Susannah Horton married Edmund Clifton in St Philip’s Birmingham on 25 Mar 1805. Through the parish records of Smethwick Old Church, we can link her to her sisters and confidently state that her father was Joseph Horton of Smethwick and her mother was called Elizabeth. Joseph was possibly baptized on 4 Apr 1738.
Joseph was probably a small holder in Oldbury with a few livestock. He has left little record, no will and was almost certainly illiterate. When his youngest son, Thomas, is buried aged two years on 13 Feb 1788, he is described as a pauper. This description must be directly related to the burial of Joseph Horton on 26 Jul 1786 and shows the poverty brought to a family when the breadwinner dies suddenly. The Monumental Inscription in Smethwick Old Church reads as follows:-
In loving memory of Joseph Horton who died 26 Jul 1786 aged 46 years.
Also John and Thomas his sons who died young.
Likewise Elizabeth wife of the above, who died September 22, 1824, aged 79 years.
“A careful loving wife, a tender nursing mother, a neighbour free from strife a pattern for all other”
This epitaph certainly looks as if it was not written until after Elizabeth’s death and in more fortunate times. This might explain some of the slight discrepancies in age and the fact the date of death and burial are the same.
Records, however, would show that events for the young family seem to have changed for the better by 1791 with the marriage of the oldest daughter, Ann Horton, to Thomas Collins. Thomas and Ann Collins are the witnesses on the marriage of Susannah and Edmund in 1805. Whilst all the Hortons and Cliftons at this time are unable to sign their names, Thomas Collins is literate, even if his signature is a little awkward. He was clearly a successful farmer and butcher.
The marriage bond in 1805 has also survived. Interestingly it shows that the officiating priest is Edward Dales, at the time reader at St Philips. Rev Edward Dales was to go on to be the Curate at Smethwick Old Church from 1814 until his death in 1850. The loyalty of members of the Horton, Collins, Clifton and Downing family to that church must in some part be due to their ties to Edward Dales. No marriages were performed at the church as its status, at that time, was that of a Chapel of Ease.
If we tie the baptisms in the Smethwick Old Church register to various later marriages mainly in Birmingham and the respective wills, we have a pattern of small time pig and cattle farmers that advance socially and become far more affluent and literate butchers, livestock dealers and victualers, in subsequent generations.
Joseph’s children are baptized and buried in Smethwick Old Church as follows:-
- Ann Horton – bap 21 Aug 1774. married Thomas Collins on 5 Oct 1791, St Martin’s Birmingham. The will of Thomas Collins in 1829 shows he is an affluent Farmer and Butcher. Ann Collins is buried in Smethwick Old Church on 20 Mar 1833 alongside her husband.
- Joseph Horton bap 5 May 1776, m1 Hannah Harrison, m2 Charlotte, widow of Thomas Green, buried 15 Oct 1836, left a will Probate 1837
- Elizabeth Horton bap 17 Dec 1777, mar Isaac Bates 30 Dec 1799, buried 11 Oct 1853
- John Horton – no baptism found, bur 10 Jan 1781
- Mary Horton – bap 18 Apr 1779, mar Thomas Felton, Swineherd, bur 18 Jun 1854 MI
- Sarah Horton – bap 14 Apr 1782, m1 William Fenton, Pig Dealer, m2 Thomas Standley, Pig Dealer, bur 15 Feb 1871
- Susannah Horton – bap 27 Jul 1783, mar Edmund Clifton, bur 5 Jun 1841
- Thomas Horton bap 24 Jul 1785, bur 13 Feb 1788 – died aged two.
The web of farmers and butchers gets even more intertwined in the next two generations with multiple cousin marriages.
In particular the descendants of Thomas Collins, that is to say Joseph Horton’s grandchildren by his daughter Ann, marry into other families discussed on this site.. His grandson Thomas Collins married Anna-Maria Cheshire daughter of John Cheshire. Anna-Maria died in 1838 and Thomas remarried his cousin Catherine Clifton. Catherine Clifton. was in fact the widow of another of Thomas’s sons William and was the niece of Edmund Clifton the son in law of Joseph. Finally the grandson Joseph Collins married his first cousin Elizabeth Clifton, the daughter of Edmund Clifton.
The marriage between a Joseph Horton and Elizabeth Lewis on 21 Feb 1773 at St Philip’s Birmingham would appear to be correct but no other evidence as of yet can be found to corroborate it.
Sources and Notes
- Smethwick Old Church Parish Register (FreeReg)
- Monumental Inscriptions of Smethwick Old Church, BMSGH
- Will of Joseph Horton of Edgbaston, PCC Probate 3 Oct 1837 (Son)
- Will of Thomas Collins, PCC Probate 6 Oct 1829 (Son-in-law)
- There is a John Reddall Horton baptized in the Old Church in 1749. He could be a younger half-brother to Joseph. He is literate and later spells his name Haughton. He would appear to be a witness at the marriage of Joseph Horton (Jun) in 1799. He could also be the John Haughton deceased mentioned in the will of Thomas Collins in 1829.