LANCSGEN-L Archives

Archiver > LANCSGEN > 2005-05 > 1116416184


From: "Patricia Copeland" <>
Subject: RE: "Barnardo's Pkg." LEWIS & CORKILL
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 07:36:24 -0400
In-Reply-To: <022c01c55ad1$87a61380$64b5fea9@hsd1.ma.comcast.net>


Good morning Betty.

Are you familiar with the Canadian National Archives site for British Home
Children? Here is the url. If you search their data base you will find a
Stanley Lewis and a Mary Corkill.

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/02011003_e.html


Best wishes,


Pat (sthrn Ont. Canada)


-----Original Message-----
From: Betty [mailto:]
Sent: May 17, 2005 7:14 AM
To:
Subject: "Barnardo's Pkg." LEWIS & CORKILL

Hello,

After much procrastination and excuses, etc., I finally sent away to
Barnardo's After-Care Centre for the records for my great-grandparents.
I was QUITE surprised to receive my package in the mail yesterday, less than
2 weeks after mailing them a check.

Unfortunately, they sent me very little information, and they say there were
no photographs or correspondence from/to the children. (Involves the
1870's in Liverpool.)
There was a note offering information on the children's personality and
there was a note on when they went into care, and that was about it.
However, included was mention of a relative of each child with their address
at that time:

"Stanley" LEWIS's uncle was said to have been:
William LEWIS
40 Sandstone? Road
Green Lane, Old Swan

(I am not familiar with this place.)

Mary CORKILL's uncle was said to have been:

John CORKILL
35 Beaufort Street
off Toxteth Park

Also included in the Xerox copy of two handwritten notes is a description of
the personality and situation of each child:

There is a day/month notation, but no year. But, if Stanley was Age 14,
it would have been dated ~1874 - the year he was "shipped to Canada."

Stanley LEWIS: An orphan.* Educated in Bluecoat School. The uncle
who brought him here has nine children of his own. Stanley is a gentle,
rather weak boy more like twelve than fourteen.

There is a day/month notation, but no year. But, she was "shipped to
Canada" in the summer of 1875:

Mary Elizabeth CORKILL: Mother died 2 years ago of dropsy. Father is a
Quarter Master** on board a ship bound for the Coast of Africa. Mary was
in this Home for
18 weeks last year, but was dismissed on account of bad temper. Mrs. BIRT
has consented to give her another chance on her promising to do better and
out of consideration for her destitute and delicate condition. (She had
fever twice.) She has 2 brothers and 2 sisters in Nova Scotia already,
who are doing remarkably well. Can neither read nor write.


My comments:

* I did not know that Stanley was an orphan when he went into the Liverpool
Sheltering Homes. I had known his father had died several years before,
but his mother had placed him in the Blue Coat School. (His mother must
have died between 1871-1874.)

** I am not familiar with the terms associated with .. ships, etc. I had
known that Evan CORKILL was possibly a Master Mariner, but I had "assumed"
that, if he had lost his wife in 1873, that he would have been the one to
place his children in the Liverpool Sheltering Homes. Now it seems as if
the children went to live with their uncle.

I am surprised at the comments about their personalities. Stanley LEWIS
went on to be owner and Editor of two, independent newspapers in Stoneham,
MA, USA. So, he must have gotten over his shyness / weakness / "young"
personality. And, Mary CORKILL married him, probably being illiterate.
(And, because theirs was not a totally happy family (13 children in MA),
and, because of the personalities of my grandfather and father, I had
"assumed" that my great-grandfather was the "taskmaster" in the family.
Now, I see that my great-grandmother could very easily have "ruled the
roost.") :o)
(I have photos of the family when the children were growing; you cannot
tell the personalities by these formal photos.) :o(

I am offering this information in case anyone needs "a push" to request
records from Barnardo's. And, I am wondering if anyone could offer
further information about the two uncles who took in these children.

I was VERY much hoping that there would be information on whether Stanley
had a younger sibling (possibly sister), and there is NO comment on that at
all.

I was VERY much hoping that there would be information as to whether the
Mariner, Evan CORKILL, remained in contact with his children after they were
"shipped to Canada."

But, now I can HOPE that both Stanley and Mary kept in contact with their
respective uncles.

Hope this is interesting to someone, or that it might help someone.


Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA)


(The 5 CORKILL siblings "might" have had an older brother, Evan CORKILL,
also living in Toxteth Park. The father, Evan CORKILL, did remarry
several years later - to another Elizabeth (UPTON) from Wales. His
first wife was Elizabeth QUAYLE from Whitehaven. Evan was from the Isle
of Man. His first marriage was in Liverpool.)

(John "Stanley" LEWIS's parents were John LEWIS and Isabella BURROUGHS -
from Shropshire and Cheshire. But, they married in Liverpool.)

______________________________


This thread: