Ellen Parr of Ormskirk (1815-1845)

or...using photos in researching family history...

According to the death certificate of my great great grandmother, Margaret Wignall (1838-1884), her mother was Ellen Parr. Margaret had left her hometown of Ormskirk, and emigrated to Australia in 1870.

In researching Ellen, our family were lucky to have to some photos left by Margaret's daughter, Ellen Walter (nee Veitch). Some of these photos relate to the Wignall side of the family, which is another story. 

But this post starts with a photo of Peter Newton Halliwell. 


The only clue about who or where this photo came from was a note on the back of the photo, 'Peter Newton Halliwell, mother's cousin' and that it was photographed by D Jones Art Studio, 66 Bold Street, Liverpool.

It took some major improvements to internet databases to finally locate Peter Newton Halliwell, born in 1856, in Rufford, Lancashire, England, the son of William Halliwell, a grocer and miller born in 1826 in Ormskirk, and his wife Mary Newton. I also had photos of William (referred to as mother's uncle) and Mary Halliwell (mother's aunt), amongst the photos, so I figured that I must be on to something, although my further investigations showed that they weren't 'uncle and aunt' but rather William Halliwell would have been a cousin as well.

After establishing that William's wife, Mary was from Lincolnshire, I found William's parents, Richard Halliwell and Alice (nee Parr). They were married on 25 Feb 1824, at St John's Church in Liverpool. Richard was a flour dealer, and Alice was from Ormskirk! Alice was born about 1807. 

Ellen Parr married John Wignall, a baker, in the same church on 10 November 1835, and the witnesses at the wedding were Richard and Alice Halliwell. I concluded that Alice and Ellen were most likely to be sisters. 

After an extensive search mainly on the Lancashire Online Parish Clerk, I decided that Alice must have been the daughter of William Parr and Ann, baptised on 1 Mar 1807, in Ormskirk. I have recently confirmed Alice's father, after finding the will for William Parr, in 1829. The will mentions his wife Ann, and leaves his estate, under 300 pounds, to be shared amongst his children, with 20 pounds to go to his grandson, William Halliwell. William would have been about 3 years old at the time.

William Parr, an auctioneer, also had a daughter, Eleanor, born on 26 June 1815 and baptised on 3 September 1815, in Ormskirk. Ellen Wignall (nee Parr), my 3rd great grandmother, was 29 years old when she died on 29 May 1845. While I have not found conclusive proof that Eleanor Parr and Ellen Wignall and are one and the same, I am satisfied that it is a reasonable conclusion given the evidence above.

A postcript: I have recently been tracing the Parr line further, after visiting the Lancashire Office, and ruling out some Parr families in the Ormskirk area. Tentatively, I am proposing that William is the son of James Parr and Eleanor Philipson, and born in Lathom, near Ormskirk in 1779.