The Whites 1800-1850

My grandfather's maternal grandparents were John Thomas Wilkes and Eliza Beatrice Evans. John Thomas Wilkes' mother was Susannah Baggott, whose father was Elijah Baggott, and mother Jane White.


I had found that Susannah's parents were called Elijah and Jane Baggott from the 1851-1871 censuses. I would ordinarily have to apply for the marriage certificate of Elijah and Jane, and the birth certificate of Susannah to follow this line. However, thanks to the work of another researcher, Peter Morgalla, I am able to find out a little about Jane. According to an IGI record, her maiden name was Jane White, and her parents are called George and Hannah White. I need to obtain the marriage certificate of Elijah Baggott and Jane White in 1851 to definitively confirm this.

In the 1851-1871 censuses, Susannah's birthplace varies between Rowley, Staffs and Tividale, Worcs. However, the two places are very close - both are sandwiched in between the triangle of Dudley, Tipton and Oldbury as can be seen from this map:
















I was able to find George and Hannah White and family living in 1841 at 'Tividale', Rowley Regis, Staffordshire. George White is described as a boat loader.










In 1851, George White and family are living at Farley St., West Bromwich. George White is a a boatman for a coal mine. George White is described as being born in Oldbury, Staffs, while the other members of family are said to be born in Tividale, Staffs.











In 1861, George and Hannah White and family are living at Cop Hall, West Bromwich, and George White is a miner. George White is said to have been born in Oldbury, Salop, whereas the other children are born in Rowley, Staffs. There is also a Mary A. Baggott, a grand-daughter living here, born in West Bromwich. I presume this must be a second daughter to Elijah and Jane Baggott - who would have been born in 1853, in between Susannah Baggott (my ancestor) and Sarah Baggott.






In 1871, George and Hannah White and family are living in Farley St, West Bromwich, as they were in 1851. Enoch is the only child still living at home, and he and his parents are said to be born in Rowley, Worcs. Mary A. Baggott is still living with her grandparents, and is called a general domestic servant. George White is 66 and is a nightwatchman.






I cannot find George and Hannah White in the 1881 census, so I presume they must have died by this time. Enoch White got married to an Ann Holmes (I believe) by 1873.

See this page, for tenative evidence of George White's baptism and parents.

Baggott - 1100-1850

The grandmother of my great-grandmother Elsie Wilkes was Susannah Baggott, born 1851 to Elijah Baggott and Jane Baggott (nee White). This page concentrates on the Baggott story. I was able to pull together a lot of information about Elijah Baggott myself from online records. However, another researcher, Peter Morgalla has done an awful lot of work on this family before me. Using the IGI, census, other records and a family bible, he has been able to trace the Baggott family back to the 11th Century. I shall initially concentrate on Elijah Baggott and what I was able to find out, and will conclude with Peter's research which is freely available to view on the web starting with this record here. I am very grateful that Peter made this information available online.

Click here for information about Elijah's wife Jane White and her family.



The life and family of Elijah Baggott
I had obtained this information from marriage certificates after finding that she had married Samuel Wilkes and was the mother to John Thomas Wilkes, Elsie's father.








I was able to find Elijah Baggott, a brickmaker, with his family in the 1861 census, living at Pots Lane, Coseley:





In 1871, Elijah is living at Piercy St., West Bromwich. Elijah and Susannah are both working as labourers in the brickyards.





What can be seen from this census is that Elijah and his wife Jane Baggott, had at least 8 children together, but 2 of them (Elijah and Martha) do not seem to have survived infancy.

Another interesting feature of this census is that despite being a brickmaker, Elijah and Jane Baggott appear to have moved around a lot. Indeed, one of the children was born in Wales. It is interesting to speculate why they may have been in Wales at this time, but whatever it only appears to have been a short stay as they were back in the Black Country a year later.

I have been unable to locate Elijah in the 1881 census, however, in 1891 he is living with his son John in Baker St. Both father and son are working as brick burners. He is still here in 1901.

1891 Census:



Having gone forward in time, I was also able to go back to 1851 and find Elijah Baggott with his wife Jane, living in Oldbury Lane, West Bromwich and working as a 'labourer in a brickyard'. I was also able to see from this census, that Elijah had been married before, as he had a daughter Elizabeth born in 1842/3 who would be too old to be Jane's daughter. I was also able to see that Elijah's father was Aaron Baggott, born around 1773 and his mother, Mary Baggott, born around 1879, both in Darlaston. They were lodging with him at the time of this census.








I also managed to find Elijah Baggott living with his parents in Lambeth End, West Bromwich in 1841. Both father and son are called brickmakers. (I'm afraid that this census image is very faint):







Earlier Work on the Baggott Family
As I mentioned, Peter Morgalla had completed a terrific amount of work on this family before me. This can be followed by following this Rootsweb link for Elijah Baggott. In short, Peter has been able to trace back the Baggott line back to Bagot de Arras in the 11th Century. Rather than replicate the work here, I thought I would simply state the direct line of males back to this original Baggott. All the connecting and side branches are also very interesting, but I shall deal with them in the future.

Elijah Baggott b. 9/11/1817 Darlaston, Staffs.
Aaron Baggott b. 2/12/1776 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1741 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 9/9/1704 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1671 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1649 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1610 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 24/11/1580 Darlaston, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1550 Alvchurch, Worcs.
Guye Baggott b.? ?
Sir Lewis Baggott b. 1460 Blithfield, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1427 Blithfield, Staffs.
Richard Baggott b. 1396 Blithfield, Staffs.
Sir John Baggott b. 1364 Blithfield/Littlehay, Staffs.
Ralph Baggott b.1340 Bromley, Staffs.
John Baggott b. 1314 Bromley, Staffs.
John Baggott b.1289 Bromley, Staffs.
Sir William Baggot b.1258 Bromley, Staffs.
Richard Baggott b.1227 Bromley, Staffs.
Sir Hugh Baggott b. 1196 Bromley, Staffs.
Simon Baggott b. 1150 Bromley, Staffs.
William Baggott b. 1130 Bramelle, Staffs.
Harvey Fitz Baggott b. 1086 Bromley, Staffs.
Baggott de Arras b.? ?.

By going to the Rootsweb pages, you will be able to find out a lot more about the individuals above, many of whom achieved great things. The Baggott family is quite remarkable for the numbers of individuals who remained within the Staffordshire area bearing the Baggott name and who are descended from these individuals. Some branches moved down the social scale, like mine, whilst other climbed still further, like Baron Bagot.

Update (1/Jan/2008) - I have noticed that the links originally placed for the Baggott rootsweb files are no longer working. It is still possible to search for them at the Rootsweb site itself. I also note that in this databse, Elijah Baggott's (b.1817) mother is named as Mary Bailey wife of Aaron Baggott. A useful piece of documentary evidence that I should obtain to link my Elijah Baggott into this database would be his marriage certificate either to Elizabeth Sarah Bevan in 1842 or Jane White in 1851.

Elsie Wilkes (The Wilkes 1850-1900)

The Wilkes side (1850-1900):
Click here for a good description of the history of the areas of interest for this family.


Again, all of this information was gained from looking at the online available census records, sending off for the marriage certificates, and monumental inscriptions from Castleford cemetery. My great-uncle Jack, my grandad's brother, was able to show me the original birth-certificate of Polly Wilkes (his mother Elsie's sister) which gave me the names of her parents and enabled me to find them in 1901.

Elsie Wilkes
Elsie Wilkes was the third child of John Thomas and Eliza Wilkes. She was born on the 10^th November 1907. We believe that she was born in Castleford – her parents moving from West Bromwich to Castleford between 1902 and 1907.

Her elder brother was John Thomas Wilkes who was born in 1900 in West Bromwich but died in infancy. Her elder sister was Polly Wilkes who was born on 4^th May 1902 in West Brom, and who married William Haigh in Castleford parish church on 26^th March 1921. Her younger brother, Albert, was born in 1909. We believe this is the Albert Wilkes who was awarded a bravery medal for saving some boys from drowning in a brick pond in Castleford.

Elsie’s father was John Thomas Wilkes and her mother was Eliza Beatrice Evans (see here), who were married in 1899 in West Bromwich.

In 1901 John Thomas was working as a coal miner driver underground living at 68 Walsall Street, West Bromwich and had had his first child, also John Thomas, with his wife Eliza Beatrice (nee Evans). . The houses on Walsall Street have now been partly demolished and the A41 now intersects where it once stood.

In Castleford cemetery, John Thomas Wilkes' grave says that he died in 1916. He was recorded as a miner (deceased) on the marriage certificate of his daughter Polly Wilkes to William Haigh. Sometime after 1916, Eliza Beatrice Wilkes remarried, becoming Eliza Beatrice White, marrying Jack White. His MI in Castleford cemetery says that he died in 1933, Eliza living until 1954.

Prior to 1899, John Thomas Wilkes was living with his parents Samuel and Susannah Wilkes in West Bromwich, to whom he was born in 1878. Before being a coal miner hewer, he also worked as a 'hollaware caster' when he was 13 (in 1891), which I presume was involved a job given to boys involved in the mining process.

The parents of John Thomas Wilkes
His father, Samuel Wilkes was born on 20^th July 1852 to Samuel and Jane Wilkes (nee Cox), and they lived at Wood Lane, West Bromwich. I obtained his birth certificate which showed that his mother was the informant of birth and that she was illiterate (she did not sign her name). His father's occupation was a miner (like nearly everyone else who was living in this part of West Bromwich at this time).

Samuel Wilkes married Susannah Baggott on 19^th May 1872 in West Bromwich. She was three years older than him. Samuel had at least 11 children, although not all of them survived infancy. Susannah Baggott’s family has been researched by someone else See here for more Baggott information.

Baggott and Wilkes are very highly concentrated surnames in the West Midlands area, and it is likely that they have long roots in this area. See here or here for example.

Samuel worked as a coal miner between 1871 and 1901, living at 32 Wood Lane in 1881 and 40 George St. between 1891 and 1901, all in West Bromwich. In 1871 he was living unmarried at home with his parents in the Wednesbury district of West Bromwich. He worked below ground between 1871 and 1891, but in 1901 he was working above ground as a colliery watchman.

Samuel Wilkes in 1871

Samuel Wilkes in 1881
(Wood Lane, West Bromwich)

Samuel Wilkes in 1891 (GeorgeSt, West Brom)
(this census entry was over two pages)

Samuel Wilkes in 1901 (George St, West Brom)

Samuel stayed and worked in West Bromwich, even after his son John Thomas Wilkes had left to Castleford, presumably to find more coal mining work.

Follow these links for more information about Eliza Beatrice Evans (Elsie Wilkes’ mother) and Samuel Wilkes (Elsie’s grandfather).