Continuing the stories behind dedications in little books, some of which have no connection at all to me, but I just happen to have them. This first is a mystery. Not to be taken away - So much for the eighth commandment then ! J T Davis, Brompton on Swale, Catterick ~ Born 1892 1st Oct Edith A Hugill April 15th 1894 So that looks fairly straightforward doesn't it ? Ha - I have been tied in knots with these two. I did wonder if they married each other, but find no evidence of it. First Edith - she was the daughter of Moses Hugill who had a thrashing machine and lived at Brompton on Swale. Moses had married Catherine Markham in 1884 and in censuses Catherine had come from Darlington. The Markham family had worked on the railways and Catherine appeared in 1881 at Easby Railway Gate in the household of a Thomas Markham, who in the census was written down as her uncle but I think her was her grandfather. The previous census year she had been in the household of another railway-working relative at Aycliffe in Durham, Thomas Atkinson. Going back the Markham family had come from Hurworth just over the county boundary in County Durham. Edith's father, Moses Hugill, was from a line that went back to Ripon and were farmers. Who was J T Davis ? it is annoying when people assume to use only their initials ! However, this was John Thomas Davis. Not an easy name to research, did it have an added E ? or not ? It depended upon who wrote it down. John Thomas Davis was born in Darlington the son of Thomas Davis a house painter and his wife Elizabeth Annie, who had been born in the parish of Easby. He had a brother Harry. Thomas the painter was an illegitimate son of Jane Davis from Bedale who after a brief time in Wetherby moved to Darlington where Thomas took up painting and his mother married a clay pipe maker called James Richardson. Thomas the painter, having married and had two sons, died in 1904. His widow and the son called Harry went back to Brompton on Swale to live with her parents Henry and Mary Alderson. So, I had theories, none proven, that if Edith A and J T Davis had not married, were they related in some way ? I traced both their families backwards and forwards and have not found any evidence that they were cousins, although both undoubtedly had connections to Brompton on Swale. Were there any other clues in the prayer book? Having written their names and dates of birth in the front they then turned the book upside down and wrote in the back - Edith Annie Hugill April 15th 1904 John Thomas Davis April 15th 1904 Ever Remembered While Asleep. Amen. So I think that they were just two friends whose families were from Brompton on Swale, and they were larking about in Church and defacing the prayer books ! Sadly John Thomas's father died later that year. Had he been sent from Darlington to his Alderson grandparents at Brompton ? By 1911 when his widowed mother and brother were back in Brompton, John Thomas was a horseman on a farm at nearby Skeeby. What happened to Edith Annie Hugill ? There was a possible marriage of one bride with this name in the Stokesley district to a Samuel Roberts in 1913, but I do not know for sure, and why I have it I have NO idea ! This little book I do know about. It is a Book of Common Prayer with Hymns Ancient and Modern. The inscription says "To wish my dear Mother Many Happy returns of her birthday Sep 27th 1906 From her daughter Mary Isabella Crusher". Crusher is an unusual surname, but this belonged to my late father in law's grandmother. And inside it is - - a tiny little Christmas card which is to Dear Henry from Grannie. Isn't that sweet. The Mary Isabella Crusher married on the 25th April 1917 to Herbert Henry Trotter at the Parish Church of Stanwick Saint John. Her mother was Mary Marwood who had married Joseph Crusher as his second wife. They had farmed at Sough Hill near Eppleby and Caldwell. Father in law used to go and look after the Crusher grave at Stanwick once or twice a year, and now we make the pilgrimage to visit a very special and peaceful, sacred spot. The church is not in a village, and unusually the churchyard is almost a circle, denoting an ancient site. The Stanwick fortifications are just over the churchyard wall. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanwick_St_John But I digress - The Crusher family were of those fairly comfortable, solid, farming folk who tilled the soil and can be traced back through the generations as farmers and agricultural labourers. In the 1841 census this line was at Killerby Garths, Headlam, just over the River Tees in County Durham. The last little book I will look at this time was given to me by a lady who lived in Carlton Miniott near Thirsk. She was no relation, I knew her because she went to Chapel. I have no idea why she gave it to me except that she thought I would like it. At the same time she gave me a copy of Wesley's hymns, 1876 words edition. This tiny little book is a joy. It is a birthday book in which there is a calendar and you write in the name of the person whose birthday is on that day. Alongside each date is an illuminated verse from the Bible. The page on the left says "Emma Armstrong 1858. Sarah Armstrong 1858. Emma died 1883 June 1st. Sarah died about 9 o'clock on Tuesday night April 20 1920" The page on the right says " Elizabeth Ann Swales born at Stokesley 1880 (Lillie) Lily. Died June 23rd 1898 at Ayton Banks, Great Ayton" . There are other entries in the book. The family appeared to be in the Stokesley and Great Ayton districts, about which I have only a scant knowledge, but this little book took me on a very interesting journey of research. The entry on the left hand image above indicates that two girls were born in the same year, Emma and Sarah Armstrong, and are next to the date 1st of February. Emma and Sarah's births were registered on the same page of the register in the Stokesley district in the March quarter of 1858. In 1839 there had been a marriage between a William Armstrong and a Margaret Adamson in Stokesley, and in the 1841 census William was a stonemason and they had one baby, Elizabeth. In the 1851 census the family had grown to four children, but Margaret the mother was on her own and her husband was in Guisborough with his parents. Margaret was never consistent with her place of birth but she lived at a place called Tanton Dykes. By 1861 Margaret was at Tanton Dykes, a farmer of 5 acres keeping 9 cows and a widow. Three children were with her including Emma born 1858. But where was Sarah ? If these two girls were twins I never found them in the same household in a census year. In 1861 there was a Sarah Armstrong born 1858 at Tanton Dykes in the household of John and Elizabeth Hallam, grocers of South Side, Stokesley, described as niece. The following year, 1862, widowed Margaret Armstrong remarried to Thomas Moore and in 1871 they were at Tanton with a combination of Moore and Armstrong children, Emma was there but not Sarah. Sarah married in 1879 a man called Jonas Swales. And this is where the story took an unexpected turn. In tracing the family of Jonas Swales the line went straight back to Coverdale, and the Swales family had strong Methodist connections. Jonas Swales was born in 1855 one of the many children of Solomon Swales and Jane Pearson Hutchinson. They married in Coverham in 1837 and had five children in Coverham, they then moved to villages just to the north of Thirsk and had five more, including Jonas. Solomon Swales was born in Coverdale in 1815. Holy Trinity Church, Coverham. The Swales family liked using Old Testament names for their children, and there were many boys called Solomon, Jonah, Jonas, Amos etc girls were Ann, Mary, Elizabeth and the more usual names. So what was the link to the lady in Carlton Miniott ? Jonas Swales and his wife Sarah Armstrong moved around in the Guisborough - Stokesley area and by 1901 had four daughters and one son, whose places of birth indicated they had also lived on the edge of Middlesbrough and over on the coast at Marske by the Sea. The one son was called John Hallam Swales, possibly after the John Hallam who had taken little Sarah in when her mother perhaps could not cope with twins when she was widowed. By 1911 Jonas was farming in Bilsdale near Helmsley. Catching up with people in the early twentieth century is not easy, but John Hallam Swales married in 1918 to Emily Hugill. he and his wife both died in Thirsk in 1967 and 1966 respectively, and it was their daughter who gave me the little birthday book and the copy of Wesley's Hymns. The birthday book has the dates of birth of all the children of Margaret Armstrong, Moore children, Hallams and Swales. So, you just never know what story you can piece together from such small clues. And the most amazing thing is that the lady in Carlton Miniott only ever knew me by my married surname, and I only knew her by her married name, and neither of us ever, ever guessed that our Methodist ancestors came from Coverdale and would have known each other well.
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AuthorThis is where you can share creativity with me. I believe that everyone has something creative within them, and it is a joy to find ways of being creative. Blogging is NEW to me, so here goes ..... Archives
January 2024
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