Thomas Voce
1840 - 1895
Life History
1840 |
Born in Bickerstaffe, Lancs. |
17th Nov 1875 |
Married Catherine Wharton in Little Crosby. |
5th Sep 1876 |
Birth of daughter Mary Vose in Little Crosby, Lancs. |
24th Jun 1879 |
Birth of daughter Martha Vose in Little Crosby, Lancs. |
7th Feb 1881 |
Birth of son Edward Vose in Little Crosby, Lancs. |
15th Oct 1882 |
Birth of daughter Elizabeth Vose. |
16th Jun 1884 |
Birth of son Thomas Vose. |
6th Jul 1886 |
Birth of daughter Catherine Vose. |
22nd Mar 1888 |
Birth of daughter Ellen Vose. |
26th Apr 1890 |
Birth of son Joseph Vose. |
6th Feb 1895 |
Died. |
Notes
Thomas Voce, was the Little Crosby village blacksmith.
Rumour had it that Thomas was illegitimate (there is no father's name in the marriage certificate) and came from Skelmersdale.
In the 1881 census, Thomas gives his place of birth as Bickerstaffe (2 miles or so from Skelmersdale, the nearest town).
There are at least three Voce families in Bickerstaffe at that time as well as a number of Vose families in the area.
The villagers apparently knew that his father was a man called Fisher, and Thomas was also known as Thomas Fisher-Voce.
In a tree that was sent to my mother (Thomas's grand-daughter), Thomas is recorded as 'Thomas Voce' and his father as 'Joseph Fisher Voce'. His mother in the tree is Martha.
His birth date, in the tree appears to be 28th Dec 1842 though it looks like '1841' is written in above the year - has it been corrected? (See also discussion of the date of birth below). The death date for Thomas in the tree is 6 - 2 1895.
I believe that the birth date in the tree has been derived from the recorded birth of another Thomas Voce, whose birth certificate is appended below.
In the 1841 census, (6th June) in Bickerstaffe
| Isaac Voce | Head | 60 | Farmer |
| Margaret Voce | 45 | ||
| Ellen Voce | 2 | ||
| Martha Voce | 20 | FS | |
| Thomas Voce | 10 months | ||
| and four men, each marked MS - male servant - probably farm hands. | |||
| (None named Fisher) | |||
I believe the above must be our Thomas and his mother Martha.
The rules for the 1841 census were that ages were rounded down to the nearest 5 years – but only if they were older than 15. Anyone younger would show the exact date, so the figure of '10 months' is probably accurate. This would give a date of birth around August, 1840.
No relationships are defined in the 1841 census, so we do not know for example that Martha is Isaac's daughter. Martha might be (probably is) a relative who has been taken in as a servant and/or farmhand with her illegitimate son, Thomas.
In the 1851 census:
Thomas is still in the family in the 1851 census, but unfortunately in that census his relationship to the rest of the family is left blank (image below). It may be that he is Isaac's natural grandson - but not accepted as such by Isaac.
Has Martha died?
| Isaac Voce | Head | 72 | Farmer of 34 Acres, Employing 5 Labs. | b. Lancashire Burscough |
| Margaret Voce | Wife | 57 | b. Lancashire, Ormskirk | |
| Ellen Voce | Daur | 12 | Scholar | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Thomas Voce | 10 | Scholar | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| Wm. Voce | Grandson | 13 | Scholar | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Mary Heyes | Serv | 29 | House Servant | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| and four young men - Farm Labourers. | ||||
In the 1861 census: in Bickerstaffe
| James Merchant (?) | 39 | Blacksmith (Master Employing 2 Men & 3 Boys) | b. Bickerstaffe |
| Thomas Voce | 20 | Blacksmith's Apprentice | b. Bickerstaffe |
The large family of James Merchant is recorded, as well as two other apprentice blacksmiths in the household, aged 14 and 19, and one 'Blacksmith (Journeyman)' aged 29.
In the 1871 census at Woods Farm, in Simonswood:
| Thomas Vose | Boarder | 30 | Blacksmith | b. ditto, ditto |
in the household of Robert Ashcroft, 60, Ag. Labourer.
The 'ditto ditto', above, suggests that, like the 14 or so 'ditto ditto' entries in the Birthplace column before him, he was born in Simonswood. (A similar series of ditto dittos has him born in Little Crosby in the 1891 census.) He was certainly born nearby - Simonswood is only about a mile or two from Bickerstaffe. (See map in Joseph Fisher's page).
The Marriage Certificate
The first certain documentation of Thomas is his marriage certificate.
The two witnesses are both from Catherine's family, a brother and a sister. There are no clues to his family.
From IGI
In the International Genealogical Index there is a record of Thomas's marriage but no details of his parentage.
Husband: Thomas Vose
Wife: Catherine Wharton - Birth: 1853, Little Crosby, Lancashire
Father: Edward Wharton
Marriage: 17 Nov 1875, Little Crosby, Lancashire
Children:
1. Mary Vose - Birth: 05 Sep 1876, Little Crosby, Lancashire
2. Edward Vose - Birth: 07 Feb 1881, Little Crosby, Lancashire
3. Ellen Vose - Birth: 22 Mar 1888, Crosby, Lancashire
In the 1881 census (3rd April) in The Village, Little Crosby.
| Thomas Vose | Head | 39 | Blacksmith | b. Bickerstaffe, Lancashire |
| Catherine Vose | Wife | 28 | b. Little Crosby, Lancashire | |
| Mary Vose | Daughter | 4 | Scholar | b. Little Crosby, Lancashire |
| Martha Vose | Daughter | 1 | b. Little Crosby, Lancashire | |
| Edward Vose | Son | 0 | b. Little Crosby, Lancashire | |
| Martha Williams | Boarder | 8 | Scholar | b. Lpool, Lancashire |
In the 1891 census (5th April) in The Village, Little Crosby.
| Thomas Vose | Head | 51 | Blacksmith | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby |
| Catherine Vose | Wife | 40 | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby | |
| Edward Vose | Son | 10 | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby | |
| Elizabeth Vose | Daughter | 9 | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby | |
| Thomas Vose | Son | 7 | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby | |
| Helen Vose | Daughter | 3 | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby | |
| Joseph Vose | Son | 11 mths | b. Lancashire, Little Crosby |
The Little Crosby Smithy
No 1, Little Crosby Road.
Has a date stone, 1713
No 3, Little Crosby Road.
The attached building:
Smith's Cottage.
(photo source: found during Google search, on Allan Fearon's facebook page)
From freeBMD
Marriage: Dec 1875, Vose, Thomas, West Derby 8b 932
Marriage: Dec 1875, Wharton, Catherine, West Derby 8b 932
Death: Mar 1895, Vose, Thomas, 54, West Derby 8b 466
Other Voce Families in the 1851 census - The Search for Thomas's Family
Martha could be the daughter of one of these families.
In Bickerstaffe: [Apparently living next door to Isaac - above]
| John Voce | Head | 48 | Farmer of 8 Acres | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Margaret Voce | Wife | 45 | b. Lancashire, Aughton | |
| Isaac Voce | Son | 17 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| Ellen Voce | Daur | 14 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| James Voce | Son | 9 | Scholar | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Ann Voce | Daur | 5 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| Elizabeth Voce | Daur | 2 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
In Bickerstaffe:
| Thomas Voce | Head | 42 | Ag. Lab. | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Jane Voce | Wife | 41 | b. Lancashire, Rainford | |
| Mary Voce | Daur | 14 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| Isaac Voce | Son | 12 | Scholar | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Thomas Voce | Son | 9 | Scholar | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| James Voce | Son | 4 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| John Voce | Son | 2 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| Robt Voce | Son | 5 mths | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
At 3, Reynold Street, Everton, Liverpool
| James Voce | Head | 40 | Milk House Keeper | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe |
| Elizabeth Voce | Wife | 38 | b. Lancashire, Bickerstaffe | |
| Isaac Voce | Son | 11 | b. Lancashire, Liverpool | |
| Jane Voce | Daur | 13 | b. Lancashire, Liverpool | |
| Elizabeth Voce | Daur | 6 | b. Lancashire, Liverpool | |
| Edmund Voce | Son | 4 | b. Lancashire, Liverpool | |
| Alice Voce | Daur | 1 | b. Lancashire, Liverpool | |
| Bridget Mooney | Servt. | 29 | House Servant | b. Ireland, Newry |
From freeBMD
While researching Thomas, the only possibly appropriate birth records were:
? Birth: Mar 1842, Voce, Thomas, Ormskirk 21 545 [Certificate below]
? Birth: Sep 1841, Vose, Thomas, Ormskirk 21 521 [Certificate below]
The first of these Thomases was a likely contender, given that in IGI records he has identical birth and death dates to those in the tree sent to Mary Drewry. (It seems likely that the dates were obtained -erroneously- from this IGI record.)
It may be that the birth was not recorded.
Thomas Voce of Bickerstaffe (1841-1895).
From IGI
THOMAS VOCE
Birth: 28 DEC 1841, Bickerstaffe, Lancashire, England
Death: 06 FEB 1895
Father: THOMAS VOCE
Mother: JANE TASKER
Another IGI record gives a birth date of 1842, with no death date, but with the same parents (and shows siblings for Thomas).
The birth certificate for this Thomas Voce shows that the birth was in the closing days of 1841, and registered in 1842. (The GRO entry is for 'Mar 1842', i.e. the first quarter of 1842.)
The 1861 census (7th April) - for the above Thomas Voce - son of Thomas Vose (recorded in the 1851 census above). At first I thought the mother's maiden name was 'Fisher' but on examination it appears to be 'Tasker' as in the IGI record.
| Thomas Voce | Head | 49 | Farmer of 35 Acres | b. Bickerstaffe |
| Jane Voce | 46 | Farmer's wife | b. Rainsford | |
| Ellen Maudsley | Daughter | 27 | Farmer's daughter | b. Bickerstaffe |
| Daniel Maudsley | Son-in-law | 22 | Carter | b. Kirkby |
| Isaac Voce | Son | 22 | Farmer's son | b. Bickerstaffe |
| Thomas Voce | Son | 20 | Farmer's son | b. Bickerstaffe |
and James, 16; John, 14; Robert, 11; and William Voce, 9 - Sons, all b. Bickerstaffe.
Birth: Sep 1841, Vose, Thomas, Ormskirk 21 521
From Little Crosby Marriage Records: ?
1842, Jul-15, Groom: Thomas Vose; Bride: Ann Jump
Witnesses: Henry Vose & Margaret Jameson