Page 301 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

around Halifax in Yorkshire. John, as the exception, lives in Hyde, Cheshire, or, more specifically, Throttle Bank, Stockport, Hyde. Now including the two households in which Martha (c.1813) and Sush (c.1776) live – the former lives in St Georges, Bloomsbury, Finsbury in London and the latter in Bedford Street, Halifax – eight of the ten households, identified as having a Soothill in their midst in the 1841 Census are living in or around Halifax.
The 1841 Census is not very informative but the focus of the Soothill family in and around Halifax is clearly established. It is easy to assume that John (c. 1791) is likely to have moved from Halifax at some point, but his place of birth is not shown. Is John the source of the shift to Rochdale which is the location for a major branch of the family in the middle to late nineteenth century? That, however, is not at all clear from the information available so far. Furthermore, none of the relationships between the various heads of household is at all clear either. Apart from the possibility that they are not directly connected, then the alternatives seems comparatively limited.
If they are father/son relationships (and this is, of course, an assumption at this point), then one breakthrough could tell a lot. Birth places could provide a clue. If the children are born at different locations to their parents, then this is prima facie evidence of geographical mobility. However, with the 1841 Census only showing the county of birth, this item is not so helpful in this census as in subsequent censuses where the places of birth are more precise.
In fact, all of the children of the seven heads of households still living in Halifax were born in Yorkshire, while only two of the birth locations of the children of John (c.1791) are shown and both of these are shown as Cheshire. Interestingly, there is no evidence that any of the Soothill heads of households ventured out of their counties of birth during their lifetime although, in reality, that is probably unlikely. However, while not a head of household, Martha is the exception and, probably as a servant girl or housekeeper, Martha is perhaps the first Soothill in the nineteenth century to venture south. Several others were to follow at various times
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