The Parrishes of Kingswinford
Pearl’s mother’s family came from Kingswinford, Staffordshire. Kingswinford lay on the western edge of the Black Country, the coal, iron and brick-making district of the English Midlands. The family remembered its home county as Shropshire, but the records place both of Pearl’s Parrish grandparents at Kingswinford.
Her grandfather, Charles W. Parrish, was probably born Charles Wassell Parrish on 24 April 1839, the son of George Parish and Ann Maria, and christened at Kingswinford on 5 May. The English records write the family Parish; in America it became Parrish. George Parish probably married Ann Maria Wassell at St. Thomas’s Church, Dudley, on 5 October 1836, so the “W.” in Charles’s American records is possibly Wassell, his mother’s maiden name. In 1841 the household on Bromley Lane, Kingswinford, held George Parish, 25, a butcher; Ann Maria, 25; Emma, 3; Charles, 1; and a servant, Ann Jones, 15. All were born in the county. That census does not give relationships, so Emma was probably Charles’s sister. A Letitia Parish, also a child of George and Ann Maria, was possibly another.
Pearl’s grandmother, Elizabeth Collins, was probably the daughter of James Collins and Mary who was christened at Brierley Hill on 16 February 1845. In 1851 the Collins family lived at 85 Machin Street, Pensnett, in Kingswinford: James, 45, a brick maker; Mary, 36; their sons Eli, 19, James, 17, Edwin, 15, William, 12, and John, 9; and Elizabeth, 6. Every one of them was born at Kingswinford. Elizabeth was born between 1844 and 1846.
Charles Parrish, 24, the son of George Parish, married Elizabeth Collins, 19, the daughter of James Collins, at St. Mary’s, Kingswinford, on 21 September 1863. The marriage is known from an index and is probably theirs. The two households of 1841 and 1851 are probably Charles’s and Elizabeth’s families: the fathers’ names match the marriage, and Bromley Lane was still the family’s street in 1881.
The census of 3 April 1881 found the family on Bromley Lane, Pensnett. Charles, 42, was a foundry laborer, and Elizabeth was 35. Nine children were at home, and every one but Charles E. was entered as born at Kingswinford.
| Child | Birth | Death | Married |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary E. | about 1866 | Arthur Ward | |
| Annie L. | about 1867 | William Alsop | |
| Sarah J. | about 1868 | ||
| Charles E. | about 1872 | ||
| Maude Marietta | 7 August 1873 | 7 May 1945, Shillington, Berks County | Richard Sneddon, 1903 |
| Arthur B. | about 1875 | ||
| George H. | about 1876 | ||
| Florence E. | about 1879 | a Stokes | |
| Harriet Adelaide | 24 June 1880 | 19 October 1944, Philadelphia | David James Davis, 16 October 1905; William J. Branchide, 2 October 1918 |
| Harry | |||
| Letitia |
The family’s own typed list of the children names nine, among them a Harry and a Letitia whom neither the 1881 census nor the 1899 report of Elizabeth’s death names. The list leaves out Sarah J. and Charles E. Harry may be Charles E. under another name, and Letitia may be Sarah J. or a child born after 1881 who died young; neither is proven. Harriet, the youngest, was born on Thursday, 24 June 1880. The 1881 census enters her at Kingswinford, and her later records say England.
The Parrishes may already have crossed the Atlantic once before 1881. Where the census gives Charles E.’s birthplace, a word, probably “America,” has been struck through and corrected. If it was right, the family was possibly in America about 1871 or 1872, when he was born, and back at Kingswinford by the spring of 1881. The struck word is the only record of such a stay, and it says nothing about where in America they lived.
References
- Genealogy data sheet, David James Davis and Harriet Adelaide Parrish, family archive scan.
- FamilySearch, “England and Wales Census, 1881,” household of Charles Parrish, Kingswinford, Staffordshire (registration county Worcestershire), familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27F-29BX.
- FamilySearch, “England, Births and Christenings, 1538–1975,” Charles Wassell Parish, born 24 April 1839, christened at Kingswinford 5 May 1839, parents George Parish and Anne Maria, familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JW42-HPP. Index only.
- FamilySearch indexes: “England Marriages, 1538–1973,” George Parish and Ann Maria Wassell, St. Thomas’s Church, Dudley, Worcestershire, 5 October 1836; “England, Births and Christenings, 1538–1975,” Elizabeth Collins, christened at Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, 16 February 1845, parents James Collins and Mary; Letitia Parish, child of George Parish and Ann Maria (date and place not read). Index only.
- Find My Past, census images, Kingswinford, Staffordshire: 1841, HO 107/996/7, Bromley Lane (George Parish household); 1851, HO 107/2036, Pensnett, page 26, 85 Machin Street (James Collins household); 1881, RG 11/2892, folio 120, page 29, Pensnett (St. Mark), schedule 143, Bromley Lane (Charles Parrish household). Read on the images.
- Find My Past indexes, Kingswinford, Staffordshire: “England Marriages 1538–1973,” Charles Parrish and Elizabeth Collins, 21 September 1863; 1841 census, HO 107/996, folio 22, Bromley Lane (George Parish household); 1851 census, HO 107/2036 (James Collins household); 1881 census, RG 11 (Charles Parrish household); births and baptisms, Kingswinford, 1837–1843 (searched).
- FamilySearch, “England, Marriages,” Charles Parrish and Elizabeth Collins, St. Mary’s, Kingswinford, Staffordshire, 21 September 1863. Index only.
- The Evening Herald (Shenandoah, Pa.), 6 April 1892, p. 1 (Charles Parrish, South White Street, mine injury); 10 January 1899, p. 1; 11 January 1899, p. 1 (“The L. V. Wreck,” death and funeral notice of Mrs. Elizabeth Parrish); and 12 January 1899, p. 1 (“Victims of the Wreck”), Chronicling America, Library of Congress, loc.gov/item/sn87078000/.
- Find A Grave memorials 240710387 (Charles W. Parrish, Sr.), 240710398 (Elizabeth Collins Parrish), and 41773296 (Maude Marietta Parrish Sneddon), Odd Fellows Cemetery, Shenandoah Heights, Pa.; and Find A Grave memorial 250340776, David James Davis (death location).
- FamilySearch, “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991,” David Davis and Miss Harriet Parrish, Schuylkill County, 16 October 1905, familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMCR-JBQ.
- FamilySearch, “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991,” entry for William J. Branchide (b. 1874) and Harriet A. Davis, Schuylkill County, 2 October 1918, naming his parents Jacob Branchide and Mary Houser and hers Charles Parrish and Eliz. Collins, familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMC1-HMG.
- Pennsylvania death certificate, file 92552 (1944), Harriet A. Branchide, Philadelphia, Ancestry, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates.” Read on the image.
- Find A Grave memorial 199980172, Harriet Adelaide Parrish (Davis) Branchide.
- FamilySearch, “United States, Census, 1940,” household of William Branchide, Philadelphia (William 65, Harriet 56, Pearl 19), familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ43-SNW.