I have been working some more on Alice Hudson’s parents and am trying to sort through some information.
I found on the new familysearch.org site an image of some documents relating to the death of Dorothea Dixon (Alice’s mother; Dixon was her second married name). Here is the link - https://familysearch.org/search/recordDetails/show?uri=https://api.familysearch.org/records/pal:/MM9.1.r/9SY7-J65/p1
So, here is the interesting part – The documents show Dorothea’s heirs as Alice Blackburn, and then also Elizabeth Fawcett. I had been wondering how Elizabeth fits in, as she was listed in newspaper articles around litigation of her estate after Dorothea died. Now I know that Elizabeth was Dorothea’s daughter! Alice had an older sister who stayed in England when the rest of the family came to the US! Furthermore, it seems that Sarah Dixon was not Dorothea’s daughter, but perhaps a step-daughter only, as she is not listed in the probate docs.
In the probate documents, Elizabeth is listed as “Elizabeth, wife of John Fawcett, of Penrith, North Briton, England”. I found her in the index to the England census records, and also a family tree on Ancestry.com (that no one seems to be maintaining). Elizabeth was born around 1827, so was older than Alice. Elizabeth appears to have married in 1849, and obviously stayed in England when Dorothea came to the US with Mr Dixon and Alice and Sarah.
I found index entries for Elizabeth’s marriage in (Apr – Jun) 1849 and death in Sep 1889 in Penrith, England. My next step is to try to get copies. I have not done that yet. I will probably try the marriage record first, as that will probably be most accurate. Elizabeth is listed as Elizabeth Hudson, so seems that she and Alice had the same father (which I initially wasn’t sure about). I would like to determine whether or not her father’s given name was William (see more below on this).
More interesting info on Elizabeth – The 1851 census shows Elizabeth Fawcett with her husband and infant daughter. She reports that she was born in Burnrigg, Cumberland, England, which is very near Carlisle. Later census records show she was born in Penrith, but I tend to think that the early record is probably the more accurate. Burnrigg appears to be near or a part of Wetheral, another town. I am not sure church-wise if the church records would be Wetheral (?)
Back to Dorothea - With the date of death from the probate document – Sept 5th, 1871 – I again requested a death certificate from the New York City archives (they had previously been unable to find anything). After losing my request and many emails back and forth (they did end up being very helpful), they were able to find a Coroner’s certificate. Here is the pertinent info –
Dorothy Dickson
Age 73 years
Native of England
Address – 217 (can’t read street name), in the 21st ward
Has resided in this city 8 years
Occupation – wife
Father and Mother’s birthplace – England (but no names!)
Died of – (something) of heart
Burial – Evergreen City
I had really hoped the record would show maiden name and names of parents. No luck.
Here is then some speculation/possible –
There is an 1846 marriage certificate of William Dixon and Dorothy Hudson listing Dorothy’s father as John Folking. Marriage at St. Cuthbert’s, Botchergate, Carlisle. This is the only listing in the UK marriage index that seems to fit. Question with this is that (1) she is listed as spinster. Shouldn’t she be listed as “widow”?, and (2) I have tried searching for John Folking and have come up empty. The name Folking doesn’t even seem to be very prevalent. So I am stumped on that.
With the information on Elizabeth, I tried some searches on familysearch.org and came up with the following –
Elisabeth Hudson, christened 24 Dec 1826, Wetheral, Cumberland, England, parents James Hudson and Dorathy Milburn
Could this be them? The date and location are consistent with other information. Could Mr Hudson have been James and not William? Milburn and not Folking as Dorothy’s maiden name? James Hudson and Dorothy Milburn also had other children: Elizabeth (1817 – apparently died as the name was reused) and Thomas (1829). Alice is not listed, but then she was born in Canada, so would not be in the same church records.
If I proceed from this record, I find the following –
Dorothy Milburn married James Hudson 24 Aug 1816 in Wetheral, Cumberland, England
And
Dorothy Milburn christened 5 Mar 1797 in Cumwhitton, Cumberland, England (note that date would make her the right age consistent with the death certificate); mother listed as Alice Milburn (Is Alice Hudson named after Alice Milburn?!)
And
The 1841 England Census shows an Alice Milburn, age 65 (b. 1776) living in Wetheral with husband Thomas (also age 65), and presumedly grandchildren Ann (age 2) and Christiana (age 9).
