X00377 Richard Rothwell and the discover of Ellen Rothwell

I had posted previously about Richard Rothwell, born about 1855 and the challenge of finding out who his parents were (X00377). One of the noted next actions was to look for birth/baptism records for a Richard Rothwell, born about 1855 in Blackburn, Lancshire.

I could not find any Richard Rothwell baptisms in Blackburn in the years around 1855 and there are no Richard Rothwells in the GRO indexes registered in Blackburn from the years 1853 to 1857. There are some Richard Rothwells born in Haslingden in the time period, which could be possibilities, although none of them are born to a mother with a maiden name of Airey.

So, it would appear that either the name, birthdate and/or birth location are incorrect for Richard Rothwell, or the birth was not registered or not indexed properly. It also seems unlikely that Margaret Airey Rothwell was the mother, given that the date is likely before her marriage with James Rothwell; perhaps Richard was the son of James H.R. Rothwell with another woman (his marriage certificate liss his as a bachelor, so no indication of a previous marriage). Or perhaps the son of one of the other children of Henry and Alice Rothwell.

Current Possibilities:

• Richard Rothwell is the son of James H.R. Rothwell and a woman other than Margaret Airey
• Richard could be the child of an unmarried Rothwell daughter
• There could be an additional child of Henry and Alice Rothwell that I haven't yet discovered

Until I have more definite proof, I've marked Richard as unconnected in my tree until I have definite proof of who the parents might be.

Next steps:

• Continue to look for birth/baptism records for Richard Rothwell - Although there were no Blackburn birth records found, there were a few Richard Rothwells born in Haslingden
• Trace James H.R. Rothwell in later years (X00376)
• Look for Richard Rothwell in later census records, marriage or death records (note that he was alive in 1889)
• Trace other children of Henry and Alice Rothwell to see if that yields anything

On a side note, as I was trying to find a birth registration for Richard Rothwell, I did a search to find other births with the surname of Rothwell and a mother's maiden name of Airey. I did manage to find a birth registration for an Ellen Rothwell, daughter of James Rothwell and Margaret Airey, born 27 December 1857 in Blackburn.

Sadly, Ellen died six months later of congenital phthsis. This does, however give a little bit more information about James Rothwell and Margaret Airey (X00376).

On yet another side note, I did come across another birth record for a William Airey Rothwell, born 29 November 1856 in Haslingden, but the parents were John Rothwell and Elizabeth Airey. Not from the same family, but perhaps a distant connection.

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possibility * not registered * Not registered in blackburn * Indeexed incorrectly