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.

Gibbons

Elizabeth Gibbons
The mother of Mary Jane Phipps (my great-grandmother) was Elizabeth Gibbons.

I obtained the marriage certificate of James Phipps and Elizabeth Gibbons, and found that they were married on 13th April 1868 in Lower Gornal.

The later life of James and Elizabeth can be found in this entry. Briefly, in 1871 they were living in Tipton, but by 1881 and until 1901 they were living in Norton Canes where James worked as a mining engineer. According to the census, Elizabeth was never employed, presumably more than busy raising 7 children.

Here is a googleearth image of the modern day tipton, gornall, sedgley, coseley areas. Also see here for more information, and click here for an excellent map of the 9 villages of Sedgley Manor:
















According to the marriage certificate Elizabeth's father was William Gibbons (b1817).

No jokes about being a Gibbon here. The most famous Gibbon is of course Edward Gibbon. The two surnames are probably related.

In 1861, the family is living at Ebenezer Road, Sedgley - (this is the same street that Elizabeth's future husband's father lived at in 1871) - you can see this road on the map of Ivy House Lane, Coseley found here.






From this census we can see that Elizabeth is the 4th of 9 children born to William Gibbons, an iron shearer, and Elizabeth Gibbons (b1817). Alice, the eldest child, is a dressmaker. The two eldest sons, James and John are a 'beater down' and a 'turner over' in the Iron Works.

In 1851, the Gibbons family are living at Mamble Sq., Coseley, where William is a labourer.






I do not know anything about William and Elizabeth Gibbons before 1851, however, from the Free BMDsite I have been able to find the references for Joseph & Mary Gibbons - Elizabeth Jr's twin siblings who were born in 1852. AFter ordering the birth certificate, this should give information about the maiden name of their mother, Elizabeth, and their grandfathers' first names.


However, I have followed the family post-1861.


In 1871 - William Gibbons is living at 3 Jevons St., Coseley, unable to work aged 54. All but one of his sons (James Gibbons) are living with him, as is his son-in-law Richard Homer who is married to his daughter Mary. His sons work in the Iron Works, being puddlers, boaters, labourers and underhand puddlers. His son Thomas Gibbons is a Fireman in a 'Wire' Mill.







I have been unable to locate William and Elizabeth Gibbons after 1871.

Here are some links to iron making history:

Black Country Iron History

Black Country Overview

Lots of Good Information on Sedgley

John Phipps - born 1805

John Phipps, born, Broseley 1805?
According to all the census information I have gathered, Mary Jane Phipps' grandfather was John Phipps born in Broseley, Shropshire. He being the father of Mary Jane's father, James Phipps. Having a look on the IGI online, I found that a John Phipps was baptised in Broseley on 11th Nov 1804:

John Phipps, born to Thos. & Joice Phipps. at St. Leonard's, Broseley.

I am naturally cautious about using the IGI online. I would like to have replicated some of these relationsihps using other records.

Here is more information about Broseley in 1868

The Driscoll family - 1800-1900 Ireland & Birmingham

My father's father (and my Y-chromosome sharing ancestor) was Cornelius Curley, born in 1905 in Birmingham, England. His parents were Thomas Curley and Mary Driscoll. Both the Curley and Driscoll families are of Irish extraction. Apparently, 1 in 4 British people claim Irish descent, so I suppose I would be among those.

I knew all of this from talking with family relations, but was also able to confirm it by finding the birth certificate of Cornelius (known as Con) and also his sister Doris. This gave the address of his parents, Thomas' occupation, which was "cycle polisher", and the maiden name of their mother, which was Mary Driscoll. I then got the marriage certificate of Thomas Curley and Mary Driscoll, which showed that they married on 26th December 1904 in Birmingham.

This also told me that Mary's father was John Driscoll, a comedian! The family had told me that they thought that in the Driscoll family background there were 'artists' or 'actors', but I didn't expect comedian. It probably explains a lot about my dad.

Birth certificate of Mary Driscoll, daughter of John & Mary Driscoll - 23/10/1883:





Marriage certificate of John Driscoll & Mary Lines - 25/12/1882:







Knowing a little about John Driscoll and his family from the vital records, I was able to do census searches for the family. I have not yet had the time or opportunity to add extra vital registration records or parish records to this data. The family were all Roman Catholic, and I believe these records are housed at St Chad's Roman Catholic Church, Birmingham. Unfortunately I've not had the time to visit just yet.

In the 1901 census, I found John Driscoll and family living at Tennant Dr, 6 Court, House 9. This appears to be a low working-class area populated with numerous families living in separate rooms within the same house. It is in the Emmanuel parish area. I believe the housing would have looked similar to those above, which are a court in William St. This picture is from the Birmingham Council Victorian collection; it was originally taken for the Housing Committee to record 'slum' properties in around 1904.

From earlier censuses I found that John's birthdate was actually around 1862 not the 1865 it would seem from this census. They are living with three children, Mary (b. 1883), Ada (b1898) and Clement John (b1900). I think there must have been children between Mary and Ada, as 15 years seems to be an extremely large gap. It is likely that these children died in infancy, as it appears did Clement John in 1902 as there is a death record for him in the vital registrations. All of the family were born in Birmingham.

John Driscoll in 1901:





In 1891 the family are living at Cardigan St. in Aston, and it would appear that the comedy is not going so well for John, as he is described as being a 'brass turner'. Interestingly, his widowed mother, Susan Driscoll, is living with them - she was born in 1828 in Birmingham. It's revealing that she was born in Birmingham and not Ireland. Being born in 1828, this is before the mass immigration of Irish, so she could be of either Irish or British ancestry.

John Driscoll in 1891:




From this census, it appears that Mary Driscoll (Cornelius' mother) is the eldest child of John and Mary Driscoll. I've not yet managed to secure their marriage certificate to find out more about the family of Mary. Relations have told me that they think her name may be Mary Lines. This is literally a 'line' that I need to do some more work on.

Knowing that John's mother was called Susan, enabled me to find him in the 1881 census before he married Mary. I found his family living in the Market Hall area at 17 Bastle? Street - at the back of the house, sharing the same dwelling with two other families. John is living with three siblings and his parents, Dennis and Susan Driscoll. Dennis Driscoll was a 'porter jobbing' and was born in 1809 in Cork, Ireland. He seems to have died in March 1889, aged 80, though I need to get a copy of his death certificate to find out more information why. John Driscoll is working as a "negro comedian". Now, this is quite a strange occupation! I'm not sure if the comedy he does after 1901 was also as a 'negro comedian'. However, I have tried to do a bit more research into this strange occupation which I talk about on this page.

As a side note, the Driscoll name is very common to the Cork area of Southern Ireland and more information about that can be found here.



The earlier life of Dennis Driscoll

Dennis Driscoll in 1881:





In 1871, Dennis Driscoll and family were still living in the Market Hall area of Birmingham, at 7 House, 10 Court, Howard Place. Dennis a labourer. Here, we also see John's elder brother Cornelius.





In 1861, the family were living in the same area but at 1 Court 7, Howard Place. Next-door are living Patrick and Mary Christie. This appears to be the widowed Mary Christie who is living with her daughter and the Driscolls in 1871.





The 1851 revealed that Cornelius and his elder brother Thomas are the product of Dennis' first marriage to a Julia, who was born in Cork, Ireland, like Dennis. John and his two younger sisters Ellen and Catherine are the children of Dennis' second marriage to Susan. Mary Ann, the middle child may have been the daughter of either Julia or Susan.







The family are living at Greens' Village, St. Judes parish. Also living with the family are three young girls from Ireland working in jobs like 'candlestick polisher'. There is also a Thomas Connor and Mary Ann Connor who are said to be born in Kiddiminster, who are about 13-15 years younger than Dennis and Julia. They are unmarried, but described as 'brother' and 'sister' to Dennis. I think it likely that they are the brother and sister of Julia, but it might just be that they are brother and sister to each other. It is important to try and work this out, as it would enable us to put a date on when Dennis and Julia came to England. The working hypothesis would be that it is after 1845-9 and the Irish Famine. It is possible that they knew each other in Ireland, but they may have met each other when in Birmingham. Tracing their movements from Ireland to Birmingham will be very challenging. I cannot find Dennis Driscoll in the 1841 census, so I presume that he left Ireland as a result of the famine. However, Irish immigration to England has occurred for a number of reasons.

This is a direct quote from John Haskey's piece in the British Medical Journal, Volume 312, Pages 1373-1374, (1 June 1999) available here:

"Emigration from Ireland has occurred at least since the Act of Union in 1800 (in which Ireland became part of the United Kingdom), the rate of emigration depending on the degree of economic hardship and population pressure at home and the demand for labour and service in Britain. When potato blight destroyed the crop for four successive years in 1845-8, causing the Great Famine, the population of Ireland is estimated to have fallen by as much as one fifth, with possibly as many dying as emigrating. The population stood at 8.2 million in 1841, but was reduced to 6.6 million in 1851. Of those who emigrated, between one in five and one in seven settled in England and Wales. However, the first wave of large scale immigration started earlier, in 1841, when there were already 290 000 people born in Ireland living in England and Wales. By 1861, that number had swollen to over 600 000--representing over 1 in 40 of the population of England and Wales."

Note: Anyone with an interest in Birmingham family history should visit the Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Family History.


The Irish in Birmingham

Brief Info on Irish Quarter of Birmingham

History of Birmingham Irish

Book by Carl Chinn on Birmingham Irish

Description of Irish Birmingham Streets (familiar to my family!)

The Irish in Victorian England

History of the Irish in UK - i really like the graphics on this site

Book Review of The Irish in Victorian Britain

A nice Summary of The Irish Immigration to Britain

Links to newspaper articles from the Cork Examiner with Irish views on the famine

General Birmingham history

Birmingham history in wikipedia

Birmingham Local and Family History Studies

More Birmingham history

Virtual Brum

A brief history of Birmingham

Victorian Birmingham in Photos

Genealogy "Humour" 2 - Queen Victoria

Even the royalty had to fill in census returns! Nobody was exempt from them.

HRH Queen Victoria










Here is Queen Victoria at Osborne Palace (or house): on the Isle of Wight in 1861:




However, another not-to-be-confused-with Queen Victoria seems to be living in a poorhouse in Edmonton!
















Here are more links to Queen Victoria and the census:

Queen Victoria in 1851 & other interesting stuff

Really useful article showing how to track individuals including Queen Victoria & Charles Dickens in the censuses

Bank & Holiday

During my research into my own family I've come across some strange census entries. Some people have some weird and funny names whereas sometimes census enumerators decide to give people some strange names!

This is a funny example that I saw once on exhibition at the Family Records Centre in London, unfortunately it covers two pages of the census. It seems that these parents had their twin children during the May Bank Holiday. Interestingly, this census is from 1881, just 10 years after the 1871 Act was brought in to establish the UK Bank Holidays.

Bank & Holiday Munslow !









Here are some links to someother strange census and parish record entries:
Funny Census Names
Funny census names from Randy Seaver's blog
Even more funny names from Rany Seaver's blog
From Randy Seaver again!
Funny names and marriages from Cornwall
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Humour

The Phipps 1800-1900 - Salop/Staffs

The Phipps 1800-1900

My father's mother was Mary Jane Green, born in 1911. I did not know very much about her family other than that they came from the Brownhills area of the West Midlands.

However, a genealogist got in touch with the family having been employed by a legal team to find some cousins. He was able to tell me that my grandmother's parents were Thomas Green and Mary Jane Phipps. This led me to get their marriage certificate and found out a bit more about them.


The parents of Mary Jane Phipps.
Mary Jane Phipps was born in 1870, the third of 7 children to James Phipps and Elizabeth Gibbons - Click here for more information about the genealogy of Elizabeth Gibbons. Mary Jane Phipps, like the eldest children and her parents, was born in Coseley - part of the industrial heartland of the Midlands. The youngest child, Lavinia, was born in Norton Canes, just near where the M6 toll road now passes.


The family seems to have moved here in 1881 and were still living there by 1901 as shown by this census record - taken in Watling St., Brownhills:






James Phipps in Norton Canes in 1891 Census - living in the "Thachus Building" on Watling Street.






In both 1891 & 1901 James Phipps is a Stationary Engine Driver, while his sons are coal miners. Like many other of my ancestors (well over 50%!) James Phipps and his family are involved in the coal mining process. The engine that James Phipps operated was likely involved in the process of removing coal from the pit. Even though the 1891 census says that James is 34, he is acutally 44! It is a not uncommon error made by census enumerators.

My great-grandmother, Mary Jane, is a dressmaker at this time. 4 years later she married Thomas Green.


In 1881, the family was living in a 'cottage' in Norton Canes and James Phipps was a stationary engine driver as he was in 1891.






In 1871, the family was living in "Gospel Oak Colliery Cottages" in Tipton, Wednesbury and James Phipps was described as a 'Field Engineer'. In this census, the birthplace of all family members is given as Sedgley, whereas in the previous censuses (1881-1901) it is given as Coseley. Also, an eldest son, James Phipps appears (aged 6). He is the son of James Phipps Snr but I cannot be sure from the census whether he is also the son of Elizabeth (who would have been 15 when he was born if she was his mother). I don't know what happened to him after 1871, whether he died or moved away from the family before the next census.





It is possible he might have had a son - Frank Phipps. As in 1901, his parents, James and Elizabeth Phipps are living with a a grandson Frank Phipps, born in 1894. Given he is called Phipps, he is most likely to be the son of one of James Phipps' sons - James, William or Frederick. However, at this time both William and Frederick are single. It is possibly therefore James' son, but the possibility that Frank is the out-of-wedlock child of one of the other Phipps children cannot be ruled out. I'd be interested in finding out more.



Where was James Phipps born, and who were his parents?

Most census returns state that James Phipps was born aroun 1847. His stated birthplace varies:
1851- Sedgley, Staffs
1861- Broseley, Salop
1871- Sedgley, Staffs
1881- Coseley, Staffs
1891- Coseley, Staffs
1901- Brownhills, Staffs
Also see here for more information and click here for an excellent map of the 9 villages of Sedgley Manor.


From James Phipps' marriage certificate to Elizabeth Gibbons, I found that his father was called John Phipps and his mother Mary Phipps. This enabled me to find his family in earlier censuses.

John Phipps is a widower in 1861, Living at Cinder Hill, in the village of Ettingshall, Sedgley






John Phipps and family in 1851 - "Ivy House Lane", Coseley, Staffs. Like his son James Phipps, John Phipps was also an engine worker in Staffs. John's wife Mary is still alive and is 15 years his junior.








Location of IvyHouse Lane in Coseley:



















It appears that the family originated in Shropshire, and then made the move to Staffordshire for work in the mining trade around about 1846 - this was not a huge migration. Broseley and Madeley are close to Telford, and still effectively in the Black Country.



John Phipps before 1846?
I have not been able to find John Phipps in the 1841 census, beyond any doubt. However, presuming that he was still in Shropshire, then I found only two John Phipps living in Shropshire - one of these was living in Broseley! His wife is called Mary Ann and he has a 9month old daughter Georgiana. This John and Mary are of roughly the right age, although he is called a labourer. It is possible that this is the right John Phipps but I would need to confirm with parish records.

The 'possible' 1841 John Phipps:







John Phipps appears to have married at least twice, . The last wife he has is called Jane and was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire. He seems to have married her after 1861. - He is living in 1871 with Jane at 13 Ebenezer St., Sedgley and he is still working as a colliery engine driver.


What about the parents of John Phipps?

Click here for more information

Navigating Around This Site

I hope that I have made this site fairly easy to navigate around.

1. One way to navigate would be to follow the link to 'My great-grandparents'. Here, you will be able to click on each of my great-grandparents and follow the pages and links within pages from there, to follow the ancestry backwards and forwards.


2. Alternatively, follow the links by clicking on one of the category kewords in the sidebar. This will enable you to find out more about individual family names, places or histories.


To navigate between pages, it is probably best to find the page of interest down the right hand side and then click the 'back page' on the browser to get back to the list of posts.

Also, I've included as many links between pages and to other pages of use/interest as possible. I hope that this will make it a little easier to navigate between pages.

History of Coal Mining

Having reviewed both of my mother's grandmothers' genealogies. One striking pattern emerges, which is that ALL of the males so far have been coal miners.

My nan's mother's family were miners in North-East England, moving to-and-forth between Durham, Northumberland and Cumberland, probably where there was work.

My grandad's mother's family were miners in the Black Country, concentrated in West Bromwich, though after 1900 they moved to Catleford, West Yorkshire.

I thought it may be of interest for people to read about what mining was like in 1800-1900 England. Rather than me repeat what others have written, I recommend the following links:

Description of a 19th Century Miner's Daily Life

Great information and archive material for Durham mining

Durham Mining Museum

Some Staffordshire Mining History

West Bromwich Mining History (scroll down page)

Background information on West Bromwich

Brief Black Country History

Lots of UK coal mining history

'Down the Mine' - Essay by George Orwell

List of Individuals who died in Durham Mining Accidents

List of Mining Occupations

Within the pages of the websites linked above there are many books on the subject.

For a more academic approach, the following paper may be of interest:

Dov Friedlander, "Occupational Structure, Wages, and Migration in Late Nineteenth-Century England and Wales", Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 40, No. 2. (Jan., 1992), pp. 295-318.



This is a picture of a Northumberland Miner and his family, taken from the site of the first link of this post

Evans & Oakley of West Bromwich

Eliza Beatrice Evans was the mother of Elsie Wilkes - my great-great-grandmother.

She came from West Bromwich originally, but moved with her husband John Thomas Wilkes to Castleford at some point after the turn of the last century.

Her father was Thomas Evans and her grandfather William Evans. They were all miners from West Bromwich, but perhaps from Wales before that.

Her mother was called Mary Ann Oakley, and her father was called John Oakley, also a miner.

I have pieced this together from marriage certificates, but I do not have much census information as the names Evans and Oakley are very common names in the census and I cannot be therefore completely sure of uniquely identifying them.

Wilkes 1800-1850

The Wilkes family 1800-1850




So, I had discovered that Elsie Wilkes' father was John Thomas Wilkes and that his father was Samuel Wilkes (b1852). I found that Samuel Wilkes' parents were Samuel Wilkes and Jane Wilkes (nee Cox) as I was able to get his birth certificate. I was then able to follow this family by getting their marriage certificates and census records.



Samuel Wilkes

Samuel Wilkes was born in about 1829 in West Bromwich and married Jane Cox on Monday, 17^th July 1848. They had at least 11 children although not all survived. His father according to his marriage certificate was a Joseph Wilkes, miner, and Samuel was also a miner. Jane Cox’s father was John Cox a miner, and all lived in Tipton.

I won't put all the census images for Samuel and his father Joseph on here, but here is the earliest census return for Joseph Wilkes in 1841:

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).

My great-grandparents (Read this one first)

Thomas Curley - his mother, his father.
Mary Driscoll - her mother, her father.

Thomas Green - his mother, his father.
Mary Jane Phipps - her mother, her father.

David Hughes - his mother, his father
Elsie Wilkes - her mother, her father.

Harold Wright - his mother, him/his father.
Catherine Annie Hughes - her mother, her father.


A blog such as this is not the ideal website format to store and present genealogy and family history information. However, as I am not particularly computer-savvy it is going to have to suffice in the short-term. Nevertheless, it does have some advantages over other family history websites which just describe family trees and details of individuals. I hope to be able to describe using this blog 'how' I found out this information, something which may be of interest to other family historians. Also, it enables readers to easily post comments, which I hope you do.

Also you may like to see this entry, which describes why I started doing family history in the first place.

Click on the names of each great-grandparents' parents above to find out more about their families. From each page you should be able to get back to this page or go on to find out more about their ancestors.

Alternatively, click on each surname in the sidebar to find all posts relevant for that family.

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