There is a degree of ambiguity surrounding our particular “Daykin” lineage and we must not be confused with our nobler cousins whose pedigrees are well documented and as such easily traced. We must initially concentrate our research on a more proletarian ancestry, although at some point in the distant past we must all share a common ancestry with those families of a more eminent pedigree, even if disinherited at some point. There may possibly be a bloodline as yet undiscovered that ultimately corroborates our heritage, but until such time we must be content with tracing our families through the transcripts from various Ilkeston churches.
I have begun my particular “Daykin” lineage with the family of Samuel (born c. 1784), which is documented in church manuscripts from Ilkeston St. Mary’s and Kirk Hallam All Saints, and as such the information can be assumed to be correct and as far as possible errors are avoided. It is from these sources and various web sites on the social media that the details of subsequent generations has been traced up until the introduction of certification of births, deaths and marriages in 1837 and the UK census’s in 1841.
Prior to the birth of Samuel Daykin, the reliance on church manuscripts is unavoidable and difficult due to the proliferation of similar Christian names, miss-spelt surnames, misinterpretation of facts through illiteracy, illegitimacy, vague ages, and failures to register births in the first instance.
Samuel Daykin’s baptism records state… “Of Joseph and Catherine”…so after sifting through the church records and the elimination of possibilities I believe that Samuel’s parents are Joseph Dakin (Bapt. 29/3/1741) and Catherine Meakin (Bapt. 1/5/1737), who married at Ilkeston St. Mary’s on 15/5/1763.
Following a further search of Ilkeston St. Mary’s church records, Joseph Dakin was baptised on the 29/3/1741… “Of George and Elizabeth”… and so according to the church transcripts I believe that Joseph’s parents are George Dakin (Bapt. 10/5/1697) who married Elizabeth Straw on the 21st of November 1718 at Ilkeston St. Mary’s.
Joseph and Catherine Daykin’s (nee Meakin) children as well as George and Elizabeth Dakin’s (nee Straw) children, according to church manuscripts, have been entered onto the family tree with all subsequent documentary evidence of their lives from “oldilkeston.co.uk” and other sources added.
George Dakin (1697-1759?) was (possibly) baptised on 10/5/1697 as… “George Dakin Jnr. to Saml. Dakin Jnr. at Taddington and Priestcliffe Derbyshire (Ref. CO4114-0, 1752223, it 11j 1697), but no mother’s name was given. George Dakin married Elizabeth Straw at Ilkeston St. Mary’s Church on 21/11/1718, and according to the church transcripts… “Both of this parish”…
There is a record of a George Daykin being buried in St. Mary’s Ilkeston on 5/2/1759; other than these two pieces of information the true identity of George Dakin remains a subject of conjecture.
Joseph Dakin (1741-1817?) was baptised on the 29/3/1741… “Of George and Elizabeth”… at Ilkeston St. Mary’s and buried there on 8/2/1817. Joseph’s parents are suspected of being George Dakin and Elizabeth Straw.
Samuel Daykin(4/1784 – Dec. Q. 1840) was born in Ilkeston Derbyshire in April 1784, the youngest of seven children born to Joseph and Catherine Dakin (nee Meakin). He was baptised on the 16th April 1784 at Ilkeston St. Mary’s Church… “Of Joseph and Catherine”…
The only documentary evidence relating to Samuel’s life apart from his baptism is the church records of his marriage and the subsequent birth of his children. Samuel was married to Sarah Birch on the 5th November 1804 at All Saints Church in Kirk Hallam, according to the church transcripts … “DAYKIN. Samuel of Ilkeston = BIRCH. Sarah of this parish”… The marriage ceremony was performed by Richard Thornteed and witnessed by ? Birch and Robert Evans. (Ref. UK Parish Register file no. 6612 notes 2 & F.S. b. M05543-2; f. 4810672; BQMJQO).
Sarah Birch was the youngest of five known children born to Richard and Elizabeth Birch (nee Beardsley) and was baptised at Ilkeston St. Mary’s Church on the 10th of March 1782 … “BIRCH. Sarah of Richard and Elizabeth”…
Samuel and Sarah Daykin (nee Birch) had three known children, a son called Richard (born 1807) and two daughters, Elizabeth (born 1805) and Julia (born 1809).
There are no census records relating to Samuel Daykin as he died in the December quarter of 1840 (Ref. Basford 15 320) before the first UK census was taken on June 6th 1841, so we have no idea of where he actually lived, or with whom, although according to the website “www.oldilkeston.co.uk” he was a lacemaker by profession.
Samuel’s widow, Sarah Dakin (nee Birch) is, however listed on the 1841 census for Kirk Hallam, as a 55-year-old Schoolmistress living with her youngest daughter Julia, a 30-year-old Deputy Schoolmistress as lodgers (presumably) in the home of Sarah’s late younger sister Elizabeth’s widower, Benjamin Hollingsworth, a 50-year-old Carpenter by trade.
Sarah Dakin (nee Birch) died in September 1844 (Ref Shardlow 19 347), age 63 and was buried at Kirk Hallam on September 24th 1844 (according to www.oldilkeston records on 2/3/2014).
All subsequent generations of “Daykin’s”, from Samuel’s son Richard’s family had a male family member who bore the “Birch” surname as a Christian name, usually in conjunction with “Richard”, thus continuing the family connections in the form of a “Richard Birch Daykin” being baptised in each generations and at times in more than one sibling’s family throughout the 19th and 20th century’s.
