The Kerfoots and Cowcills

This little piece of research was to look a bit deeper into the the ancestry of Esther Kerfoot, the wife of Willam "Owd Chum" Cowcill of the Nut Inn, Farnworth.


On the 1841 census Esther is living with her husband William Cowcill at the Nut Inn in Farnworth.  William died in 1849, and accordingly we find her on the 1851 census living with her daughter Esther on Chapel Lane, Farnworth.  The census states that she was born in Astley.  In 1852 she remarried to John Ratcliffe, and by 1861 they were still living on Chapel Lane.  She died in 1870 and was buried at St. Johns Farnworth.

It would be useful to find a copy of Esther's second marriage (to John Ratcliffe), because at this date (1852), the marriage entry would presumably confirm her father's name.

I thought that  the most likely marriage for William and Esther was this one, although it says that they are both from Manchester, and this is the only record I've found which records them as being resident there.

William Cowsil & Esther Carfoot - Marriage at Manchester 1816

Looking for a baptism of Esther Carfoot in Astley around Esther's birth date, we find this one at St. Stephen:

Esther Kerfoot - Baptism at Astley 1797

From the parish registers of the same church, we can find out information about Esther's parents and siblings.

James & Hannah Kerfoot of Astley family tree

If we look for James Kerfoot on the 1851 census, we can find him in Tyldesley at Lime Street:-

James Kerfoot 1851 census in Tyldesley

With a bit more digging we can find that Catherine Hatton (or Halton), married first to John Kerfoot, and the couple had several children; Isaac (1816), Mathew (1826), Lee (1830) and Levi (1833).  Their father, John Kerfoot died sometime before 1839, and Catherine remarried to William Cowcill at Wigan, both declared as being from Scholes.  They were living at High Street, Tyldesley in 1841, but William must have died before 1851, when Catherine is again a widow.

There are a few bits of information that don't quite tie up here:

1. James Kerfoot is listed on the 1851 census as the "grandfather" of the head, but in fact they must have meant that he is the grandfather of children in the house, and the father-in-law of Catherine.
2. I've not been able to find a baptism for John, son of James and Hannah Kerfoot to collaborate this, although it seems the most likely explanation.
3. Sarah Kerfoot is listed as the daughter of Catherine, born in 1849, but at that point Catherine had the surname Cowcill.

Note the re-occurrence of the name William Cowcill.  One William Cowcill married to Esther Kerfoot in 1816, and then a different William Cowcill married Catherine Kerfoot in 1839.  I wonder if the two William Cowcills were related to each other?