Walter Williams Senior's parents were my Great-Great Grandparents, Daniel and Emma (nee Krinks) Williams.

Williams Family Tree

Daniel Williams was born in Stockport, Cheshire in 1829, seven years before civil registration came into being in the UK. Before he was married, Daniel was living in Lancashire Hill, Heaton Norris, which I believe is on the outskirts of Stockport. His father is recorded as being John Williams, occupation Dresser. For a mad moment I thought he might work in the theatre, but sober research showed that he was much more likely to have been a cloth dresser, a stone dresser, or a flax dresser. Given the location I think it was most likely to be a cloth dresser, which was the person who operated a machine that prepared threads in the textile industry. Interestingly, the poet Robert Burns worked as a flax dresser for a while, but it sounds like it was a very unhealthy job and he quit, presumably to become a poet!

On January 5th 1851, Daniel married twenty-one year-old Emma Krinks at the Orchard Street Chapel in Stockport, which is listed as being a Congregational Dysenters (Dissenters) Chapel on their marriage certificate. The minister was one Absalom Clark, which sounds wonderfully puritanical. Emma had been born in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1830.

Before the marriage, Emma and her parents, John Evans Krinks and Elizabeth Krinks, were living at 44 Churchgate, Stockport, and by the time of the 1851 Census (only two months later), Daniel and Emma were listed as living at that same address with Emma's parents. There is a modern day map of Stockport at the following link - Churchgate is just above the centre of the map and Orchard Street is just round the corner.

Churchgate, Stockport, Cheshire - Map

At the time of their marriage, Daniel was aged twenty-two and already a Master Wheelwright, so presumably he had been apprenticed at an early age. By the time of the 1881 Census, when Daniel was 51, he was employing five men and four boys in his business in Hulme, Manchester, which sounds like a thriving enterprise.

Daniel and Emma's eldest son, John E. R. Williams was born in 1852, while they were still living in Stockport, but by the time their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1856, the family had moved to Hulme, Manchester and were living at 13 Ruby Street by the time of the 1861 Census. The familiy's details are split over two pages in this Census. Daniel is at the bottom of the page on the first link and the rest of the family are on the page of the second link.

Their second son, Samuel was aged one in this Census, but he doesn't appear in the 1871 (when he would have been 11 years old) or in subsequent Censi. This makes me think he might have died before his 11th birthday, but the only record I can find is of a Samuel Williams who died at the age of 15.

Daniel Williams - 1861 Census (1)**
Emma Williams and Children - 1861 Census (2)**

** The census images on this page are displayed with the permission of Ancestry.com.

From the 1871 Census onwards, Daniel and his family lived at 42 Lower Moss Lane, which seems to have been right next door to a commercial Stable.

My Great Grandfather, Walter was born in 1863, Hanna Eliza in 1865, Arthur in 1866, and Emma in 1868. In the 1871 Census Hanna is listed as Eliza Williams and I thought it odd that a family should have an Elizabeth and an Eliza, but that was cleared up on the 1881 Census, which listed Hanna E. Williams, born the same year, so she must have been Hanna Eliza and been called Eliza.

Daniel and Emma Williams - 1871 Census**

Daniel and Emma Williams - 1881 Census "Reprinted by permission. Copyright (c) 1999 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc."

Daniel and Emma Williams - 1891 Census**

Daniel and Emma's eldest son John, became a General Smith. He married Martha Gleave in 1873 and the couple moved next door to Daniel and Emma at 40 Lower Moss Lane, so they appear in the same 1891 Census page. By 1891 they had three daughters, Emma R. (b. 1875), Marian (b. 1878), and Sarah Ellen (b. 1886).

Emma Williams died in 1893 and Daniel in 1903. In the 1901 Census**, Daniel was now a widower, but Hanna Eliza was 36 and still unmarried, and was keeping house for her father and younger brother Arthur, who was listed as being a Striker in a Blacksmiths. He probably was working for his brother John next door, who was listed as a Blacksmith in 1901. John's daughter Emma R. was presumably married, Marion was a calico weaver, and 14-year-old Sarah Ellen was an office clerk at a Printers.

Previous Generation: I have looked unsuccessfully for years for Daniel's parents. I think they are John and Hanna Williams, who lived in Stockport on Prison Street, as recorded in the 1841 Census, but Daniel, who would have been about 11 was not listed as living with them and I can't find him anywhere in that Census. However, I am indebted to a living relative who sent me an obituary of him. Daniel Williams: A Strenuous Life.

Emma's parents were John Evans Krinks and Elizabeth Krinks.