Victorian Tragedy – part 3 of 3

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

This tragic family story ends, or perhaps starts, with Jonathan Hardy, father of Rebecca Hardy and grandfather of Mary Ann Simmonds.  Strictly speaking, some of this story pre-dates the Victorian Era but it is the Victorian writers Dickens, Hardy and the Brontes who wrote such tragic stories.

Jonathan Hardy was born 8 November 1807 and baptised 24 November 1807, in Upper Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast, the son of William Hardy, a shoemaker, and Mary Chapman. Jonathan was the oldest of at least 5 children and the only son I have found.  His siblings were all baptised in Norwich and I don’t know why his parents were in Upper Sheringham in 1807.

I have not yet found a record of an apprenticeship but Jonathan Hardy was probably apprenticed to a glazier sometime around 1822, when he was fourteen.

In January 1828, Jonathan Hardy was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment larceny, having stotlen a silk scarf from a Mr Joseph Engall of St Augustine’s, Norwich.

In 1830, Jonathan’s daughter Rebecca Hardy was baptised in Norwich and the record indicates that he was a glazier. I have not yet found a record of his marriage to Mary Carr, Rebecca’s mother.  Mary and Rebecca seem to have gone to Whissonset, Norfolk, to stay with Mary’s parents (see my previous post), while Jonathan stayed in Norwich.

On 21 October 1835, Jonathan Hardy was convicted of stealing a glazier’s diamond and sentenced to 7 years transportation.  Glaziers use industrial grade diamonds to cut glass.  After spending sometime on the Leviathan docked in Portsmouth, Jonathan was transferred to the Moffat and sailed to Sydney on 5 May 1836.

Convict indents from the 1830s contain a wealth of information.  Jonathan Hardy, age 29, could read and write.  He was protestant, married with one child and a glazier and painter.  He was 5ft 4.5 inches, so not tall.  His complexion was dark ruddy, hair was dark brown, eyes dark hazel and whiskers carroty.  Perhaps this last trait was passed down the generations, as my father had ginger colouring in his beard.  Jonathan had a cocked nose and scars on the left side of his upper lip, the top of his left little finger and on his left hand.  Maybe his scars were from cuts from working with glass? The indent also mentions his previous conviction.  Interestingly, most of the convicts had past convictions, which doesn’t fit with the myth that people were transported for very petty crimes.

In 1841, Jonathan Hardy married Ellen Walsh in Sydney, NSW.  Jonathan and Ellen had at least two children, Rebecca and Elizabeth.  This is not the only example I have come across of living children’s names being re-used, particularly where one parent is different.  Presumably Rebecca was a family name or had some other special meaning to Jonathan.  Both Australian daughters married in 1859, Rebecca to Donald Starchan and Elizabeth to Michael Murray, and were living on the New South Wales Central Coast in the 1860’s.

I haven’t yet found a death record for Ellen but Jonathan married a third time, to Sarah Gafney, 9 April 1860, at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral Sydney, NSW.  Sarah was an Irish Catholic.  At the time of his marriage, Jonathan was describes and a Painter living at Millers Point.  Jonathan and Sarah had son Jonathan born in 1861. 

In 1863, Jonathan Hardy was listed in the NSW Sands Directory living in Wentworth St, possibly in Parramatta, and working as a glazier and painter.

On Saturday 8 February 1868, Jonathan, his wife Sarah and son Jonathan were visiting their Gosford relatives.  They went out shell collecting and then took a small punt out on the Brisbane Waters.  The boat capsized and all three on board drowned.  The bodies of Jonathan father and son were found the following morning and Sarah a few days later.  They were taken to the house of son-in-law Michael Murray, who lived on the shoreline.  Michael and Donald (Strachan) identified the bodies.  The inquest found that it was an accident. The incident was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald and other newspapers.  And so ends this three part tragedy.

Finally, it is curious that just over a hundred years later, some descendants of Jonathan Hardy migrated to Australia and settled on the NSW Central Coast.

Notes on Lineage: Me > Dad > John Edward Blake > Alice Mary Elliston > Mary Ann Simmonds (AKA Hardy) > Rebecca Hardy > Jonathan Hardy

Victorian Tragedy – part 2 of 3

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.

Researching my ancestor Rebecca Hardy has been like doing a jigsaw puzzle where, first, I had to find the pieces.  I hope I have found the right pieces and put them together correctly.

Following on from the story of Mary Ann Simmonds* in part 1, Rebecca Hardy probably married William Simmonds in 1852, although this is one puzzle piece I haven’t found yet.  William and Rebecca had three daughters born in the Wisbech area of Cambridgeshire, Caroline, Lydia and Susannah.  In the 1861, Census Rebecca, recorded as born in Norwich age 33, and her daughters were living in the Wisbech workhouse in Cambridgeshire.  People ended up in a workhouse when they had no money and no other options.  As stated in Mary Ann’s story, life in work houses was regimented and tough by did provide food, shelter and sometimes work.  William was not living with his family in 1861 and I have yet to find where he was.

By sometime around 1862, the family were all together in Woolwich, Kent, where son Thomas was born, before they moved to Plaistow, Essex.  Rebecca hardy died 18 January 1865, in Plaistow, age 35 years old.  Her causes of death were listed as Jaundice, Partus Prematurus (sic) and Exhaustion, which sounds like complications around a premature birth. I have no record that the child survived.

One other thing to note, as per part 1, the mother’s name on Caroline and Lydia’s birth certificates was given as Rebecca Harding.

So what was Rebecca’s life before she met William Simmonds?  In the 1851 census, Rebecca, recorded as born Norwich aged 22, is listed as being a lodger and concubine living with Ann Taylor, John Briton and William Smith.  Concubine probably indicated living with a man she wasn’t married to, perfectly acceptable in the present, rather than prostitution.  Rebecca had neighbours who were listed as prostitutes in the census.  Based on the order in which her household’s names were listed, I assume she was co-habiting with William Smith, which, as explained in Mary AnnSimmonds’ story, means he is probably also my ancestor.

Anyone good at maths might have noticed that the various ages for Rebecca found in different record so far mentioned don’t all add up.  This is quite common in family history research due to a combination of ignorance (if the person didn’t know), lies and administrative errors. Norfolk Parish Registers have recently been digitised, so I searched for baptisms of Rebecca Hardy and Harding for a period between 1825 and 1835 in the vicinity of Norwich.  Luckily for me, there were very candidates and I was able to narrow it down to one possibility.  Rebecca Hardy was born 12 February 1830 and baptised 27 February 1830, in Norwich St James with Pockthorpe, the daughter of Jonathan Hardy, a glazier and Mary “late” Carr**.

The one complication was that I found a burial for a Rebecca Hardy on 30 Oct 1831, at St Miles Coslany, Norwich, infant.  However, looking at this register infant seems to indicate under one and children aged 1 or older had their age listed.

I had not been able to find my Rebecca Hardy in the 1841 census.  As I couldn’t find a marriage for her parents, I decided to look for a Rebecca Carr instead.  I found Rebecca Carr aged 9, in Whissonset, Norfolk, living with Jonathan and Mary Carr** and some other children.  Jonathan Carr was a Farmer and my guess is that the three minors in the household were all grandchildren.

Having found Rebecca, I then needed to locate Mary Carr.  As for Jonathan Hardy, his story will be told in part 3, except to say that an 1836 record indicates he was married with one child and he was no longer in a position to take care of his family.  Mary Carr, age 22, was buried 24 December 1834 in Whissonset.  I also found burials for Jonathan Carr on 20 November 1845, and Mary Carr on 7 November 1846, both in Whissonset.  This would have left Rebecca an under-aged orphan, so I thought it was likely that she would have ended up in a workhouse.

By some piece of luck, I found an index of Gressenhall Workhouse inmates on a Norfolk Museum website.  Rebecca Hardy of Whissonset was on the list as being “out” or discharged in January 1849.  It also made two references to the Guardians minute books, which happen to be available to browse on Ancestry.com.  On 28 February 1848, Rebecca was brought before the board charged with refractory behaviour, which meant insubordination or violence.

  

She was punished with solitary confinement and to be kept on a bread and water diet for two days the following week.  Then on 22 January 1849, Rebecca Hardy was allowed a sum of 2 pounds on going into service of Mr Stammers of Gressenhall for 12 months.  Presumably after completing her 12 months service, Rebecca made her way to King’s Lynn where she was living in 1851.

While I have found and put together some of the puzzle pieces, there is still more to find.

*I have stuck with one spelling variation for names in this story so as to not confuse the reader, however in the original records I have come across other variants of several names.

**Both Mary Carr’s are listed in some records as Mary Ann, presumably namesakes of Mary Ann Simmonds.

Notes on Lineage: Me > Dad > John Edward Blake > Alice Mary Elliston > Mary Ann Simmonds (AKA Hardy) > Rebecca Hardy

Victorian Tragedy – part 1 of 3

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” is the opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and I think this holds true for family history.  It is more often the sad and bad stories that left records and, I think, make the most interesting reading.  Happy families who lived contentedly in one location for generations didn’t always leave much trace of their lives.  This is not a story of a happy family.

I discovered my ancestor Mary Ann Simmonds* early on in my research but I have only very recently uncovered the full story of her family, which I have decided to cover in three blog entries.  She is of particular interest to me as she was the last ancestor of her generation where I couldn’t find both parents.

Years before the days of digitised records, when the 1881 Census index was published on microfiche, I found a Mary Ann Elliston living with her husband and children in West Ham.  It said she was 24, so born around 1856, and from Lynn, Norfolk.  I rightly assumed that Lynn was King’s Lynn.  Also in the house was her father William Simmonds, born in Lincoln; extended family members in census records are always an exciting find.  However, it took me a while to discover the red herrings.

I was not able to find a likely birth for Mary Ann around 1856 in the registry office indexes.  I did discover that Simmonds is a challenging name to research because of the many spelling variations – y instead of I, an optional d and varied number of m’s.  Also, indexers sometimes transcribe capital S’s as L.

Mary Ann Simmonds married George Elliston 1 February 1874 in West Ham, Essex.  The marriage certificate said she was of full age, which did not fit with the 1881 census index, and listed her father as William Simmonds, which did.

I resolved the issue of Mary Ann’s age after careful checking of the original 1881 census record and by getting a copy of her death certificate.  Mary Ann died 7 Feb 1885 from small pox, aged only about 35, leaving 3 young children, Alice (my great grandmother), George and Walter.  Small pox vaccination was made compulsory in the UK in 1853 for new born children, so Mary Ann had missed out on this by just a couple of years.

Confirming Mary Ann’s age didn’t help me with locating a birth record.

My next step was to search other censuses for Mary Ann and her family.  I haven’t found her in the 1871 census.  I assume she was working as a servant and that the age and place of birth place given were incorrect.  I have come across a few possibilities.  I did find William Simmonds*, a widower from Upwell, Norfolk, living with children Caroline, Lydia, Susanna and Thomas, all younger than Mary Ann.

I was easily able to locate birth certificates for Caroline and Lydia, thanks to their less common names.  The certificates both give their mother’s name as Rebecca Harding.  I have not yet found a marriage certificate for William Simmonds and Rebecca Harding (or any other variation of their names).

It took some imaginative searches, making good use of wildcards and filters, to find Rebecca and her daughters in the 1861 census.  They are listed by their initials only, living in the Wisbech workhouse in Cambridgeshire and the surname indexed as Semmons, although I think it looks like Simmons in the original record.  Mary Ann’s place of birth was given as King’s Lynn.  Wisbech poor law union covered the Norfolk parishes of Upwell and Outwell, the other Simmonds children were born.  A workhouse was where people went when they had no money and no other options.  Life in work houses was regimented and tough by did provide food, shelter and sometimes work.  I have not yet found William Simmonds in the 1861 census.  It is possible that William had moved away to find work, leaving his family in the workhouse until he could support them.  This seems likely given that son/brother Thomas was born around 1862 in Woolwich, Kent.

Some more inventive searching led me to a Rebecca Hardy living in King’s Lynn in 1851.  I have not identified William Simmonds.  I will cover the details of Rebecca’s story in part 2, however the key points from the 1851 census for this story are:

• It was taken on 30 March.
• The household lists Ann Taylor as head with John Briton, William Smith and Rebecca Hardy as lodgers, listed in that order.
• Ann and Rebecca are listed as Concubines.  As far as I can work out, that may have just meant they were living with men they were not married to.  They had neighbours who were listed as prostitutes…

I now knew that Mary Ann must have been born sometime between 30 March 1851 and mid-1852, as her sister Caroline was born in July 1853.  Wondering if Mary Ann might have been illegitimate, I searched for a Hardy or Harding birth certificate.  Mary Ann Hardy was born 7 December 1851 in the Union House, St Margaret’s King Lynn (a workhouse).  As well as finding a birth certificate, I also found a record of the birth in the Norfolk poor law records on Ancestry.com.  Single women often ended up at workhouse hospitals for their lying in (i.e. labour). Readers who are good at maths and biology might have worked out  that Mary Ann was born roughly 9 months after the 1851 census was taken.  This led me to the conclusion that William Smith is the most likely candidate to be her biological father.  Given that Mary Ann was known by her step father’s surname and he lived with her family later in life rather than with any of his younger children, I wonder if Mary Ann had any idea of the circumstances surrounding her birth.

In spite of her difficult early years, my hope is that Mary Ann found happiness during her marriage.

*I have stuck with one spelling variation for names in this story so as to not confuse the reader, however in the original records I have come across other variants of several names.  I have also referred to my ancestor as Mary Ann Simmonds, rather than Hardy, as that is the name she was mostly known by.

Notes on Lineage: Me > Dad > John Edward Blake > Alice Mary Elliston > Mary Ann Simmonds (AKA Hardy)

Common Names

My ancestor Robert Pearson spent much of his life living on his farm in the parish of Kirkland near Penrith, Cumberland, at the base of Cross Fell, the highest peak in the north Pennies.  The area is renowned for thick fogs and the Helm Wind, which makes a shrieking noise and is the only named wind in England.  Thanks to Google street view, I did a virtual tour of Kirkland and I suspect the area has changed little in hundreds of years.  The church appears to be in a field in the middle of no-where and there are a few old farm houses in nearby.  It looks like something out of Wuthering Heights.  But was Robert Pearson’s life lonely and remote?  I think not.  He had 13 children.

Robert Pearson was born about 1766, possibly the son of William Pearson and Sarah Monkhouse who was baptised 24 August 1766 at St Michael’s Appleby in Westmoreland.  I need to do more research to confirm this.  There are several other possible Robert Pearson’s baptised in the area around that time.

My first certain record of Robert is his marriage to Anne Blenkinsop*on 9 August 1793, in the parish of Kirkland near Penrith in what was then Cumberland.  Their first child, John was born early in 1796 and their last child, my ancestor Jane, was born in 1821.  They had five sons and eight daughters.  At least one of the daughters died young, I am not sure about what happened to many of the others; Pearson is a common name and so challenging to research.  Most of the children had common given names too, including an Eliza and an Elizabeth, both living with their parents in 1841.  One daughter had a less common name, Tamar, which might be a helpful clue for further research.  A John Pearson married Tamar Braithwait in 1724, in Kirkland. Also of interested ins their daughter Frances, as this name was passed down the family, as can be seen from the lineage outlined below.

As mentioned, Robert was a farmer.  On his death certificate he was described as a Yeoman, which suggests he owned land rather than leased it.  I don’t know what he farmed but his third son, Joseph Pearson, seems to have inherited the farm.  The 1851 and 1861 censuses say that Joseph was a farmer of 57 acres.

By 1841, Robert Pearson and Ann seem to have retired to Newbiggin, near Dacre, on the other side of Penrith to Kirkland, although the census still lists him as a farmer.  Just to complicate matters, Newbiggin is also the name of a Westmorland parish next to Kirkland.  There are several Newbiggin’s in the area, so it is necessary to be extra careful to make sure I am researching in the right location.

Robert Pearson died 11 December 1845 of natural decay.  His age was given as 80, so my guess is that natural decay is another term for old age.

Robert left a will, but I have not yet obtained a copy of it.  Maybe it will fill in some gaps.  Researching this family is certainly a challenge given the common names.

*or Blenkinship.  There are a lot of variant spellings for this surname.

Notes on lineage: Me > Dad > Helen Frances Ruth Akeroyd > Percy Tomlinson Akeroyd > Frances Elizabeth Tomlinson > Jane Pearson > Robert Pearson

Valentine’s Day: the Diary part two and other stories

I recently read a blog post that asked where the reader’s sixteen great great grandparents came from.  Mine came from seven English counties, two Australian States (then colonies), Scotland and Wales, so were from all over the place.  This led to me to wonder about how these people and my other ancestor couples came to meet and have children.  With Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought it would be nice to share some of the stories I know.

To get into the right mood, here is the oldest wedding photo of direct ancestors that I have – Walter George Charley and Constance Mary Macdonald.  They both lived in the same part of Melbourne, Australia.  A piece of lace from this wedding dress was sewn into a wedding dress worn at a family wedding last year.

I have written before about my great grandfather James JesseBlake who wrote his life story.  He described how he met his future wife, Eliza Todd.  One Sunday morning, James left London to visit a friend in country Kent.  One his way home, he went to a church in Greenwich to have a look.  A church service was just starting so he decided to stay for it.  There was a young lady, Eliza, sitting nearby who couldn’t find the service in the prayer book, so he gave her his book.  After the service, he walked her back to the ladies school where she was a servant.  A couple of weeks later he went back to the same church service in the hope of seeing her again, which he did and he was then also introduced to Eliza’s mistress.  Soon after this, they met each other’s families. They married a few years later.  It is rare to have this much detail about regular people, in most cases the only option is speculation.

I do have some ancestors who were related in some way prior to their marriage and so must have been well known to one another.  I previously told the story of Priscilla Goodyear who married her brother-in-law John Camp Shephard.  A couple with a similar story from the Akeroyd side of the family are George Newsome and widow Hannah Talbot nee Blakeley, married in 1800.  George Newsome was a widower whose previous wife was Hannah’s sister Jane.  At the time of both the Goodyear-Shephard and Newsome-Blakeley marriages were within prohibited degrees of affinity, which means they shouldn’t have been allowed to marry.  Now marrying a sibling in-law is legal in England.  In both cases, the couples were married some distance from where they lived and so would not have been known to the minister who performed the ceremony.

It is not just in-laws who married.  I have at least two sets of first cousins who married, while this seems a bit odd to modern sensibilities, it was not unusual in the past and was never a prohibited degree of relationship under English law.  Oscar Kirby, born in Wales, married his cousin Harriet Partridge, from Gloucestershire, in Stroud registry office in 1878.  They married in the registry office because they were Plymouth Bretheren.

James Rideout and Caroline Bennett were also cousins, both from Tollard Royal in Wiltshire, where they married in 1821.  I have written previously about James and Caroline’s fathers, Ambrose and Jasper, who were literally partners in crime.

Another story that may make for uncomfortable reading is that of Thomas Rowley and Elizabeth Selwyn, parents of Eliza Rowley.  Thomas was an officer in the NSW Corps and travelled to Australia, arriving in February 1792.  On the same ship was a convict Elizabeth Selwyn.  Apparently, the officers got first pick of the convict women.  Thomas and Elizabeth’s first child, Isabella, was born in November 1792, 9 months after they arrived in the colony.  As they stayed together until Thomas’ death in 1806, although they weren’t able to marry, it must have worked out okay.

On a happier note, in my early days of family history research, my grandmother, from Yorkshire, told me about how she met my grandfather, who then lived in Hertford, on a Mediterranean cruise that she had gone on as a twenty-first birthday present from her uncle.  My grandfather gave her a Spanish doll that she still had.  When she told her parents about the doll, they knew it was a serious relationship, at the time well brought up young ladies did not accept gifts from men.  They wouldn’t have met if it not for that cruise.

In many other cases, my ancestors lived in the same village or same corner of London, so probably knew each other growing up.  In some of those cases, they had gotten themselves into situations where they had little choice but to marry when they did, with the first child arriving a little too soon. 

Whatever the situation, most of my ancestors found themselves married for many years, I hope happily, like this ancient couple, Harry Smith and Louisa Jenkins.  I don't know how they met but they were married for 55 years.

My first Australian

As it is Australia Day, I thought I would write about my first Australian ancestor.  Eliza Rowley was born, according to family lore, on 25 Apr 1804, although no baptism record has been found.  Her monumental inscription (see below) suggests that she was born in 1803.   According to an obituary, she was born at Kingston farm, her family’s home, in what is now Newtown in Sydney.  There is still a Kingston Road and a Rowley street there today.

Eliza’s parents were Captain Thomas Rowley, an officer in the NSW Corps, and Elizabeth Selwyn, a convict.  Although Eliza was illegitimate, her father acknowledged her and her four older siblings, Isabella, Thomas, Mary and John, in his will and they all took his name.  There may have been a sixth unacknowledged posthumous child, Henry Rowley. 

Captain Thomas Rowley died in 1806 from consumption and his estate was left in trust to his five named children, so Eliza would never really have known her father.  The estate was mismanaged, in part because the trustees returned to England while the children were still minors.  A court case in 1832 provided a final pay out to four of his children and their spouses.  Isabella died young and her husband made no claim on the estate. Here is a link to the case:

http://www.law.mq.edu.au/research/colonial_case_law/nsw/cases/case_index/1832/doe_dem_harris_v_riley/

Eliza Rowley appears in various early musters and census, living with her mother. They seem to have lived in Newtown, although the family also had land in Burwood and Liverpool, where her older brothers lived.  During her childhood, Eliza would have seen Sydney grow from a garrison town into a small city.  Her family played a role in the growth of the young colony, with her brother John being part of expeditions trying to cross the Blue Mountains to the Western Plains.

On 25 Aug 1826, Eliza Rowley married Henry Sparrow Briggs, whose story was the first that I told.  They married at St John’s Parramatta.  Eliza and Henry had ten children, three of whom died in infancy.  Henry’s story covers some of the family’s experiences.

Eliza lived as a widow for 16 years after the death of her husband in 1866, dying 27 September 1882.  She was still living on the family farm in Newtown, where her son, my ancestor Frederick Henderson Briggs, was a dairyman.  According to an obituary, Eliza died sitting under a pear tree in her backyard, at the house where she was born.  Eliza’s death certificate says that she died of Syncope, which means she passed out from some unspecified cause – Wikipedia suggests a number of possibilities.

Eliza was originally buried in the family vault at Kingston, which was later moved to Waverly Cemetery, Sydney.  Her inscription says Eliza, wife of the above [Henry Sparrow Briggs], died 27 Sep 1882 aged 79 years.

EDIT (26 August 2021):  My and other descendants DNA results strongly suggest that Eliza Rowley's biological father was Simeon Lord and not Thomas Rowley.

Notes on lineage: Me > Mum > Daphne Madge Smith > Esther Ilma Lees > Fanny Sarah Eliza Briggs > Frederick Henderson Briggs > Eliza Rowley

An Innkeeper’s Daughter

Jane Grimshw Spedding was born 28 Feb 1789 in Batley, Yorkshire; the ninth of eleven children of Charles Spedding and Mary Ellis.  She was on the only one of the children to be given a middle name.  At the time in England, middle names were not common and in fact, based on my family history research, were not common until the mid-1800s.  My assumption is that Grimshaw is a family name and that in 1789 there was a reason to commemorate it.  I haven’t yet found definite Grimshaw ancestry but her grandmother, and mother of Mary Ellis, may have been Sarah Grimshaw.  More research is needed to be certain as Ellis is a common surname.

Jane was baptised 8 Mar 1789 in Batley parish church.  At the time, along with some other parishes in Yorkshire, that church used Dade registers.  Dade registers have the advantage of recording a lot of information that wasn’t normally recorded, such as Jane’s date of birth and the names of her grandfathers, Robert Spedding and John Ellis.  This is very useful for proving links between generations.  The short time of about a week between birth and baptism is thought to have been the norm at a time of high infant mortality.

During Jane Grimshaw Spedding’s lifetime, Batley changed from a small community of farmers and weavers into an industrial town, quadrupling in size.  Jane’s family were well off.  Her father was a butcher and innkeeper who was leader in the local community, taking on such roles as church warden and overseer of the poor.  The inn was the “Bull and Butcher” and in 1801 the family lived there.

Another sign of the status of Jane’s family was her marriage by licence on 12 Jul 1809, Batley, to John Akeroyd.  I don’t know why they got married by licence but there are a few possible reasons: John was illegitimate, so it is possible that Jane’s family didn’t approve of him; they came from different parishes, so there may have been an issue with calling banns or it may just have been a status symbol for Jane’s family.  Jane was not pregnant, another reason for a licence.  Her first child was born a respectable ten months after the wedding.  One odd thing about the licence is that Jane is sworn to be aged twenty-one and upwards but she was actually only twenty.  It is possible she didn’t know her exact age.

John Akeroyd was a farmer from Wragby and may be worthy of his own story being told at some point.  When John and Jane married, he may have been responsible for his two young and recently orphaned half-siblings, Mary and Robert Bennington.  So Jane probably became an instant mother, as well as wife.  Between 1810 and 1821, Jane and John had six children born in Ryhill, near Wragby, where John was a farmer.

The family then moved to Batley, and had four more children, including my ancestor Abraham Akeroyd, born in 1827.  The move to Batley took place a couple of years after Jane’s father Charles died in 1819.  Following the move, John took over the “Bull and Butcher”, although he also continued as a farmer.

Sadly, in 1839, John Akeroyd died of Cholera.  He left his farm to his “dear wife Jane”.  From the names listed in the will, it appears that two of his children died before it was written.

In the 1841 and 1851 censuses, Jane Akeroyd is listed as a farmer and in 1851 she had 12 acres.  I wonder whether she kept running the family farm through choice or necessity.  Jane had grown up sons in 1839 who could have joined the family business but they also had their own jobs.

Jane died in 1855 and was buried in Batley churchyard.   Abraham Akeroyd named his daughter born in 1856 Jane Grimshaw Akeroyd, in tribute to his mother.

Notes on lineage: Me > Dad > Helen Francis Ruth Akeroyd > Percy Tomlinson Akeroyd > Frederick William Akeroyd > Abraham Akeroyd > Jane Grimshaw Spedding