JC, thank you.

I am a bit out of my depth here in understanding terminology and places because I am not familiar with the way names and naming conventions are used in the U.K.

I look at the U. S. Census records for my great grandfather, and he lists his place of birth as England, his father's place of birth as England and his mother's place of birth as Scotland.

When I used Google to look up Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, it showed a town on the bank of a river opposite Liverpool. So I would certainly describe that as England, even back in the 1850s. However, I'm not familiar enough with English history to know when and how the Isle of Man became part of England.

I'm trying to understand the reasoning that my great grandfather would have listed his mother's birthplace as Scotland and how that relates to describing the name Curphey as a Manx name. In the 1800s or late 1700s, was Isle of Man actually part of Scotland?

I appreciate the information. And I literally got off the phone with my sister who said that she remembers that our great grandfather was said to be from the Liverpool area. Between your info, what my sister says she remembers, the BMD info I found and looking at a map showing Birkenhead opposite Liverpool, it begins to look more and more that the John and Catherine Wattleworth and family are indeed direct ancestors of mine. I hope that someone may be able to fill in more of the puzzle to conclusively say that my great grandfather John Robert Wattleworth is the same person as that listed in the family of John and Catherine Wattleworth, perhaps a notation in a family bible or correspondence between him and relatives.

I'll proceed on the assumption that they are :-)

John Howland