I am very grateful for nearly all my information on the early generations to Alison France and Lynne Hall (they have a web page with a few snippets - I got my data from their older and more detailed page, which I'm calling 'the Swainson web page' in these notes).
Many thanks to another descendant of this line, Sheila Lawson of the Cumbria FHS, for providing me with much of the information on more recent generations.
Catherine (and her husband Jackson) survived into living memory, named on birth certificate of personally known relative, etc. and so is a known ancestor. I have details of her life from GRO birth, marriage and death certificates and her gravestone. Also her child's birth certificate, 1881 and 1901 censuses and an email from Sheila Lawson. Some day I'll get round to detailing which sources give which facts but life seems too short just now. Everything ties together though, eg have several sources for her date and place of birth, which means her birth certificate is solid and so her parentage.
William and Lydia are clearly identified from Catherine's birth (and in William's case marriage) certs. I have them in the 1881 census and I have their marriage, which I think was the only SWAINSON in remotely the right date and place. On that marriage, the 'full age' note is incorrect for both of them. I have information on them and their children from the 1881 and 1901 censuses and from Sheila Lawson.
My information on William's death is from Sheila, and I need to follow it up to the extent of getting his death certificate at least, since I don't have the date or any official record. Also from Sheila is information on William's sister Catherine.
Taylor and Margaret are known to be William's parents from the record of his birth, from being shown as a family in the 1851 and 1861 censuses, and from William's marriage. William's birth record ties in with the censuses for age, place and parents, and with the marriage for father.
Taylor's date and place of birth are as given in censuses (and age at death), so are approximate pending confirmation with a record - for some reason there's no baptism in the IGI.
There's a summary of his life (professional more than family) in his obituary, so I think that's actually worth quoting here. Whitehaven Gazette, 25 February 1897:
DEATH OF MR. TAYLOR SWAINSON.
On Tuesday last, at the residence of his son, at Lamplugh, Mr. Taylor SWAINSON, who was viewer of the Howgill Colliery, Whitehaven, up to the year 1859, died at the age of 78 years. The deceased entered Lord LONSDALE's service in 1832, and was the son of Taylor SWAINSON, his lordship's colliery engineer, who is said to have been the real inventor of the locomotive.
He was first of all engaged in surveying, and whilst surveying he was employed under the celebrated George STEPHENSON in the survey of the Whitehaven Junction and Furness Railways.
In 1847 he succeeded the late Mr. Henry JACKSON in the management of the Howgill Pits. When he left the Whitehaven Colliery in 1859 he went to manage some collieries in Wales. During the past fifteen years he has not been engaged in professional work.
The deceased, who was well known to all old Whitehaven colliers and residents, was an excellent surveyor and draughtsman, and possessed considerable scientific attainments.
Other sources on his life include the IGI entry of his first marriage and the GRO certificate of his second, which between them confirm these two events and Taylor's paternity and a couple of residence points. I note that both bride and groom appear to give the same address (Catherine Street, Whitehaven) at the second marriage - could have been living in sin, and/or she could have been a housekeeper or other household member, or they might have had separate lodgings in the same street.
The children I have names and dates for are from the censuses; I also have information from Sheila Lawson that William was the sixth of eight children. There don't appear to be any children when Taylor is with Mary Ann in 1871, so I infer that all eight are supposed to be Margaret's children and therefore the youngest two must have been born about 1851-53. Sheila Lawson I think said that she did have one in 1853.
Sheila Lawson was my pointer to Taylor's second marriage, but it clearly fits well. She also told me of the family's movements after that - to Wales, and back to Cumberland on retirement. And Taylor's spirit dealer occupation. And the business with his children Taylor and Catherine.
There's also a survey by a Taylor Swainson, probably this one, in Whitehaven record office, indexed here
There is a discussion of the detailed evidence about this Taylor's life (and some major gaps) in his featured individual page. Here, I'll just sketch the key genealogical links.
The identification of the older Taylor SWAINSON as father of the younger is based on the obituary of the younger (above) and the GRO certificate of his second marriage. I do need to find a birth or baptism record for contemporary evidence and to fill in the details. There's nothing in the IGI - look up what gaps there are in its coverage in the relevant time and place. Go to the original records that aren't indexed, if any such are available. The marriage of the older Taylor to Eleanor at St Nicholas Whitehaven in 1805 is from the Swainson web page and isn't on the IGI so there seems a possible gap there.
In fact the name Taylor SWAINSON is so rare on the IGI that it is worth listing all 4 occurrences ever worldwide:
1881 census - 106 Ennerdale Road, Cleator; married head of household; 36; born Whitehaven; clerk at iron ore mines. Brother (born Q4 1845, ?married Q4 1877, died Q2 1915) to my ancestor William, I believe.
1881 census - Bryn Brith, Mold, Wales; married head of household; 62, born Cumberland; certificated colliery manager. My ancestor born 1818.
Baptism - 4 Oct 1761 St Nicholas Whitehaven to John and Ann. My ancestor.
Marriage - 14 Dec 1836 St James Whitehaven to Margaret Craig. My ancestor born 1818 again.
Anyway, the obituary source and the marriage for Taylor the elder are both clear about his occupation, so we can be reasonably sure that the Howgill colliery payroll and the engineering references are him. The payroll gives his age which takes us to the baptism.
The Swainson web page gives a quote from his own obituary, but no internet searches have revealed it online. Could try Whitehaven newspapers in an archive but might be easier to confirm the date of death first.
The baptism of Taylor the elder gives the names of the parents as John and Ann. A few years before that there is a marriage of a John SWAINSON to Ann in the same parish. Since Ann is a TAYLOR I think that ties it up nicely. Apart from that IGI marriage, I don't yet have anything on them other than from the Swainson web page. So here's the starting point for corroborating that.
My source for this generation is also the Swainson web page.
My source for this generation is also the Swainson web page. When I get back here, should be university and clerical records for Rev Richard.
Also, check out this material in Barrow RO relating to PETTY, SWAINSON, etc. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=025-bsuduudul&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18#-1 (do a word search for name Petty and go downwards)
My source for this generation is also the Swainson web page.
If you are interested in this line I'll be pleased to hear from you. Email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com though obviously you edit the email address before you send. Remove everything up to and including the first dot, leaving just my initial, surname and number before the @. Please do not delete the automatically-generated subject line, so that I know your email is not spam. You can add more to the subject if you like but if you delete what appears I may not read your mail.