X00385: John Whittle End-of-Line

Much like my analysis for Ellen Ainsworth, I had a further look at the birth information for John Whittle, my 5x great-grandfather and did an analysis of his birth and birth place, based on the records that I have:

Record	Description	Year	Age	Est. Birth Year	Place of Birth
D01531	1841 Census	1841	39	ca 1802	Lancashire
D01630	1851 Census	1851	50	ca 1801	Blackburn
D01609	1861 Census	1861	59	ca 1803	Blackburn
D01173	Marriage Record	1823	N/A	N/A	Blackburn
D09347	Death Record	1868	64	ca 1804	N/A
D09348	Burial Record	1868	64	ca 1804	N/A

Unfortunately, the marriage record gives no information about his age. The burial record, however, lists his father's name as James Whittle.

From the records that I have, however, it does seem clear that the birthplace is Blackburn, Lancashire and that the birth year is somewhere between 1801 and 1804. We also have a father's name to go on - James Whittle. Looking at the baptism records for Blackburn in those years, however, there does not appear to be any obvious candidates, so this will require some further investigation.

X00385 & X00386: John Whittle and Ellen Ainsworth Death information

Having done some research on the Taylor family and found more information about Jane Whittle, my 4x great-grandmother, I'm now looking into finding out more about her parents, John Whittle (X00385) and Ellen Ainsworth (X00386).

I had found the two of them in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 census records, but hadn't found anything beyond that. So I went back to the 1861 census records. Here is the family in the 1861 census, living at 49 Forrest Street, Blackburn, Lancashire [D01609].

So, next, I had a look to see if I could find the couple in the 1871 census. I did manage to find Ellen (Ainsworth) Whittle living with her son Thomas at 48 Ordnance Street, Blackburn [D09345].

In the 1871 census, Ellen Whittle is listed as being a widow, so John Whittle must have died between 1861 and 1871.

So, I had a look at the death records between 1861 and 1871 and found a death record for a John Whittle who died 1 July 1868 in Blackburn [D09347]

There are a number of clues that suggest this is the correct John Whittle. The age, location and profession all match. The informant name of Joseph Whittle is likely their son Joseph Whittle. But most importantly, the address of 49 Forrest Street matches the family's address in the 1861 census. So I'm confident that this is the correct death record for John Whittle.

I next looked into the information for Ellen Ainsworth Whittle. I first had a look for her in the 1881 census but could not find her either alone or living with any of the family members, so it is very likely that she died between 1871 and 1881. I managed to find this death record for an Ellen Whittle who died 3 November 1874 in Blackburn [D09346]:

Like the previous record, the age and location match, and she is listed as being the widow of a John Whittle. But the deciding piece of information is the informant, a Thomas Whittle who resided at 48 Ordnance Street in Blackburn, the same residence that the family was living at in the 1871 census. So, I'm confident that this is also the correct death record.

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Sources:
[D01609] 1861 census of England, Blackburn, Lancashire, folio 127, page 30; digital images(accessed 21 Feb 2025); citing PRO RG 9/3100.

[D09345] 1871 census of England, Blackburn, folio 79, page 32, 146; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.ca (accessed 27 Aug 2025); citing PRO RG 10/4177.

[D09346] England and Wales, death certificate for Ellen Whittle, died 3 November 1874; citing 8e/263/532, Q4 quarter 1874, Blackburn registration district, Blackburn sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

[D09347] England and Wales, death certificate for John Whittle, died 1 July 1868; citing 8e/212/173, Q3 quarter 1868, Blackburn registration district, Blackburn sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.