Cornelius Curley - 1911 census

I have just found out about the early release of the 1911 census. I thought that I would get what information I could from it, as my writing up of my older genealogy information is on the back burner. I'm not sure why clicking on the census images doesn't make them bigger - i'm working on that.

I have found my grandfather Cornelius Curley (b1905) living in Birmingham in the 1911 census

with his younger brother John Thomas (b1907-8?) and sister Doris Mary (b 1909). At least 9 more sons were born to their parents (Thomas Curley and Mary Driscoll) after this date - at least that I'm aware of. I also believe an elder sister, Mary was born in around 1906-7 but did not survive. The background to the family is here and here [or just to click on the CURLEY tab on the sidebar to get all relevant info].

To shed extra light on how many children Thomas and Mary had, this census has three columns that state: 1) number of children born alive, 2) number of children still living, 3) number of children who have died. Thomas entered '3' for all 3 columns and then appeared to cross out the last one for the number who died. Meanwhile, it appears that the enumorator has drawn an arrow from the '6' in the column of "number of years of marriage" into the cell that has "number of children born alive". Unfortunately, this muddies the waters - did Thomas and Mary have 6 children in 6 years of marriage and only 3 survived until 1911? did they have 4 children and only Mary died (as I had previously believed), or did they only have 3 and all survived? I don't know the answer to this yet.

The occupation of Thomas is given as a cycle polisher as per the birth certificate of Doris Curley in November 1909 on this birth certificate. Mary is additionally described here as being employed in domestic work.

Interesting information is given about where they were living - they are at 22 Tennant Street, Birmingham, and their house has apparently 3 rooms in total. This information is signed by Thomas Curley. In November 1909 they had been living at 7 Back 88 Bishopsgate Street, but it was not uncommon for poor people like the Curleys to move around and anyway Tennant Street comes off of Bishopsgate Street (Tennant Street runs parallel with Broad Street in the middle of Birmingham).

Here is a picture of Thomas and Mary Curley with several of their children. Cornelius in standing on the top row, second from the left. 3rd and 4th from the left are John and Doris.

This is interesting extra information - though the major steps in the Curley research would be for me to fill in a lot of gaps - e.g. I can't find Thomas Curley in the 1901 census, and I have not yet gotten any church records for the Curley family.

new posts coming

Hello all. This website attracts a surprisingly large amount of traffic. Unfortunately, other commitments have meant that I haven't been able to do any updating. I'm still about five years behind in putting online what I've already researched about mine and my wife's family history. At least I have enough material for a while. I'm going to try and put together some newer posts over the next couple of months. In the meantime, I thought I'd simply list here some names that I shall be looking at in those posts - then people who search for these names will find this site and be interested.

My Yorkshire genealogy: I'll be going into more detail about my BENSON, GARBUTT, GOWLAND, SMURFITT, MAWLAM ancestry. That's mainly around YORK, NORTH RIDING OF YORKSHIRE, KIRKBY WHARFE, & KILBURN.

My wife's genealogy: This will take longer but will include - CHAMPAGNE, LANDRY, BLANCH, TORBORG, SCHROEDER/SCHRODER, DRECKMANN/DREKMANN.... amongst many others, covering MINNESOTA (RICHMOND COUNTY), SASKATCHEWAN (HUMBOLDT & MUENSTER), QUEBEC (MONTREAL), SAINT PIERRE ET MIQUELON, NEW BRUNSWICK (WESTMORLAND COUNTY), FRANCE (NORMANDY, BASQUE, AIX), GERMANY (HANNOVER).... and several others I can't think of just yet!


Hoepfully at least some of this I'll get to in 2009

Pictures of the Hughes family

Here are some pictures that I recently found of who we believe are Morris Hughes and Mary Gray - my grandfather's great-grandparents. Morris was born in February 1856 in Bilston, Staffs and married Mary Gray in October 1881 in Castleford. Mary was born in Cawood, near York in 1862. I had previously believed that Morris and Mary had had 9 children (David, Jane, Mary Ellen, Charles, Morris, Harriett, Elizabeth, Laura, and another Morris). This information was gleaned mainly from census records, with the last one available being the 1901 (where Morris was aged 1). Recently, however, a relative has been in touch to let me know that her grandmother was an even younger daughter of Morris Hughes and Mary Gray - Eveline who was born in 1903. My great-great-grandfather was David, who was the eldest child.

I don't know when or where these pictures were taken, but they appear to be taken at least after 1906 as Morris seems to be at least 50.



















Here is a picture of my grandfather's grandfather David Hughes who was born in 1882 in Whitwood. Here he is in his WW1 uniform. He was in the KOYLI (King's Own Light Infantryman) regiment.

Who witnessed the Wrights and why ?

Background
In the last post, I discussed searching for the baptism of my 4xgreat-grandfather John Wright in 1804. His place of birth as given by the census was 'Dringhouses', which covers 3 different adjoining parishes on the Southwest corner of the City of York. I am quite confident that I have found the correct entry - a John Wright son of Thomas Wright. This is based on it being the only baptism of a John Wright at the right time in the parish that I knew John to live in (Holy Trinity Micklegate). However, as the marriage entry for John Wright to Ann Calvert in 1829 did not give the name of his father, I want to have another record to link John Wright to Thomas Wright to be completely satisfied.


Did Thomas Wright live until 1841?
What I ideally would be able to do is find some record that has John Wright and his wife Ann Calvert, that link directly to Thomas Wright', or at least the other children that Thomas had. I suggested in the last post that perhaps the banns would help here. As I don't have access to that yet I thought about other possible routes. One thing I thought about was whether I could find Thomas Wright in the 1841 census. If he had lived until then, he would be at least 66 (his first child Jane was born in 1793 so his earliest possible birthdate would be 1775). There would therefore be a good chance that he would not be alive, but I thought it would be worth a try. Therefore I searched for "THOMAS WRIGHT" "Born 1765 +/- 10 years". I gave a wide margin for the date of birth due to the unreliability of ages in the 1841 census, and the possibility that Thomas didn't marry and have his first child until his late twenties. Using this criteria there were 15 Thomas Wrights born between these dates living in Yorkshire in 1841, and one living in Holy Trinity Micklegate! As there were no other Thomas Wrights living in any other York parish, I think there is a good chance that this is the Thomas Wright assuming he lived until 1841! A good test of this would be to search the burial records in the parish to see if Thomas did die between 1810 (the last time I have a definitive record for Thomas, at the baptism of his son James) and 1841.

The Thomas Wright I found was aged 77, which is a little older than I anticipated, but also suspicious as people were not meant to write the exact age only put their age down to the nearest '0' or '5'. Thomas is living with a Sarah Wright aged 75. Now, I already know that the Thomas Wright I am researching was married at least twice (to Ann Shaw on 12/2/1793 in Acomb and to Jane Morris between 1796-1799 at some place unknown). I think he may have also remarried to another Ann between 1810-1813, based on finding a baptism of a Henry Wright in Holy Trinity Micklegate to a Thomas and Ann Wright in 1813. However, there is no way to be sure if this is the same or another Thomas Wright. Thus, if the Thomas Wright in the 1841 census is indeed the right one, then it appears he has remarried again. Working from this hypothesis, I searched for a marriage between a Thomas Wright and Sarah in York between 1813 and 1841. I found in the IGI a record for a marriage in the neighboring parish:

"25/10/1829, Thomas Wright & Sarah Smith, St. Mary Bishophill Junior, York"


Can I get a witness?




Although this research is somewhat speculative at the moment, I think that it is very plausible that this is the Thomas Wright I'm interested in for three reasons. Firstly, Thomas Wright is living correct parish and is a 'farmer' - exactly the occupation that is described in the Dade registers of his children between 1793-1812. Secondly, John Wright and his wife Ann Calvert are living just down the street and are listed on the very next census page. Thirdly, when I re-examined the census image I noticed that living next door to Thomas Wright was a 'Robert Bellerby - aged 30'. I also then saw that living next door to John Wright was another 'Robert Bellerby - aged 63'. This was strange, but the name also rang a bell with me - I then remembered that I had seen the same name on the marriage record of John Wright and Ann Calvert in 1829 at St.Mary Bishophill Junior, as Robert Bellerby was a witness to their marriage. Both Robert Bellerbys are gardeners like John Wright.

While I don't have proof yet that this Thomas Wright is the father of John Wright, there certainly seems to be strong connections. The next steps for me would be to get details of marriages, births and importantly deaths to map the life of Thomas, his wives and family. Unfortunately, this Thomas didn't live until 1851 so I cannot look to see if he was born in Patrington, where I believe he was born according to the Dade Baptismal Registers of his children. Another thing I could try would be to follow the lives of the other children of Thomas Wright to see if I can connect my John Wright to Thomas Wright. Also, doing some research into the Bellerby family of this area may also be helpful - perhaps the link was more than friends, perhaps they were related in some way.

Eighteenth Century Wrights

Background
My 4xgreat-grandfather John Wright was born in Dringhouses, York, in approximately 1804. I found this information from the 1841-1871 censuses where he was described as a gardener still living in Dringhouses. In 1829, he married Ann Calvert, and they had 7 children together between 1831 and 1844 including my 3xgreat-grandfather James Wright in 1836. In this post I shall try and find out more about the early life and parents of John Wright.

Weighing up the baptismal evidence of John Wright
The first step in finding out more about the early life of John Wright was to find a baptism. As I've mentioned previously, this part of York at this time had 3 parishes that were very close in distance. Thus, if someone moved only a small distance then they may move from one parish to another. Therefore, one needs to search the registers of St. Mary's Bishophill Junior, St. Mary's Bishophill Senior and Holy Trinity Micklegate when looking for a baptism in the 'Dringhouses' area. When I first researched this family, I only found the one record for a John Wright - he was baptised on Sunday June 10th 1804 at Holy Trinity Micklegate, the son of Thomas Wright a farmer at Dringhouses. This is also corroborated by two other family history researchers who had been studying the Wright family and had come to the same conclusion that my John Wright was the son of this Thomas Wright (and whose research I trust!). Another positive was that Holy Trinity Micklegate was also the parish that on John Wright's marriage record in 1829 he was registered as being from - hence why I searched these registers first. Unfortunately though, the marriage record for John Wright and Ann Calvert did not record their father's names so I cannot cross-check that I have the correct baptism. I therefore do not have a direct record other than the baptism with 'John Wright son of Thomas Wright' upon to prove the link. However, as John Wright and Ann Calvert were married by banns (this is where the announcement of intent to marriage was read out for 3 consecutive Sundays in the parish church of each individual), I may be able to get these registers to check. I also need to think if there is anything else in the local records that may help me here, as well as consulting with others who have worked on this line to see what records they have looked at.

Another way to be completely sure would be to establish if any other John Wrights were born in neighbouring parishes. I found two, maybe three, born in St. Mary Bishophill Junior according to the IGI between 1802-1803. It appears as if two John Wrights may actually be one as the same date (26th September) is given for the baptism of a John Wright son of George Wright, but one is 1802 (from the parish records) and the other 1803 (from an LDS member, so perhaps not as reliable). The chances of these being two John Wrights seem slim and therefore they are probably one and the same. The other John Wright was the illegitimate son of a Hannah Wright (bp 27 Aug 1803). I cannot completely eliminate the possibility that one of these is my John Wright. I could try and start doing this by 'killing them off', i.e. checking the burial registers to see if either of them died in infancy. Alternatively, I could 'marry them off' to another wife rather than Ann Calvert, which would demonstrate that they couldn't possibly be the correct John.

Nevertheless, the fact that my John Wright stated on his marriage record he was from Holy Trinity Micklegate parish and that there was only one John Wright born there at the correct time leads me to believe that this is the correct John Wright for me. It has to be remembered that when moving into Eighteenth Century research, it becomes harder to have more than one piece of evidence that clarify relationships, though this is always the ideal. Currently, I'm happy to think that my John Wright was the son of Thomas Wright, as are the other researchers who have looked into this. I would hope to find extra records to prove this, or to look for records that eliminate those John Wrights baptised at roughly the same time in neighboring parishes.


John Wright in the Dade Registers
The complete transcript from the Holy Trinity Micklegate baptism register reads:

"Born Sunday June 10 1804, John Wright, son of Thomas Wright, farmer at Dringhouses, son of Thomas Wright, farmer at Patterington. Jane daughter of Robert Morris carpenter at Harton neigh Burlington"

In the same register, there were entries for five other children between 1799-1810 for the same parents. There were also three entries for children between 1793-1796 to the same father, but a different mother:

"son/daughter of Thomas Wright, farmer at Dringhouses, son of Thomas Wright, farmer at Patterington. Ann daughter of William Shaw, farmer at Cottingworth."

The last entry of these children in 1795 had Ann's father William Shaw being a farmer at "Pattrington".

These detailed baptismal entries are thanks to Rev. William Dade who proposed the use of the so-called 'Dade Registers', a system of detailed baptism records with much family history information as seen above. The system was discontinued in 1812 when the printed baptism form was introduced thanks to George Rose's Act, but between 1770 and 1812 many Yorkshire parishes used this system. See here for a list. A good tip for Yorkshire research is that if you find an IGI entry for an ancestor in one of these parishes, be sure to check the original entry as you may find much, much more.


Putting the Wright information together
It therefore appears that a Thomas Wright was born in Patrington (a place in Holderness, on the peninsula of the East Coast of Yorkshire, about 50 miles from York) and that he was a farmer and that he had a son Thomas Wright. The younger Thomas Wright at some time before 1793 married Ann Shaw the daughter of a farmer William Shaw who was from 'Cottingworth'. It is a bit difficult to be sure where this place is as there isn't a place exactly of this name today. The most likely candidates are the parishes of East Cottingwith or West Cottingwith which are half-way between York and Hull (Patrington is East of Hull, the other side from York). If this is the right place, one has to wonder why William Shaw then left there to move to Patrington in 1796? It is always possible that he did not and that the entry in the printed copy of the Dade Registers is a misprint or transcription error when it states William Shaw as being from Patrington. The other potential place could be 'Cottingham' which is a parish within Hull itself.

Nevertheless, Thomas Wright the younger and Ann Shaw went on to have 3 children together, after which between 1797-1799 it seems Ann died. Thomas remarried Jane Morris, whose father was Robert Morris, a carpenter from 'Harton neigh Burlington' - or 'Harton near Burlington' in modern parlance. Burlington is an older name for today's Bridlington, which is on the East Coast of Yorkshire about 40 miles from York. Again, it is difficult to be precise where this Harton may be. There is a village of Harton that is only about 4 miles Northeast of York, but this is not near 'Burlington' and yet there is no 'Harton' near to Burlington/Bridlington that I can find. There is a Marton however which is a parish within Bridlington, so perhaps this is another case of transcription error as 'H' and 'M' can often be confused. I shall have to consult the original entries rather than relying on the transcripts that were published by the Yorkshire Parish Register Society. Thomas Wright and Jane Morris went on to have 6 children together between 1799 and 1810.

In the Holy Trinity Micklegate registers I also found another baptism, unfortunately after 1812 when the Dade Registers were discontinued:

'28th April 1813, Henry, son of Thomas & Ann Wright, Dringhouses, labourer in husbandry'.

Now, there were no other Thomas Wrights from Dringhouses having children baptised during this time-period. My working hypothesis is that perhaps Jane Wright (nee Morris) died around 1810 and Thomas again remarried to another Ann and had another child - Henry in 1813.


Thomas Wright and his wives
So far I have only been using baptism records as evidence. Ideally, I need to be using death records and marriage records to reconstruct families and relationships. Therefore, I searched for the marriages of Thomas Wright using the IGI -

1. Ann Shaw - 12 Feb 1793, Acomb.
2. Jane Morris - cannot find yet!
3. Ann ? - cannot find yet, and perhaps never happened!

What leaps out immediately is that Thomas Wright (who we know was the son of Thomas Wright of Patrington in Holderness) married Ann Shaw (who was probably from Cottingworth in East Yorkshire) in 1793 in Acomb. This is the same parish that my Wright family have lived in until the present day after James Wright (Thomas Wright's grandson) moved there in 1868. Between 1793 and 1868, Thomas Wright and his son John Wright had lived in the neighboring parish of Dringhouses. It seems very coincidental that they married in Acomb without any prior connection to it. I still don't know why they married there despite not living or being from that parish. Perhaps if they were married by banns and these registers survive I may get more information, such as which parish they came originated. One reason for marrying in a different parish was if the wedding had to be 'hurried', but this does not seem to be the case here as their first child was not born for 9 months. I remained perplexed as to why they chose Acomb.


What is to be done?
From this long entry, one realises that when doing research pre-1837, things get trickier, but there is still a lot of information out there. My problem is that I am currently quite reliant on already published information that I can access, when I really need to get to the original documents - especially banns, baptisms, marriages and deaths. The only way you can completely understand a family is to know exactly when each individual was born, married and died. This is particularly true when studying a large family with a common surname such as Wright. In family history and genealogy, you can get too caught up with rushing to find out your direct line rather than looking at all related individuals. My next steps with the Wright research will be to review various side branches and cousins to myself to see if they give any extra clues as to what happened to my own ancestors.

Calvert Family of York

Background
My 4xgreat-grandmother Ann Calvert was married to John Wright in 1829 and lived in Dringhouses, a parish on the South-West border of York. From the 1841-1871 censuses, I knew that she was also born there around about 1803. In 1826 she had an illegitimate child, George Calvert, and had 7 children with her husband John between 1831 and 1844. I also knew that prior to her marriage she had lived in the parish of Bishophill Senior (next to Dringhouses, closer to York) as this was stated on the marriage entry and the IGI entry for her bastard son George.

The Calvert Family
The key in tracing Ann Calvert was to find her baptism. I searched the corresponding parish records (Bishophill Jnr, Bishophill Snr and Holy Trinity Micklegate - HTMK) and found a baptism for Ann Calvert:

"Ann Calvert, born Wednesday 22nd June 1803, baptised Sunday June 26th 1803, daughter of Mathew Calvert, labourer at Dringhouses, son of William Calvert labourer at Acomb, and Elizabeth his wife, descent unknown."

This seems to be the correct entry as there is no other Ann Calvert baptised at the right time in these parishes. There was however, an Ann Calvert baptised in April 1803 in the parish of Holy Trinity King's Court, York, who was the daughter of a James Calvert and Ann Bland. I found this entry when doing a sweep for all Ann Calverts born 1798-1808 in Yorkshire on the IGI index. This is unlikely to be the right Ann Calvert as the parish is not a neighboring one although it is in York. However, I would really like to have one more connecting piece of evidence to be completely sure that the HTMK baptism is the correct Ann to follow. As she married pre-1837 I won't be able to get this from her marriage certificate, and her marriage church entry did not mention her father's name. I shall have to come up with some other secondary confirmation, ideally with her married name Ann Wright connected to either Mathew or Elizabeth Calvert. Perhaps Ann was the informant of death of her parents?

Nevertheless, following the Ann Calvert from the HTMK baptism registers, I found four elder siblings of Ann also baptised. They were, William (1791), Ann (1795), John (1796) and George (1800). Of these, Ann the elder does not appear in the IGI. I'm hoping that my note-taking from 10 years ago hasn't failed me and that she really was in the registers! All of them described their father as Mathew Calvert (a labourer) son of William Calvert (a labourer), except for the eldest child Willliam when both are recorded as 'farmers'. For all children, Mathew's wife Elizabeth is described as 'descent unknown'.

I haven't managed to find too much extra information from parish records, though I have sporadically looked through them. I did do an IGI search for the baptism of a Matthew Calvert son of William which produced one possible match - 25 Feb 1757 in Saint Mary Bishophill Junior. This Calvert line will need much more systematic research of parish registers and other records in the future to get further.

Wright tracks

Background
My grandmother was Doreen Wright, who was born and raised in Acomb in the Ainsty of York. I had traced her Wright ancestry back three further generations - her father Harold Wright (1900-1972, a painter & decorator), her grandfather Henry Wright (1868-1956, railway wagon builder & market gardener) and great-grandfather James Wright (1836-1908, market gardener, brick manufacturer, pub landlord & private care home for mentally handicapped children proprietor!) - all of whom also lived in Acomb. James Wright was not born in Acomb though, coming to the village in about 1868 just prior to Henry's birth. James had actually been born in the neighboring parish of Bishophill Senior. This parish is one of the four along the Western route into York from Acomb. The other three are Holy Trinity Micklegate, Dringhouses and Bishophill Junior. This map is a useful guide to the unusual jigsaw nature of these parishes. In this previous post, I showed how in the 1841-1861 censuses, James Wright is living with his parents John (a gardener) and Ann Wright along with some siblings. I'm not sure of the exact address in each of these as it doesn't appear to be given. To find out about the Wright family of Dringhouses, I had to search through the church registers of each parish as well as using the IGI.

John and Ann Wright
From the censuses I had found the names of 8 children of John and Ann. Looking through the St. Mary Bishophill Senior baptismal register, I found the records for five of the children. The ones I could not find were George (b.1827), Mary (b.1839) and Henry (b.1844). The five entries I did find were quite good giving both the date of baptism as well as the actual date of birth. All of them, which occurred between 1830-1841, listed John Wright as a gardener. From the marriage records of the same parish, I found the following marriage entry:

"John Wright, husbandman, of the parish of the parish of Holy Trinity, Micklegate, bachelor, and Ann Calvert, of this parish, spinster. Married in Church, by banns, 12 Oct 1829, witnesses, Robert Bellerby & Richard Douglas."

Additionally, this marriage notice appears in the York Reference Library Newspaper Index, though I have not viewed it. This gives a lot of background information about John and Ann (especially her maiden name which is another common local surname). The other notable fact is that this marriage took place well after the eldest child George (according to the census) was born. Using the IGI, I found a George Calvert the bastard child of Ann Calvert baptised in St. Mary's Bishophill Senior on 30th July 1826. I still haven't found the baptism entries for Mary or Henry.

Tying up the loose ends
In the next posts, I shall discuss the childhoods and parents of John Wright and Ann Calvert. However, it is worth taking some time to figure out what we still need to know about their adult lives. We have found out that they married in 1829 and had 7 children together until 1844 plus Ann's illegitimate son George changed his surname to Wright and was named as John's son in the census. During this period John was working as a husbandman & gardener, suggesting that he leased the land he worked upon. The 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses confirm that John was a gardener, on 15 acres in 1851. To see if John and Ann were still alive in 1871, I checked that census - I found that they were both living in Dringhouses with John (aged 66) working as a brickmaker and gardener (see image above). These occupations were common to the Wright family, and the Dringhouses & Acomb areas was well known for its brickmaking ponds - [good link to article on 19thC brickmaking in York]. Also living with them is John Wright a grandson (b. 1858) and a servant John Spencer. This grandson appears to be the same one that was living with John and Ann in 1861 ten years earlier. I cannot find either John or Ann Wright in subsequent censuses, suggesting that they died before 1881. A search of the free index of births, marriages and deaths finds that a John Wright b.1804 had a death registered in York in 1880 and an Ann Wright b.1804 had a death registered in York in 1879. Both of these are likely candidates. I'm still not sure whose child the grandson, John Wright, is - he could be an illegitimate child of one of the daughters, a child of an unknown son, or the child of George Wright (Calvert). I don't think it's a son of John & Ann's son James as I think I know all of his children, and it is unlikely to be the son of their other son Henry as he is too young. A look at my notes for the parish records and a search of the IGI doesn't find a good match, so I am left wondering for a bit longer.

Curley family memories

Here is a link to a website that has a large amount of information pertaining to Ladywood, the part of Birmingham that my Curley family lived during the last century. There is lots of history and photos of various streets, including Ryland Street which was lived on by my great-grandfather Thomas Curley and his family.

Under the "Memories of our Street" tab there are also some entries by my aunts describing some of their memories of their lives growing up in Ladywood.

Naming your daughter after a pub...

Background
I have described earlier a little about the life of John George Wright, who was my great-great-grandfather's eldest brother. John George was born in April 1862 in Dringhouses, only a few weeks after his 18 year old mother (Mary Benson) and his 25 year old father James Wright were married. He was baptised in the neighbouring parish of Acomb on 6th April 1862. John George became a brick and tile manufacturer and lived at first in Acomb (until about 1895) and then he and his wife Annie Elizabeth moved to Bridlington. John George appears to have been close to his mother's family, as in the 1881 census when he was aged 19 he was living with his mother's parents in Acomb.

In my previous post, I noted that John George and Annie Elizabeth had one child living with them in the 1891 census, a Mary Ellen Wright who was only 6 months of age. She certainly survived until she was at least 10 years old as she is also living with her parents in the 1901 census in Bridlington.

On looking through my notes taken 10 years ago, I now realise that John George and Annie Elizabeth actually had 3 other elder children who all died in infancy prior to 1891. It appears as if the couple had been living in Dringhouses, near to Acomb between 1885 and 1889. This is quite plausible as Dringhouses had numerous 'brick ponds' that were important for brickmaking.


From Edward-the-Confessor Church, Dringhouses, baptismal register:

Jan 1 1885, Benson Herbert, son of John George & Annie Elizabeth Wright, North Lane Dringhouses, builder.

March 1886, Marcia, daughter of John George & Annie Elizabeth Wright, North Field Terrace, builder.

July 24 1888, Marcia Lucy Harriet, daughter of John George & Annie Elizabeth Wright, North Field Terrace, builder.



And from the York Reference Library newspaper index:

Yorkshire Gazette 18/12/1888
On 15/12/1888, at 1 Northfield Terrace, Dringhs York, death of John George Wright's daughter Marcia Lucy Harriett, aged 1 yr 12 days.

Yorkshire Gazeette 22/12/1888
Death of John George Wright's son Benson Herbert aged 4.


It appears therefore that John George Wright and Annie Elizabeth married probably in 1884. Searching a marriage of all John George Wright's on the ancestry (incomplete) index, I wasn't able to find a match for John George and Annie Elizabeth, so I'm still unsure about the exact details of this marriage. However, they had their first child - Benson Herbert - in January 1885. Benson seems to have been named after John George's mother's family name, and unfortunately he died aged 4 in 1888 in the same week that his sister Marcia Lucy Harriett died. Their sister, also named Marcia, was born and presumably died before Marcia Lucy was born. Both of these girls share a name with the public house (pictured & now called 'The Poacher') that their John George's parents were operating.

James Wright of Acomb

Background
James Wright and his wife, Mary (nee Benson), were my 3xgreat-grandparents and lived the majority of their lives in Acomb, near York. The church of Acomb, St. Stephen's is pictured to the left. They had 10 children, including their second eldest son Henry - my great-great grandfather - the pedigree is viewable here. In this post I am going to detail how I found out more information about the life of James Wright from the York City Archives, York Reference Library, Borthwick Institute and Acomb churchyard.

James Wright's life in Acomb
Having found my 2xgreat grandfather Henry Wright and his various siblings in the 1871 -1891 censuses, I had been able to identify a tombstone in the St. Stephen's churchyard as that of his father James Wright. Coincidentally, this tombstone is next to another Wright tombstone - that of Eustace Wright and family, though I do not think that they were at all related as Eustace came from the Midlands. These MIs are also kept at York Reference Library thanks to an indexing project by a Miss J. Baxter in 1974. The tombstone (pictured) read in part:

"also JAMES WRIGHT / father of the above / who died 9th December 1908 / aged 72 years / 'thy will be done' "

From the Acomb parish and census records and trade directories, I was able to find out that James Wright was living in Acomb village from about 1868 (when he was aged about 30) onwards and that he appeared to have varied occupations:

22/10/1868 - farmer at baptism of son Henry

5/3/1871 - farmer at baptism of dau Mary Ellen

10/4/1871 - farmer of 20 acres employing 2 servants (Isabella Barker and William Dykes), living at Poplar Villa in the census.

1872 - market gardener in Acomb (directory)

10/11/1872 - farmer at baptism of son James

25/10/1874 - farmer at baptism of son William

1876 - market gardener in Acomb (directory)

15/6/1877 - farmer at baptism of dau Amy

27/7/1879 - gardener at baptism of dau Flory

3/4/1881 - brick manufacturer and farmer of 80 acres, employing four servants, living at Poplar Grove in the census. James Wright also has boarding a boy who is described as an imbecile. We know from family history that he took in mentally handicapped children to look after as a business.

1881-1882 - brick & tile manufacturer in Acomb(Stevens directory)

10/9/1882 - market gardener at baptism of dau Lucretia

1890 - market gardener at Poplar Grove (Bulmer's directory). Though his wife Mary is listed as the victualler of the Marcia Inn.

5/4/1891 - licensed victualler at the Marcia Inn, Acomb

9/3/1895 - market gardener at wedding of son Henry 1895 - market gardener in Acomb (White directory)

31/3/1901 - market gardener living at Poplar Grove. James Wright is now blind.

9/12/1908 - dies in Acomb.

It seems therefore that James Wright was primarily a farmer or market gardener and brickmaker who lived the majority of his life at Poplar Grove. Throughout the last half of the nineteenth century the land he was farming increased in size and he was at one time farming 80 acres. He also though was at times running the Marcia Inn and had a side-business in looking after ill children. I also have a document given to me by the current owners of the house at Poplar Grove that describes that James Wright was declared bankrupt between 1883 and 1899, so some of his endeavors may not have been so successful.

James Wright between 1862 and 1868
James Wright arrived in Acomb in around 1868. This can be seen from the baptism of his son Henry Wright which occurred in Acomb. Before that, he and his wife seem to have lived in the parish of York known as All Saints Pavement (church pictured) from 1864 to about 1868 where two of his daughters were baptised. This parish covers the very centre of York around the streets of Coppergate, Pavement, Piccadilly, High Ousegate and Parliament Street. The period between 1862 and 1864 is also confusing. James' first child, John George Wright was born in 1862. On all his census records his birthplace is Dringhouses, a parish on the outskirts of York near to Acomb. I could not find his baptism in the Acomb registers (though I may not have gone back far enough in my original search). The IGI claims that John George was baptised on 6th April 1862 in Acomb, so it is possible that he was baptised here but born in Dringhouses. I therefore know that James and Mary had three children between 1862 and 1868, but am not entirely sure about their whereabouts or occupations during this period.

The marriage of James Wright and Mary Benson
For a long time I could not find the marriage of James and Mary. I knew from the census that James was born in Dringhouses and Mary was born in York but had lived in the neighbouring parish of Acomb, so I searched these registers but to no avail. Also the parish registers of All Saints Pavement (where their second and third children were baptised) and the parish register of Holy Trinity Micklegate (which is in between A.S.P. and Dringhouses) also failed to show the marriage record. Finally, I got lucky when I searched the newspaper index at York Reference Library and found an entry for 30th March 1861 in the Yorkshire Gazette.

"WRIGHT - BENSON - On the 24th inst., at St. Olave's Church, Marygate, in this city, by the Rev. A. Bartliff, Mr. James Wright, son of Mr. Wright, gardener, Dringhouses, to Mary, eldest daughter of Mr. George Benson, farmer, of Acomb, near this city."
St. Olave's Marygate is pictured here. It is adjoined to the city walls, next to the Museum Gardens. The fact that their son John George was born only one month after the wedding may be a factor in why I found it so hard to find the parish in which the wedding occurred. It seems that they may have married hurriedly in a parish that they did not normally frequent.


I have no details about the occupation of James at this time as I have not got either the parish record entry or marriage certificate yet. Two weeks later the 1861 census was taken, and James and Mary Wright are living with James' parents, John and Ann Wright and their children in a private house in Holy Trinity Micklegate, York. James Wright is described as a gardener, like his father and brother Henry.


The early life of James Wright
In 1851, James Wright is aged 14 and living in Dringhouses with his parents John and Ann. John is a gardener of 16 acres and James is also working as a gardener.

In 1841 the family are living in the Bishophill Junior part of the Dring- houses parish where John Wright is a gardener. Though I have not found the baptismal entry of James Wright, from the IGI I have found that James was baptised on the 3rd June 1836 at St. Mary Bishophill Senior.

What happened to Henry Wright's siblings?

Introduction
In the previous post I discussed how I found out more about the early life of my great-great-grandfather Henry Wright, including learning about his brothers and sisters. I have found that James and Mary Wright, who spent the majority of their lives in Acomb, had at least 10 children. In this post I shall discuss what I know about each of these.


1. John George Wright, baptised 6th April 1862. John George was the eldest child and was born in Dringhouses, that at different times existed in either the parish of St. Mary Bishophill or Holy Trinity Micklegate on the western border of York. This is the place that his father James Wright had also been born in. In 1871 I found him living with his parents at Poplar Villa in Acomb, but in subsequent censuses he wasn't living with them.
In the 1881 census he is staying with his grandparents, George and Eliza Benson (his mother Mary's parents), in Acomb. He is unmarried and working as a bricklayer's apprentice. (nb. see here for information on three children born 1885-1888).

I next find him in the 1891 census, living at 17 Beaconsfield Terrace, Acomb, working as a brickmaker. He has married an Annie Elizabeth who was born in Tadcaster, and had a daughter Mary Ellen. From the parish registers, I found that Mary Ellen was baptised on 9th Nov 1890 in Acomb, and her father was described as a brick manufacturer. He seems to have been doing fairly well as he had a live-in domestic servant, Eliza Hardcastle who was from Acomb. John George appears twice more in the records of Acomb in the trade directories of 1893 and 1895 where he is described as a brickmaker at the same address as the 1891 census. In March 1895, John George was a witness at the wedding of my great-great-grandfather Henry Wright in Acomb. I have not yet found any record of John George's marriage to Annie Elizabeth, so I am unsure as to her maiden name.

Between 1895 and 1901, however, he has moved address to Bridlington on the East Yorkshire coast about 55 miles away. In the 1901 census, they are living on what appears to be a wealthy street with music teachers, wine merchants and government officials, with all the houses having names. Their abode is Lansdown [sic] Villas No2, Archibald House, Freshfield, The Muck? (I can't quite read this word). John George is a bricklayer and they have no more children living with them. This is the last information I have on this family, though I'd love to know what eventually happened to them.


2. Eliza Anne Wright, was baptised on 31st July 1864 at All Saints Pavement, York. She is living wither her parents in Acomb in 1871 and 1881, but I have no information thereafter. She probably married around 1881-1891, but I haven't found her marriage record.


3. Jane Wright, was baptised on 27th May 1866 also at All Saints Pavement. She is living with her parents in Acomb in 1871, but not in 1881 despite only being 15. I cannot find her elsewhere in the census, so I wonder if she died, though I have not find her in any parish records or monumental inscriptions.


4. Henry Wright - my great-great-grandfather.


5. Mary Ellen Wright. Mary Ellen is the sibling of Henry that I know the most information, as my relatives grew up knowing their cousins in this branch and I have also been subsequently in touch with descendants of Mary Ellen. She was baptised on 5th March 1871 in Acomb, and appears aged 2 months living at Poplar Grove in the 1871 census. In 1881 she is living with them still at Poplar Grove and is at school.

By 1891, her parents had taken over running the Marcia Inn. This meant that at the census of 1891 Mary Ellen was listed as being the head of household back at Poplar Grove, the property the Wright family owned on Askham Lane, and is working as a market gardener. So she is probably running the farm as well as the house. She is living there with her two younger sisters, Flory Wright and Lucretia Wright (who is named Louise on the return), two farm labourers and a house servant. Also living in the house is a domestic nurse, Elizabeth Nelson, who is from York. She is obviously there to help the Wrights look after two patients - Glendaline Davies from Lancashire and Alexander Thomas from Bristol who is described as deaf and dumb. Both of these two are boarders who are 'living on own means', which probably means that they were the offspring of wealthy individuals who needed looking after as they had illnesses. I do not know why the Wright family got into the business of looking after sick children, it may have been for financial or charity based reasons, it would be very interesting to find out.

Very shortly after this census was taken, Mary Ellen Wright married Edward Atkinson on the 12th Nov 1891 at Newton Kyme, near Tadcaster. The father of Edward Atkinson is given as Robert Burrow Atkinson according to the IGI. According to the 1891 census Robert Atkinson was a retired ham and bacon factor (a dealer) who was originally from Whittington, Lanchashire. He and his family were living at 23 Blossom Street, York. Edward Atkinson was also a ham and bacon factor like his elderly father, but was born in York. I am unsure why they married out in Newton Kyme, and not in either Acomb or York.

The last documentary evidence I have for Mary Ellen is the 1901 census, where she is living with her husband Edward, a provision dealer, at 23 Blossom Street. They are living with their children Betsy Alice (named after Edward's mother), Olive, Lawrence Guy and George B, all of whom were born in York. Indeed, the Atkinson family ran this provisions shop for a long time throughout the twentieth century.


6. James Wright, the namesake of his father, was baptised on the 10th November 1872 at Acomb. In 1891 he is a market gardener living with his parents at the Marcia Inn. In the 1901 census he is still living with his parents at Poplar Grove, but is now listed as a bricklayer and is unmarried. I don't know what happened to James Wright after 1901.


7. William Wright was baptised on 25th October 1874 at Acomb. He is listed as a market gardener in 1891 and is living at the Marcia Inn. In 1901 he is also still living with his parents but is working as a railway clerk. I don't know when William married or what happened to him after 1901.


8. Amy Wright was baptised on 15th June 1877 at Acomb and is living with her parents in the 1881 census. However, she died at a young age, as I found her monumental inscription in the churchyard of St. Stephen's:

"In loving memory of AMY, the dear and much beloved child of James and Mary Wright, born June 7th 1877 died December 6th 1883. Is it well with the child... It is well: Kings.IV.26"


9. Florie Wright was baptised on the 27th July 1879 at Acomb. She was living at Poplar Grove in 1881-1901, and was still unmarried by 1901. I don't know what happened to Florie after 1901.


10. Lucretia Wright was baptised in Acomb on 10th September 1882. She also was living at Poplar Grove in 1891 and 1901. I found from the churchyard in Acomb at the same grave as her sister Amy and her parents the following monumental inscription:

"Also LUCRETIA HUNT daughter of the above passed away 18th May 1940 aged 56 years."

I'm not sure why she would be burried in Acomb and not with her husband, but perhaps she had moved back to Acomb during the war. From the BMD indexes, I found that she married in 1910 to a John A Hunt which was registered in Gt. Ouseburn, which covers the Acomb area.


After discussing all of the children of James and Mary Wright, in the next post I shall discuss their lives.

Henry Wright of Acomb

Introduction
In the previous post I discussed how the obituary in 1956 of my great-great grandfather Henry Wright had described how he was living on Front Street, Acomb, and had worked as a wagon builder at the local rail-works. I also knew from the baptisms of his four children, his own marriage certificate in Acomb in 1895 and the 1901 census that he had always worked as a joiner or wagon builder. The 1901 census stated that he was living on Front Street, Acomb, and in his obituary it mentioned that his family had farmed a large tract of land off Askham Lane, Acomb. His marriage entry had given his father's name as James Wright, a market gardener. A John George Wright was one of the witnesses and was probably a brother. It should be therefore fairly easy to find more local information on Henry Wright.


The early years of Henry Wright

The first search for Henry Wright was the 1891 census. Here, he was found at the Marcia Inn, on Front Street, Acomb, where his parents James and Mary Wright are the licensed victuallers. James Wright was born in Dringhouses, York, whereas Mary was born in York itself. Henry like his two younger brothers James and William was born in Acomb and is working as a market gardener. James Wright was described as a market gardener.


In the 1881 census, Henry's father is described as a brick manufacturer and a farmer of 80 acres, and is living at Poplar Grove, which is off Askham Lane. This census also reveals other siblings; Eliza Ann, Jane, and Mary Ellen, who are older than Henry, and Flory and Lucretia who were the youngest of the family. The oldest two children were born in York, with Mary Ellen being the first born in Acomb in 1871, suggesting that James and Mary Wright first came to Acomb as a married couple in that year. They appear to be a wealthy couple at this time as James is a farmer of 80 acres, and they are employing four servants, two in the house and two in the farm. There is also living at the house a Thomas Johnston a child of 10 years who was born in Scarborough and is described as being an imbecile from birth. I have subsequently found out that the Wrights used to take in mentally handicapped children from wealthy families who did not want to raise them themselves.

In the 1871 census, Henry is still living at Poplar Villa as it is described with his parents. James Wright is a farmer of 20 acres at this time and employs 2 servants, one in the house and one on the farm. On this census, there is the oldest child born to James and Mary Wright, John G. Wright who was born in Dringhouses like his father. This is John George Wright, the witness to Henry's wedding 24 years later.

Parish Records
To confirm some of these relationships, a search of the parish records of St. Stephen's, Acomb, found the baptism of Henry Wright, on 22nd October 1868 to James and Mary Wright of Acomb. James Wright is described as a farmer, as he is for the baptisms of his next four children born in Acomb, Mary Ellen, James, William and Amy, who was baptised in 1877. The last two children to be baptised were Flory and Lucretia in 1879 and 1882 where James Wright was described as a gardener or a market gardener. I also found the baptism in 1862 of John George Wright in Dringhouses, where James Wright is again described a gardener. On the IGI I found the baptismal entries of Eliza Anne Wright and Jane between 1864 and 1866 at All Saints Pavement, York, a parish in the centre of York. In the next post I shall discuss what I have found out about the later lives of Henry's brothers and sisters.

Henry Wright's Obituary

My great-grandfather Harold Wright was the second of four children born to Henry Wright and Ada Smith. From parish records and the 1901 census I had found out that Henry Wright had worked at the turn of the century as a wagon builder at the railway works in Acomb near York. I did not know very much more about Henry Wright until I found the following obituary in the York Reference Library Newspaper Card Index.

Yorkshire Evening Press 2nd Jan 1957
"Death of Mr. H. J. Wright. Family's Long Link With Acomb District.

The funeral takes place tomorrow at St. Stephen's Church, Acomb, of Mr. Henry James Wright, aged 88, of 121 Front Street, one of the district's oldest residents, who died at the weekend. Last surviving member of a well known Acomb family of market gardeners, who at one-time worked 11 acres of land in the Askham Lane area. Mr Wright was born and lived all his life in the suburb.

Until his retirement at the age of 65, Mr Wright was a wagon builder on the railway. He was also a pioneer member of Acomb Working Men's Club. During his younger days his great hobby was river fishing.

His knowledge of Acomb towards the end of the last century was extensive and he enjoyed local fame as an authority on the striking changes which have taken place in the district.

Mr. Wright's wife died two years ago - just one month before they were due to celebrate their golden wedding - and he leaves two sons and two daughters."

This is an interesting obituary, giving a nice impression of Henry's interests. It is particularly interesting to see that he had a great knowledge of local history. We also now know the date of death of Ada, which would be 1954, and that Henry had a middle name which was James. Furthermore, the statement that the family once owned and gardened 11 acres off Askham Lane is consistent with family stories. The only thing that is a bit strange is that they newspaper is proclaiming his death as the end of the Wright family's association with Acomb. Well, 51 years after this newspaper article was written, my family are still living there! In the next post I shall discuss more about Henry Wright's earlier life.