Information I’ve been able to gather about Richard and Sarah has come purely from working backward from official records. I’ve deliberately resisted adding all the tempting connections that as yet I cannot prove. I’m keen to hear from any distant relatives who could help with evidence? The date of birth for both Richard and Sarah at this time is purely estimated and should not be taken as actual dates of birth.
I have been able to confirm that Richard and Sarah are my ancestors by working from the certificate of death record of my first Australian ancestor, Thoma Moss whose record confirmed Richard Moss and Sarah Stated as his parents and his place of birth Lancashire in England either 1802 or 1803.
Of their children I’ve been able to confirm that they had a daughter Mary Ann Moss born in 1800. Mary Ann Moss’s town of birth was recorded as Warrington, Lancashire. Son Thomas Moss was born in 1803. Son William Moss was born in 1806. A daughter Sarah Moss, date of birth given 1806. It is possible that William and Sarah were twins. We cannot, however, rule out that it was not unusual for siblings to be baptised together if they were close in age. A son Richard Moss died in 1807, date of birth not known. Potentially an infant death? It’s also prudent to note that the dates of birth at this stage are more likely to refer to dates of baptism rather than dates of birth as civil registration of births in England did not commence until 1 July 1837. Thomas, William, and Sarah were all baptised in Manchester.
At least one of the children (Thomas) was baptised at Manchester Cathedral which was formerly known as the Church of St Mary, St Denys, and St George in what was then the growing town of Manchester. It would not become a large city for some decades yet. This is an ‘as the crow flies’ trip of between 16 and 20 miles from Warrington, so a considerable distance for a family to ‘move’ back in the day. This is not to say that people didn’t move about, but the distance might have been a little unusual as families tended to stay together. I can only speculate that this move might have been made by the Moss family as this was also a time of particular upheaval and human movement with the industrial revolution having a considerable impact on the weaving industry in Lancashire. From the 1760s onwards the industrialisation and invention of mechanical looms and spinning equipment forever changed the previous local cottage industry of craftsmen weavers, rapidly transforming Lancashire into a landscape dotted with mills and factories, employing large numbers of Lancastrians in cloth weaving, with higher wages being an incentive to come to the larger towns and work in the mills. Click here for more: Manchester in the 19th c. Emma Griffin
This is not to say that the Moss family were weavers either, just that this was the most predominant form of occupation in Lancashire at this time. It would not be unreasonable to think that this probably may have featured in the Moss family lives as an occupation.
Yews to Eucalypts 