Welcome to the Cheshire PICKERING FAMILY HISTORY Puzzle

“By the 1880s four generations of the Pickering family had dominated the industrial sector of Frodsham Bridge, Cheshire, in corn milling, salt manufacture and trade in coal, lime and tiles. Through marriage they were connected to the cream of Frodsham society and also to the wealthy Steffens family in the early 1800’s. Since the Pickering family was heavily invested in dozens of corn mills in Cheshire, it was an obvious choice to marry into the wealthy corn merchants of Danzig and Muggau, Prussia.”

[Source article: Sue Lorimer and Heather Powling, Frodsham, UK https://www.facebook.com/frodshamhistory]

The majority of the research of this website begun over 40 years ago when I interviewed my Great Aunt, Louisa [1897-1979] in a Philadelphia, PA nursing home just months before she passed. Her grandfather (my 2x’s Great Grandfather) was Charles William Harrison Pickering of Frodsham and her grandmother’s stories of the courts and her life as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria had me and my sisters glued to her every word. But, if not for my many cousins around the world, this story would not be nearly as interesting. I want to thank and acknowledge all of your generosity in providing essential clues so that I could create this website and write the stories of our ancestors.

The last two children of John Pickering (1744-1814) and Mary Harrison were, William (my ancestor) and his younger brother Peter. They married two sisters, Carolina and Emilia Steffens, daughters of Danzig merchant Carl Steffens.”

But, let’s start this story a bit earlier than the 1800’s. According to a hand-drawn map of 1652 Crowton, there were several Pickering family settled with land near Pickerings O’ the Boat on the river Weaver. With the help of a wonderful Cheshire, England genealogy researcher and storyteller, John P. Birchall, along with cousins from all corners of the globe, and my own personal research, I was able to assemble some of the pieces and parts of a very complicated jigsaw puzzle of my very earlier ancestors. But the challenge (and the fun) of playing with the puzzle pieces has never faded over time. And the challenge of writing our story invigorates me.

I began my research by using the dates from a handed-down handwritten family tree and tried to correlate the dates with the Cheshire birth records, which show that in 1693, in Weaverham, Crowton, St. Mary Parish Christening there were two John Pickerings baptised in the same year! But the parish records clearly indicate that John Pickering was the father of John, christened 25 July 1693. So, my assumption is that the handwritten family tree has the wrong father of John (1693).

(1) “Joannos filius Joannis (John, son of John) Pickering do Crowton” christened 25 July 1693
St. Mary Parish Records:(2) “Joannes filius Petri  (John, son of Peter) Pickering do Crowton” christened 27 Nov 1693

But, which John Pickering was my ancestor?  There are other possibilities. According to the handwritten family tree, John was either born or christened in November, 1693 and his father was Thomas, who was alive in 1695. Both the names Thomas and Peter run through my family names. Through the early christening records of the parish of Frodsham, I found this record of a Richard Pickering of Crowton with two sons: Jonathan and Thomas. I’m positive that my family was from Crowton and Norley, but the name of Richard does not run among our family names. But, the Thomas born of Richard of Crowton and baptized on 10 Oct 1672 in Weaverham, fits the possible age and location to be the father of John [1693]. This Thomas would have been 21 years old when John of 1693 was born:

Richard Pickering of Crowton, Weaverham (d: bef. 1682)
………….. [son] Jonathan Pickering, c: 17 Mar 1669, Weaverham, Cheshire
………….. [son] Thomas Pickering, c: 10 Oct 1672, Norley, Weaverham, Cheshire