worthy to be descried is; alas ! all things are vain.

Therefore come blessed (life) and vain life go.

*literally, “having been written.”

However that’s not all we know of him because this Peel schoolmaster did not lead an altogether blameless life. Because of a ‘great scandal given by his disorderly life’ he was suspended for 6 months in 1741 following what today we would call a ‘disciplinary hearing’ the results of which were documented by Bishop Wilson:

“Whereas Upon the 31st of August last we with our Vicars General (the Vicars of Kk. Patrick and Germain with some gentlemen present) were obliged to suspend Mr William Tear the late Schoolmaster of Peel town ab officio and beneficio for the space of six months because of the great scandal given by his Disorderly life. And that at the time of our proceeding in that case Mr Tear afores’d upon our Reproving him for the Irregulartys he had been guilty of Resigned the School into our hands, declaring openly that he would not teach nor be concerned with the said School any longer.’ However out of a Fatherly Compassion towards him and upon his humble petitions wherein he sorrowfully lamented his Irregularitys and great Irreverence as also in regard that the Vicars of Patrick and German together with the Town Wardens have certified under their hands that the peticoner during his suspension has behav’d himself soberly and unblameably. We do hereby upon trial of his good Behaviour and in hopes of a thorough Reformation, permit him the said Mr. Tear to teach the Free School in Peel town, and do also Impower him to Receive the stipend settled thereon. And this to continue during our pleasure. And We do Require and Expect that the Vicars of Patrick and German as also the Wardens with the principal Inhabitants of the Town, as they tender the Welfare of the place, the Education of their Children and Our good Intent, that without fail they signify unto Us, if this Our Indulgence to the petitioner has not its due Effect upon him.

Given under our hands at Bishop’s Court, this 8th of March, 1741

THO. SODOR AND MAN. Vera Copia pr. ED. MOORE, Ep. Regr.  8th March, 1741.”

So what the specific offences were we do not know. Bishop Wilson was a rigid disciplinarian and would not tolerate in any of his Clergy or any others under his authority any deviations from the straight path. Perhaps today we would not have considered it so serious, was he a little too fond of an occasional or even regular drink? We don’t know. Whatever he did wrong, ‘during his suspension has behav’d himself soberly and unblameably’, so he was reinstated and remained in the School for another 15 years up to the time of his death.

And then there’s the church candlesticks . . . . . In 1902, when St Peters Church was undergoing restoration work a pair of brass Altar Candlesticks were discovered in a cupboard. They were covered with dirt and verdigris, and one of them was broken into two pieces.

They were both inscribed
– ‘The Gift of M. Est. Tear to Kk. Germain,1746.’

Esther Tear (nee Harrison) was the wife of William Tear, that same schoolmaster in Peel for 52 years. She died in 1756, a month after her husband. She left to the Poor of Peel a field called ‘Close Beg,’ and a meadow called ‘Lace’s Meadow.’

Posted in Isle of Man, Peel | Leave a comment

Who invented the kipper ?

Posted on February 18, 2014 by admin

A kipper is a whole herring that has been split butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold smoked over smouldering woodchips (typically oak).

The word kipper could have its origins in the old English ‘kippian’ to spawn, ‘kipe’ a basket to catch fish or even another theory which traces the word back to ‘kip’ the small beak developed by male salmon in the breeding season.

In any case the word is very old, as is the idea of preserving fish by smoking, much older than any more recent claims for the discovery of the process, usually by accident. For instance Thomas Nashe wrote in 1599 about a fisherman from Great Yarmouth who discovered smoking herring by accident and another story of the accidental invention of kipper is set in 1843, with John Woodger of Seahouses, Northumberland who left fish for processing overnight in a room with a smoking stove.

A kipper is also sometimes referred to as a red herring, although particularly strong curing is required to produce a truly red kipper. The term appears in a mid 13^th century poem ‘He eteþ no ffyssh But heryng red’ and later Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary entry of 28 February 1660 ‘up in the morning, and had some red herrings to our breakfast, while my boot-heel was a-mending, by the same token the boy left the hole as big as it was before’. Kipper kedgeree appeared on victorian breakfast tables and kippers were frequently a high tea or supper treat in the first half of the 20^th century.

The dyeing of kippers was introduced as an economy measure in WW1 so reducing the smoking time and allowing them to be sold quickly, easily and for a substantially greater profit. Kippers were originally dyed using a coal tar dye called Brown FK (abbreviation of “For Kippers”) but today, kippers are usually brine dyed using a natural annoto dye, giving the fish a deeper orange/yellow colour. However kippers from the Isle of Man are not dyed and the smoking time is extended in the traditional manner. Thousands are produced annually in Peel, where there are two kipper houses, Moore’s Kipper Yard (founded 1882) and Devereau and Son (founded 1884). The Manx word for kipper is skeddan jiarg, literally translated this is ‘red herring’.

Delia Smith says ‘Look for plumpness, oiliness, a silvery golden colour and a good smoky smell in a kipper. All fish tastes better cooked on the bone, and kippers are no exception.’ You can bake kippers in a hot oven and grilling is very good although others will swear that the only method is to ‘jug’ them in boiling water and serve with a knob of butter. Both kippers and herrings taste especially good cooked on a barbecue out in the open air and then there’s no problem for smell. Or why not try a kedgeree – delicious.

Posted in fishing, Isle of Man, Peel, UK | Leave a comment

What job for a Teare in 1863 ?

Posted on December 28, 2013 by admin

One of the very interesting things about family history is finding out the occupations of your relatives from census returns or trade directories. So I took a look through the Thwaites Directory of 1863 for the Isle of Man to see what sort of trades the Teare families were involved in. There are Thwaites Directories covering Douglas, Ramsey, Castletown and Peel. You can find them on Frances Coakley’s Manx Notebook (http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook) under the town name.

Sometimes names of jobs have not changed much since the 19^th century. A plumber, painter, banker or doctor are all job types that sit easily with us today but others are today very rare, non existent or have changed so much from their original usage. So anything to do with horses such as livery, stable keepers, which would have been quite common and even associated trades like black smith are now quite specialist. Coal merchants have almost disappeared and boot and shoe makers, drapers and grocers although recognizable names are not necessarily the places we would search out today to do our shopping. So just as today we would struggle to find a guano importer in Ramsey (or anywhere else on the island?) then an estate agent or a garden centre and an IT consultant or even a job centre of course don’t figure at all in Thwaites Directory.

Douglas
BOOT and SHOE MAKERS: Teare Thomas 11 Great Nelson Street, h 1 St Georges Street
LIVERY STABLE KEEPERS and HORSE GIG and CAB PROPRIETORS: Teare Daniel Castle Mona Lawn
LODGING HOUSES: Tear Margaret Finch Road
SHOPKEEPERS: Teare Ann St Georges Street, Teare Philip Back Strand Street
WOODTURNERS: Teare Thomas Queen St
Ramsey
HARBOUR MASTER: Teare Charles, 11 Albert street
TEARE and KERRUISH: Importer of British and foreign seeds, guano, &c., Customs’, ship, and bill broker, money scrivener, commission agent,&c., Custom House Quay; and brick and tile maker, Mona bank; Teare Robert, h. Summerland
COAL MERCHANTS: Teare Charles, liarbonr Office; h. Albert street
DRAPERS (LINEN AND WOOLLEN): Teare Thomas, Parliament street
GROCERS, & TEA & PROVISION DEALERS: Teare James, 13 Church street, Teare Robert, Sandy road
HOTELS, INNS, AND TAVERNS: Commercial, Margaret Teare, South Quay
LODGING HOUSES: Teare Anne,4 Solway terrace
SURGEON: Teare Thomas Murray, 9 Auckland terrace
TIMBER MERCHANTS: Teare Robert, Sandy road
Peel
FARMER: Tear Robert Douglas St
ROPEMAKERS: Tear John Quay Lane
Listed in the Peel directory but without a trade:
Tear Mrs Elizabeth Douglas St – the 1861 census lists her occupation as a nurse. She is a widow (55) living with her two daughters, May Alice (unmarried 26) and Elizabeth Thompson (married 24), who are both dressmakers, also her granddaughter Elizabeth Thompson (3)
Teare Mr William Factory Lane – I can find no William Teare in Factory Lane in the 1861 or 1871 census
Castletown
There are no traders with the name Teare listed in the Castltown directory.

Posted in Family History, Isle of Man, Peel, Teare | Leave a comment

Happy Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2013 by admin

Happy Christmas and looking forward to a successful 2014

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“You’re so funny and amazing! You must be a Chandler.”

Posted on December 12, 2013 by admin

Teare and Sons ships chandler The Quay Peel

Often we use words and phrases everyday without really thinking about why and where they come from. Then occasionally someone asks a question or brings something to our attention and we have an insight into the origins of our language. That set me thinking about chandler. Why do we use this word in association with a specialist supplier of materials for ships? Why not merchant or shop?

The dictionary definition of a chandler or ship chandler is ‘a dealer in supplies and equipment for ships and boats’ and chandlery ‘the shop or business of a chandler’. That doesn’t seem to help much until you see the historical definitions as ‘a dealer in household items such as oil, soap, paint and groceries’ and ‘a person who makes and sells candles’. That makes sense because the origin of the word chandler is from Old French chandelier through Middle English denoting a candle maker and candle seller.

Candles making would have involved a detailed knowledge of oils and fats (also the basis of making soap) and so the progression from a candle maker and seller to a store selling household items, including presumably candles, also seems to follow a certain logic. So why don’t we go to the chandlers anymore to buy our household supplies or maybe more pertinently – why don’t supermarkets have a chandlery section? Well I guess it just went out of fashion and we use other words – household supplies, hardware, cleaning supplies, DIY, . . . . .

The day books in the Manx National library show that a traditional chandlery like Teare and Sons supplied fishing and sailing ships with a large range of items such as rope, paint, turpentine, paraffin oil, lard, oakum, nails, brooms, mops, galvanized buckets, charts and even candles. A ship chandlery business was central to the existence and the social and political dynamics of ports.

Today’s chandlers deal more in goods typical for commercial ships. Often they supply the crew’s food, ship’s maintenance supplies, cleaning compounds as well as more typically maritime supplies like ropes. Typically, the ship owner has a line of credit with the chandler and is billed for anything delivered to his ship. So in a foreign port they don’t have to spend time searching for materials and then paying in foreign currency.

Then as now there is a high level of service demanded, orders must be fulfilled quickly and completely and the business operates on credit. Commercial ships turn around quickly, any delay is expensive and so the services of a dependable ship chandler are indispensable.

So is it the combination of high levels of customer service and the romantic candlelight that accounts for the modern meaning of chandler? Check out the online Urban Dictionary to find that a chandler is ‘an amazing guy that is extremely funny and sweet. He may not be your first choice in a guy, but after you date him you’ll want him forever. He listens to everything you say and he’s protective if someone hurts you. You can trust him with anything and know he won’t tell anyone because it’s just who he is. He’s a great guy and one of the best boyfriends a girl could have. He’s cute too and the best kisser on the planet. “You’re so funny and amazing! You must be a Chandler.” ‘

Posted in Boats, Isle of Man, Peel, Sail Making, Teare | Leave a comment

Book recommendation: Evader by Denys Teare

Posted on December 5, 2013 by admin

Seventy years ago this December a French farming family in occupied France gave Denys Teare a surprise cake to celebrate his 22^nd birthday.

In September 1943 he baled out of a burning Lancaster bomber returning from a bombing raid over Germany before it crashed into hillside some 110km south east of Reims. Since then he had been sheltered by French families and the French Resistance escape networks could not get him back to England before the allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944.

Consequently he was a whole year living in occupied rural France before the American 3^rd Army eventually reached the town where he was hiding. Evader is the story of those 12 months; of life in occupied France, the friendships made, tragedies witnessed, the tensions of ‘living with the enemy’ and even at times almost a normal life bringing in the harvest with French farmers as the Allied armies got ever closer.

Thomas Denys Gordon Teare was born in Liverpool, his father J.G. Teare was a village school headmaster and had received official notification that his son was presumed dead as there had been no news of his whereabouts since the crash. In fact, and against all the odds, the whole crew of the Lancaster ‘S for Sugar’ survived the crash and the war but they didn’t meet up again until it was over. Denys later trained as a fireman and worked in Widnes before eventually settling in the Isle of Man.

If you’re wondering what book to buy the Teare in your life for Christmas or a birthday you could do worse than consider Evader by Denys Teare (Evader is published by Progress Press and available through on line retailers).

Posted in Family History, Isle of Man, Teare, UK | Leave a comment

Shareholding in Peel fishing boats

Posted on November 29, 2013 by admin

Fishing boats were given names ranging from the poetic: Roving Swan, Guiding Star, Full Moon, Flying Scud, through various Bees: Wild Bee, Honey Bee, Buzzing Bee, Busy Bee, and it is probably the wave teetotalism spread by the temperance missionary James Teare in the mid 19^th century which accounts for: Blue Jacket, Good Templar and Rechabite. But as to the origin of Can Can, was this some sort of backlash reaction to temperance?

Between 1847 and 1898 the Teare and Sons family had shares in some 24 fishing smacks. They frequently traded shares both within the family and with others in Peel and the Isle of Man and rarely owned a boat in its entirety or for its total life. This makes following ownership very complex as a few examples below demonstrate.

Gannet : smack with mizzen built Peel 1835

Trading records show that in 1847 John Teare, a Peel roper, brought 16 shares in Gannet from John Noy, a Peel fisherman. Then the following year he sold them back to John Noy, now listed as a Douglas publican. If that wasn’t complicated enough in 1849 John Noy sold the shares to Henry Teare, a Peel ropemaker and this is certainly John’s father. Gannet had Teare shareholding between 1847 and 1868 and was eventually sold to Port St Mary.

Willow Grove : smack with mizen built Peel 1843

In 1855 John Teare brought 8 shares in Willow Grove from Jane Cowll a Liverpool spinster. Willow Grove was originally owned by Thomas Cowll (fisherman), Thomas Cowll (carpenter) together with James Bowman (rope maker), Robert Keown (sumner), Henry Cowll (schoolmaster) and Jane Cowll . There was Teare shareholding until 1868 and she was eventually either broken up or sold to Ballyherbert, Ireland as there are 2 records for the same official number but recording different outcomes.

Bee Hive : 2 masted smack with mizen built Peel 1861

Bee Hive built in Peel in 1861 had share ownership by the Teare family from 1861 until she was lost at Southend near Campbelltown on 6 September 1899. But the ownership is complex. John Teare was an original owner in 1861 with 16/64 shares along with Charles Morrison (merchant), Henry Graves (merchant), Thomas Corris (mariner) and Robert Corrin (shipowner). In 1878 the original owners sold all their 64 shares to John Keggin a master mariner in Port Erin. In the same year he in turn traded them to Hugh Flinn a fish merchant from Co Wicklow and then John Teare purchased 32 shares back from him. In 1879 John Teare jnr brought the other 32 shares from Hugh Flinn and immediately traded 8 shares to each of John Gregor (Peel Master Mariner) and Robert Harrison (Peel wine and spirit merchant). The next year in 1880 Thomas Henry Davis and William Bruce Johnston both Peel Chemical Manufacturer acquired all the shares from the various owners only for John Teare jnr to re-acquire them all back in 1881. There was 6 years of stability with John Teare jnr as owner until 1887 when John Teare jnrs brothers, William Edward and Henry, jointly brought all 64 shares from John jnr and Bee Hive continued with that ownership until she was lost in 1898

Posted in Boats, Family History, Isle of Man, Peel, Teare, UK | Leave a comment

A history of Peel in Numbers

Posted on November 23, 2013 by admin

I have been listening to the excellent BBC radio4 programme ‘A History of Britain in Numbers’( http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03k5dvd ) presented by Andrew Dilnot chair of the UK Statistics Authority. Despite not having access to the same level of budget or skilled research assistants I thought it would be interesting to apply the same sort of analysis to Peel.

Comparing 30 years in the 19^th century with now the overall population of Peel has not changed that much:

1861 2,848 (Slaters Directory 1863)

1881 3,500 (Browns Directory 1881)

1891 4,500 (Porters Directory 1891)

1986 3,660 (www.citypopulation.de)

2001 3,785 (www.citypopulation.de)

2011 5,093

But looking at the 1861 census in more detail for Peel town (districts 1b and 2b, not the whole of German parish) the detail gives a very different picture to today.

Households	Houses	Adults	Children	Domestic servants	Mariner / Sailor	Fisherman	Not born in Peel / German
637	437	1315	1508	78	152	72	914

Key figures

Peel Popn	Children (<14 yrs for 2011)	Avg Household size	% Popn Manx (from Manx popn for 2011)	% Popn fisherman / mariner
1861 2823	53%	4.4	90%	8%
2011 5092	17%	2.3	48%	<1% *

* % Manx popn in agriculture, forestry, fishery = 1%

Besides the obvious material and technological advances a time traveller from Victorian Peel to the present day might well ask:

- You mean only two of you living in this house?

- With a toilet inside?

- Where are all the children?

- What happened to your domestic servant?

- Where do people work if they’re not at sea/fishing?

There are a few other interesting points from this search through the 1861 census. A number of households have ‘mariners wife’ recorded as head of household because the husband is absent so the number of mariners may be underestimated, although some mariners recorded may be retired. In 1861 there were 13 publicans / hotel keepers and I’m not sure how that compares with today. In 1861 33% population was not born in Peel or German Parish but the number not born on the Isle of Man would be less than 10%. Finally there was one straw bonnet maker recorded and I’m pretty sure there is no longer one in Peel – shame.

Source 2011 data http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/treasury/economic/census/2011censussummaryresultsreport.pdf

Posted in Family History, Isle of Man, Peel, UK | Leave a comment

Teare and Sons