John William Hughes in 1911

John William Hughes

From the 1901 census I found out that my great-grandmother's father was called John William Hughes and that she (Catherine Annie Hughes b1897) had two brothers Mathew (b1895) and Zachariah (b1900). He was born in 1872, but he did not know where as the census stated NK - not known. He was married to Margaret Annie Carr (b1871), the daughter of Mathew Carr and Ann Padley. I found out this information after consulting Catherine Annie's birth certificate and the marriage certificate of John William Hughes and Margaret Annie in May 1893.

Also from the marriage certificate I know that John William's father was Zachariah Hughes - I have previously traced the family of who I believe to be the correct Zachariah Hughes here, however, I need to find a birth record that associates John William with Zachariah.

In the 1911 census, I find John William Hughes living at Landsale Cottages (or Landsdale Cottages), Greenside, Ryton-upon-Tyne. The house had 2 rooms and he is still a coal miner/hewer. He is living with a new wife called Elizabeth Hughes (b1881, Dunston), to whom he has been married for 8 years meaning that he married her in 1903. Elizabeth Hughes has had four children, one of whom has died. The three surviving children are Elizabeth (b1902), Winnie (b1904), and John William (b1910). The first two children were born in Dunston and then John William was born in Greenside, Ryton. Therefore, as Zachariah was born to Margaret Ann Carr in 1900, she must have died between 1900-1902. Interestingly, two of John William Hughes' children with his previous wife - Mathew Hughes and Zachariah Hughes - are also living there but Catherine Annie is not.

I found Catherine Annie Hughes living in the same town, Ryton-upon-Tyne at 1 Holborn House in a house that has 4 rooms. She is living with her mother's parents Matthew and Ann Carr and three of her uncles - Matthew, Joseph and John Carr. Strangely, she is described as being a servant rather than a grand-daughter. All of the Carr men are coal hewers. The other interesting information from this census is that Ann Carr (nee Padley) has had 11 children and four have died. Other than Catherine Annie's mother Margaret Annie, I knew that Ann had had 8 other children, so that means that there are 2 further children who likely died in infancy that I do not yet know the names of.

The most useful piece of information here is that I have found out that John William Hughes was born in Consett, Durham in 1872/3.

Zachariah Hughes - still elusive

Introduction
I have been looking for information about Zachariah Hughes for a long time.







I know that my great-great-grandfather John William Hughes' father was called Zacahariah Hughes from JWH's marriage certificate. JWH married on 22 May 1893 in Sunderland, where his father was described as a deceased iron worker. However, as John William did not know his birthplace and Zachariah died young, I've been unable to find a definitive association between John William and Zachariah in very many documents. Nevertheless, I have found one Zachariah Hughes after searching the entire of the North-East of England, whom I believe with a high degree of certainty to be the father of JWH. I have just received the marriage certificate of this Zachariah Hughes.

Zachariah Hughes' Marriage

• On Christmas Day 25th December 1873 at the parish church of St. Paul's, Darlington
  

• Zachariah Hughes, 20 years, bachelor, mill furnaceman, of Lansdowne St, father Joseph Hughes occupation mill furnaceman
  

• Catharine Close, 24 years, spinster, of Zetland St, father William Close, occupation publican

• The witnesses were Gomer Hughes & Elizabeth Jones

What do we learn from this?
1. This marriage is certainly that of the Zachariah Hughes whom I have found previously in the 1861 and 1871 census. Both Gomer and Zachariah Hughes are such unusual names that these must be the same people.

2. This Zachariah Hughes is likely to be the father of John William Hughes. JWH was born in about 1873/4, so this marriage is about the right date. Given this date, the unusual (almost unique) name and that the occupations of JWH's father and this Zachariah match, the balance of probabilities is that this is the right man. However, I still lack that clinching piece of documentary evidence.

3. We learn that Zachariah married Catharine Close and that her father was called William Close.

4. The circumstancial evidence: John William Hughes' children were called Matthew, Catharine and Zachariah. Matthew was the name of John William Hughes' wife's father. It is interesting that Catharine and Zachariah are also the names of who we now believe are his father and mother. Also, John William Hughes' middle name is the same as Catharine Close's father. This is more tantalising evidence that this Zachariah could be the father of John William.


What we still do not know is where Zachariah and Catharine were in 1881, or indeed, whether they lived beyond this. Given that JWH did not know his birthplace it is possible that both of his parents died when he was very young. In which case, who brought him up? and where is he in the 1881 or 1891 censuses? There are still very many unknowns with this family, but we have learned a little bit more about where Zachariah was living in 1873. Darlington would now be a good place to try and find JWH's birth certificate or birth.


Gomer Hughes
It is also very interesting to see Gomer Hughes as a witness to Zachariah's marriage - this would suggest that Zachariah was close to his elder brother, which may be important when trying to find family members who may have raised John William. Unfortunately, I have attempted to trace where Gomer is in the later censuses but have been unable to find him.

Gomer is another unusual first name. In Genesis, Gomer was the eldest son of Japheth one of the three sons of Noah.





According to the genealogies of Genesis, one branch of the descendants of Gomer became the Welsh people. Gomer and Zachariah Hughes were the sons of Josiah/Joseph Hughes who was from Wales - though there are still quite a number of links I need to make to tie-in this family with the pedigree above! Nevertheless, these unusual names could also be helpful in finding out what happened to Zachariah. Given their Old Testament nature, it is possible that the family was very religious and potentially Methodist like a lot of Welsh working class migrants of this period. Methodist records may be somewhere to look for evidence of Gomer, Zachariah and John William.

For the future
This marriage certificate has now enabled me to start searching the family of William Close. It has also confirmed that Zachariah Hughes is the son of Josiah/Joseph Hughes and the brother of Gomer. What I still do not have is the definitive proof that this is the Zachariah Hughes who is the father of John William Hughes - hopefully this will come one day.

The elusive Zachariah Hughes

Every family historian has at least one elusive ancestor. I have several, but I find this chap particularly interesting - and elusive! One reason why he is a source of fascination for me is that the family stories I am aware of describe the Hughes family as quite strict Methodists. I have managed to find out something about John William's later life, but nothing about where he was born - he himself did not know, he says he is born in NK (not known) in the 1901 census. This means that I did not know very much about his early life. I do know, however, that his father is called Zachariah, as this was the name given on John William's marriage certificate - though he had died by this time - 1893. Therefore I have set out to find this Zachariah...


Where to go looking for Zachariah Hughes?
Knowing that Zachariah Hughes existed, I had to think of which records to find him in. I presumed that he lived in the North East of England, either in Northumberland or Durham, as his son, John William Hughes, got married and worked in this area - Whickham to be precise.

1) Church Records:
Perhaps I could find a baptism, marriage or death record for ZH? I have not had time or access to look at every single parish register in this area. It would be wise to start at Whickham and move outwards, probably concentrating on non-conformist registers as family tradition has that they were Methodists. Nevertheless, I looked at two incomplete indexes - the IGI and Durham Records online - to look for a Zac* or Zec* Hughes. As you may imagine, Zachariah is a name that lends itself to many variants. However, I could not find ZH in the Northeast region. The IGI gives 19 matches in England - mainly in Stafford and Worcester. There is also a Zachariah North Hughes from Clapham, Surrey - he began to pop up in a lot of places in my searches.

2) Vital registration records:
Perhaps I would be able to find ZH in the vital registraion records. I have searched the freeBMD index and done a search throug the original records on ancestry. The birth and death indexes drew a blank, however, the marriage index did have one possibility:

Marriage: Zachariah Hughes Dec1873 Darlington Durham Vol 10a, p38. There are two females on the same page - Hannah Spence & Catharine Close - one of these could be his wife. See here for an update.


3) Census records:For a long time I thought that there were no possibilities of any census entry for Zachariah. That was before I learnt to search for Zecariah & Zechariah as an alternative spelling! I have found who I believe to be my ZH in two censuses in 1861 and 1871. He is the only ZH living in NBD or DUR in these two censuses, and significantly disappears in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. An early death of ZH and his wife might explain why John William Hughes did not know his own birthplace.

These census records show that a ZH was living at 41 Consett Terrace in 1861, in Conside & Knitley, a part of Consett, County Durham. He was born in approximately 1854 in Walker, Northumberland. His parents were Josiah (b. 1812, Carmarthenshire) and Eleanor (b. 1817, Gloynoe?, Carmarthenshire) Hughes - Josiah was a 'Rail Mill Furnace Man'. In 1861, ZH was also living with other siblings - Adah, Isaiah, Gomer, Rachel, and Miriam. This appears to be a very religous family, just like the family tradition had.


In 1871, Josiah is now a widower and he and ZH are living with an Ann James, born in Carmarthenshire, who is a house servant. They are living at 363 Consett Terrace, Conside & Knitsley. A large proportion of this community appear to be from South Wales. It seems as if a large community of traveling labourers moved from South Wales to the Northeast. In this census, Josiah says he was born in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. After this census, both Josiah and Zechariah Hughes do not appear anywhere that I can find in future censuses. I need to find further information on this Hughes family and what might have happened to them.


When did Josiah and Eleanor Hughes come to the Northeast?
Assuming that this is the right family - and more evidence is needed to confirm this - it is interesting to find out when Josiah and Eleanor came to the Northeast. Looking at the births of their children from the censuses, it seems as if they lived in Dowlais, Glamorgan (now Merthyr Tydfil) up to 1844, before coming to Consett, County Durham between 1844 and 1847. Between 1847 and 1849 they moved to Walker, Northumberland, before moving back to County Durham by 1861. It has also been possible to find the family earlier in the 1851 census living at 155 Cambrian Row, Longbenton, Walker. Josiah is a 'heater in iron factory' - both Consett and Walker were centres of Iron mining and production in the mid 19th century.

This census also appears to give detailed birthplaces for Josiah and Eleanor - however, I have found them quite difficult to read - so I have magnified them here and if anyone can read them I'd be delighted to hear from you.

I think the top one is "Clydey" - Pembrokeshire, but I'm not sure what the script above the 'pemb' is. This is the birthplace of Josiah Hughes. The bottom one is place in Carmarthenshire and is the birthplace of Eleanor! I haven't yet identified this family in the 1841 Wales census!

As with many lines, I need to uncover extra records to confirm or refute these relationships, but I think that this evidence is encouraging.

Zachariah Hughes

Catherine Annie Hughes' (my gt grandmother) father was John William Hughes born somewhere in the North East in about 1872. I know his father was called Zachariah Hughes, as it is mentioned on his marriage certificate in 1895. However, by this time Zachariah is deceased. It is possible that he died quite early on in John William's life as JW Hughes does not appear to know his birthplace.

I have not managed to find JW Hughes in the 1881 or 1891 census (the name is far too common to isolate the correct entry). I have also not managed yet to find the birth/marriage/death certificates related to Zachariah. Since the name is unusual, I would have thought it might be quite easy to locate Zachariah, but so far it has not been possible.

JW Hughes was a coal hewer, and it is likely that his father was also. Given the use of the name Zachariah, and the family oral tradition, it is also possible that this family was involved in Methodism.

Finally, I have a photo of JW Hughes' younger brother Zachariah Hughes. We think that he served during WW1, so it will be interesting to get his army details

See here for an update on this research

Hughes, Carr, Padley, Young - Northumberland

Catherine Annie Hughes
The above image shows the family tree of Catherine Annie Hughes (known as Kate) - my mother's mother's mother, who was born in 1897 in Walker, Northumberland. I will post more above on what I know of this family at a later juncture, but first here is the outline of the names and dates of the family:

I think it may be useful for people to know how I found out this information. I have done relatively little on this branch of the family. My starting point was finding Catherine Annie Hughes in the 1901 cenus online (Ancestry.co.uk). I knew about Catherine from family, she died around 1975 a couple of years before I was born. We knew she was from the North-East of England and that her family may have been Methodists.


1901 Census image:






I found 'Kate' Hughes aged 4 living at 9 Athol St, Whickham, County Durham with father John William and Margaret Ann Hughes. This census return does not have Catherine's middle name, but refers to her by her familiar name. Her brothers are Mathew and Zachariah, which fit with the religious family. Her mother's younger sister, Mary Carr, is also at the house at this time.

I then got the birth certificate of Catherine Annie, confirming her birthdate and place, and the marriage certificate of her parents. It appears that John William Hughes' father died early as he was deceased by the time of his marriage. JW Hughes also appears not to know where he was born. JW Hughes spent his life moving around the Northeast as a coal miner hewer (picking at the the pit face).

I then used census returns back to 1841 to piece the maternal lines back. All of the information here is using that method. I was able to find Margaret Ann Carr's family from her marriage certificate.


Below is a summary of the female members of the family (click on the links to find out how I found out these relationships):

I have established that Catherine's mother was Margaret Ann Carr, who was born in Crosby or Maryport, Cumberland in 1872 to Matthew Carr and Anne Padley. Indeed, I have found an IGI baptismal entry for 16 Dec 1871 for Crosscanonby (i.e. Crosby) for a Margaret Ann Carr born to Matthew and Ann Carr - The church of Crosscanonby (St.John the Evangelist) is shown in the picture - The village is the site of historic saltpans and an old Roman settlement.

Following the female line, Anne Padley was born in 1854 in Sherburn Hill (or Hetton or Moorsley or Rainton) in County Durham to Joseph Padley and Ann Young. Ann was born in 1824 in Wapping? (or Longbenton) in Northumberland. I do not know her father, but her mother was also called Ann and born in 1796 in Newcastle.

1851 Census, Haswell, County Durham
Showing 'Ann Young' - mother-in-law to Joseph Padly






As someone who is very interested in 'maternal effects', it is very pleasing to have got some good information about my maternal lines - upto my 5xgreat-grandmother. I have not yet visited these areas, but would hope to in the future.

Also, it is interesting to see that the name "Ann" in its various forms has been passed from mother to daughter for 7 generations, just skipping my grandmother:

1)Ann ?, 2)Ann Young, 3)Ann Padley, 4)Margaret Ann Carr, 5)Catherine Annie Hughes, 6)Doreen Wright, 7)Doreen Elsie Anne Hughes - my mother