The Family of Mary Jane Townsend

Mary Jane Townsend was the daughter of William Henry Townsend and Susannah Topping, who were married on 6 February 1835 at St Martin in the Fields Parish Church in Vauxhall, Liverpool. William Henry Townsend, a Baker, and a bachelor, of Liverpool and Susannah Topping, a spinster, of Liverpool were married by License by Charles Thomas Gladwin, Assistant Minister, and the witnesses were James Denison and Mary Caldwell.

Sometime after their marriage they moved to Chorley where their daughter Elizabeth Catherine was born. She was baptized at St Lawrence's Church in Chorley on 15 Jan 1837. Mary Jane, although listed in various records as born in Chorley, was not baptized in Chorley. I suspect that the family moved soon after her birth and that she was baptized elsewhere - possibly Cheshire.

Sometime between about 1837 and 1841, William Henry Townsend died. I have not found any record of his death and he is not buried in the churchyard at Chorley, but by the night of the 1841 Census Susannah was widowed and was living with her two daughters in Liscard, on the Wirral in Cheshire.

NOTES:
1:	Living at Darlington Street, Liscard, Wallasey, Cheshire [HO 107-128, book 3, folio 16, page 26].
2:	Liscard was originally classed as being in Cheshire but is now part of Merseyside. It is almost directly across the River Mersey from Liverpool.
3:	The above information is taken from from scanned images at www.ancestry.co.uk.

Five years later, Susannah married William Tomkinson, a bachelor, of Great Homer Street, Liverpool. They were married on 9 July 1846 by J.H. Stafford, the minister at St Paul's Parish Church in Liverpool. According to the church register, William, who was "of full age" and "a teacher of music", was the son of Henry Tomkinson, a joiner. Susannah Townsend was listed as a widow, also of full age and also of Great Homer Street. She was the daughter of George Topping, a chair maker. The witnesses were Samuel Lawton and Susannah Lawton.

1851 CENSUS OF BIRKENHEAD, CHESHIRE:
NAME:	RELATION:	CONDITION:	SEX:	AGE:	OCCUPATION:	BIRTHPLACE:
William Tomkinson	Head	Married	M	32	Teacher of Music	Liverpool, Lancashire
Susannah Tomkinson	Wife	Married	F	34	-	Preston, Lancashire
William H Tomkinson	Son	-	M	4	Scholar	West Derby, Lancashire
Alfred J Tomkinson	Son	-	M	2	Scholar	Seacombe, Cheshire
Elenor Tomkinson	Daughter	-	F	1	-	West Derby, Lancashire
Susannah Tomkinson	Daughter	-	F	1	-	West Derby, Lancashire
Elizabeth Townsend	Stepdau.	-	F	14	Scholar	Chorley, Lancashire
Mary Townsend	Stepdau.	-	F	12	Scholar	Chorley, Lancashire
Fanny Townsend	Stepdau.	-	F	9	Scholar	Egremont, Cheshire

NOTES:
1:	Living at 50 Market Street, Birkenhead, Cheshire. [HO 107-2175, folios 273 & 274, pages 52 & 53]
2:	The spelling of Eleanor's name was misspelled on the census.
3:	Birkenhead, like Liscard, is now part of Merseyside.
4:	The above information is taken from from scanned images at www.ancestry.co.uk.

1861 CENSUS OF WEST DERBY, LIVERPOOL, LANCASHIRE:
NAME:	RELATION:	CONDITION:	SEX:	AGE:	OCCUPATION:	BIRTHPLACE:
William Tomkinson	Head	Widower	M	41	Professor of Music	Liverpool, Lancashire
Alfred Tomkinson	Son	-	M	12	-	Seacombe, Cheshire
Ellenor Tomkinson	Daughter	-	F	11	-	West Derby, Lancashire
Susannah Tomkinson	Daughter	-	F	11	-	West Derby, Lancashire
George Tomkinson	Son	-	M	3	-	West Derby, Lancashire
Thomas Bailey	Stepson-I-L	Married	M	28	Warehouseman	Liverpool, Lancashire
Elizabeth Bailey	Stepdau.	Married	F	24	-	Chorley, Lancashire
Frances M Townsend	Stepdau.	-	F	19	House Servant	Liscard, Cheshire
Diana L J Williams	Lodger	-	F	19	Professor of Music	[illegible], Shropshire

NOTES:
1:	Living at 28 Parron Street, West Derby, Liverpool. [RG 9-2733, folio 23, page 39]
2:	The spelling of Eleanor's name was again misspelled on the census.
3:	Both William Tomkinson and his lodger Diana Williams were listed as being partially blind.
4:	Thomas Bailey was William's stepson-in-Law, the husband of his stepdaughter Elizabeth Townsend.
5:	The above information is taken from from scanned images at www.ancestry.co.uk.

By 1861 Mary Jane Townsend was 22 years old and had left home - but I wasn't able to find her anywhere in the census. I thought she may have been staying with other relatives so searched under her mother's maiden name, Topping, and sure enough, she was staying with her late mother's sister Jane Topping in Preston and had been incorrectly listed in the census as Mary Jane Topping:

1861 CENSUS OF PRESTON, LANCASHIRE:
NAME:	RELATION:	CONDITION:	SEX:	AGE:	OCCUPATION:	BIRTHPLACE:
Jane Topping	Head	Unmarried	F	44	Pawn Broker	Carlisle, Cumberland
Mary Jane Topping	Niece	Unmarried	F	22	do's Assistant	Chorley, Lancashire
William H Tomkinson	Nephew	Unmarried	M	14	do's Assistant	Liverpool, Lancashire
Hannah M Tomkinson	Daughter	Unmarried	F	7	Scholar	Liscard, Cheshire

NOTES:
1:	Living at 22 Liverpool Street, Preston. [RG 9-3137, folios 101 & 102, pages 41 & 42]
2:	Mary Jane Townsend married John Swarbrick 4 years later - in 1865.
3:	William H and Hannah Maria Tomkinson were Mary Jane's half-siblings.
4:	The above information is taken from from scanned images at www.ancestry.co.uk.

1841 CENSUS OF LISCARD, WALLASEY, CHESHIRE:
NAME:	SEX:	AGE:	OCCUPATION:	BORN IN THE COUNTY?
Susannah Townsend	F	24	Independent	No
Elizabeth Townsend	F	4	-	No
Mary Townsend	F	2	-	No