As I mentioned in my first post, I am stuck at my 3rd great grandfather John Micklethwaite who died in Paddock, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire. This post will detail what I know about him and a brief description of his descendants – a later post will detail possibilities for his ancestry.
The first evidence I have for John is his marriage at Almondbury (near Huddersfield) on 27th Oct 1827 to Hannah Mitchell. They are described as both being resident in “Crosland of this parish” (South Crosland is on the South side of the Colne Valley not far from Paddock)
I have baptism records for 4 children:
- Sam Henry 29 June 1828 Huddersfield
- Daniel 1 August 1830 Paddock
- Allen 13 July 1843 Paddock
- (Frederick William) Mitchell also on 13 July 1843 Paddock
In addition, twins Betty and Charlotte were buried in Paddock in late 1830 just a few weeks old.
The family is shown on the 1841 census living on Johnny Moore’s Hill – John is a woollen cloth weaver (Allen is shown as John – whether he was known as John in 1841 but as Allen in 1843, or whether it is a mistranscription is not known) The family also show on the 1847 rate book, where they are too poor to pay rates.
In 1849 a cholera epidemic hit the area claiming the lives of first Allen, then John. Hannah survived despite the horrific ordeal of lying in bed ill with cholera unable to move, with her dead husband lying beside her. On his death certificate, John was said to be 44 years old.
John’s eldest son Sam Henry, who died in 1883, married Sarah Hoyle in 1851 – Sarah has links to the Singleton family documented on Steve Whitwam’s excellent Colne Valley Site. They had 5 children:
- Allen 1851-1932, married Mary Hannah Wood, 7 children of whom 2 died in World War 1.
- Emma born 1853 married James Barker in 1873 and had 3 children.
- Martha Ann born 1857 and appears to have married in 1878 but as yet I haven’t worked out her husband’s name.
- Sarah Hannah born 1860, appears to have married in 1881
- William born 1863 married Sarah A Lodge in 1886 and had 2 children for whom I’ve found no marriage.
John’s second son Daniel was my great great grandfather – he married Sarah Hetherington from Ossett in 1857 and had 2 children: my great grandfather John who married Sarah Clapham and had 5 children, and Sarah Ann who married Alfred Thorpe and had 4 children.
John’s youngest son Mitchell married Ellen Broadbent in 1862 and they had a child Hetty Ann in 1865 but Mitchell died shortly afterwards. Hetty Ann married William Wallis in 1886 who died in 1893. She then married William Henry Bamforth and had a son William Harold. They emigrated in 1906 to Kamsack in Saskatckewan, Canada. I fould all this out after discovering by chance Hetty Ann’s marriage in Orillia Ontario in 1926, her third, to Charles Alfred Walter – he died in Vancouver, Bristish Columbia in 1948.
As far as I know, I am the only male descendant of John still living – which makes cross-checking DNA tests difficult.
The mystery still remains that I don’t know where John was born, nor who his parents were – I will post some theories another time.
Andy Micklethwaite's Family History Blog 