G4 Grandparents

Job Clifton

Job Clifton was baptised on 23 Dec 1734 at Christ Church Oldbury. His father was also called Job Clifton. Continue reading →
Last updated on 26 February 2023 by JJ Morgan

Joseph Showell

Joseph Showell was baptized on 18 Aug 1769 in St Edburgha’s in Yardley to the East of the then small town of Birmingham. His father was Thomas Rhodes Showell, a victualler and his mother Mary Bissell, from nearby Bickenhill. The Showells came from a stock of middling yeoman farmers based around Sheldon, Coventry and Monks Kirby. Joseph’s grandparents – Joseph Showell and Elizabeth Rhodes were married in St Edburghas in 1729. His grandson Walter Showell, the brewer clearly felt a strong affinity to his heritage in Birmingham and its past, when he famously published the Dictionary of Birmingham in 1885. Continue reading →
Last updated on 4 October 2019 by JJ Morgan

Joseph Hartill

Joseph Hartill was baptized on 11 Oct 1772 in St Thomas Dudley. His father John Hartill would appear to be a relatively wealthy and active citizen of the burgeoning industrial town of Dudley. It is reasonable to think that the John Hartill who leaves a will in 1812 is indeed his father. Here John Hartill appoints his son Joseph as executor and leaves money to his daughter Anne Cooke, wife of James Cooke. John Hartill’s profession is recorded as broker. Joseph Hartill’s mother was Margery Cartwright, possibly a relation of the Vicar of Dudley Joseph Cartwright (1743-1812). Continue reading →
Last updated on 2 October 2017 by JJ Morgan

Isaac Thompson

Isaac Thompson was born in about 1772 to a non-conformist family in Sedgley, Staffordshire. He went into business as a Japanner and owned a Japan Factory in Oxford Street in Bilston. Records of some of his property dealings are available in the Wolverhampton Archives (Ref DX-510 from 1807-1828). His father Richard Thompson came from a line of Locksmiths in Sedgley and it is probably he who first ventured into this specialism of the metal trade.  Continue reading →
Last updated on 1 January 2018 by JJ Morgan

Samuel Chiswick

Samuel Chiswick was baptized on 27 May 1740 at St Dunstan’s Stepney, the eldest son of Samuel Chiswick, a miller from Poplar. The parish records give a fair amount of details of his life. He was the first of a long line of the Chiswick family who became coopers in the East End of London. Continue reading →
Last updated on 17 October 2017 by JJ Morgan

John Warmington

John Warmington was born in about 1766 probably in Hook Norton in Oxfordshire. His father was Joseph Warmington, farmer and yeoman. The Warmington family can be traced back several hundred years in north Oxfordshire and are probably linked with the village of Warmington just north of Banbury. Continue reading →
Last updated on 4 June 2020 by JJ Morgan

Jeremiah Dimmack

Jeremiah Dimmack was born in Kingswinford in about 1781, the only son of Richard Harper Dimmack and Jane Thomings. He was baptized on 7 Oct 1781 in Brierley Hill. His mother died when he was very young and was buried in Brierley Hill on 9 Sep 1783.  His father promptly remarried his wife’s sister Sarah Thomings on 6 Dec 1784 in Halesowen. His grandfather was Jeremiah Thomings. Continue reading →
Last updated on 31 March 2018 by JJ Morgan

Priscilla Onions

Priscilla Bacon or Onions was born on 12 May 1782 in Kingswinford, Staffordshire. The date of birth is recorded in the Cheshire bible. There is also an IGI baptismal entry on the same date for Priscilla Croft Bacon. It seems unlikely though that she was baptized on her day of birth. Her mother was Anna Maria Bacon. If her father was John Onions, he did not in fact marry her mother until 12 July 1785, when Priscilla would have been three years of age. It is a strong possibility that her father was therefore a Mr Croft. Continue reading →
Last updated on 10 January 2024 by JJ Morgan

John Cheshire

John Cheshire was born on 2 Mar 1776, the eldest son of Edward Cheshire and his wife Eleanor. Details of his siblings all survive in the Cheshire Family Bible. He was baptised on 12 May 1776 at St Leonard’s Bilston and seems to have spent most of his life in the Smethwick-Oldbury area. Continue reading →
Last updated on 10 January 2024 by JJ Morgan

John Evans

John Evans was born about 1740, possibly in Shifnal in Shropshire. Most of what we know about him comes from his will of 1784 obtained from Lichfield Record Office, where he is described as an Innkeeper. He made his will “being sick and weak in body” at the age of about 44. He died a short time later, but his signature is relatively firm. He had married Mary Owen on 28 Jun 1767 and had six children. At his death, his eldest son Richard was 15, his youngest son John was only 3. Continue reading →
Last updated on 5 February 2019 by JJ Morgan

Thomas Styles

Thomas Styles was probably born in the small Worcestershire village of Kington in 1739. Importantly his will of 1811 identifies his surviving children. These include Sarah Evans, wife of Richard Evans, to whom he left £1000 and who was in fact to die in the year following her father. Thomas Styles was a wealthy inn holder and his family formed a very natural alliance with the Evans’s of the Red Lion in Wolverhampton. The picture below shows the “Crown Inn” in Stone Staffordshire that he appears to have acquired later in his life. It is more than likely, in fact, that he had it built as the image would appear to be advertising a new inn and its strategic position as an interchange of coach routes between Chester, Liverpool, London, Bath and Bristol Continue reading →
Last updated on 10 July 2022 by JJ Morgan

Robert Humphrey Marten

Robert Humphrey Marten was born in 1763 to a non conformist family in Whitechapel. Robert’s father Nathaniel had established a place in The City of London in the Cooks’ company, which formed a base for Robert Humphrey’s particularly varied and interesting career. Continue reading →
Last updated on 15 January 2024 by JJ Morgan

Thomas Shaw-Hellier

Thomas Shaw was baptised on 1 Oct 1732, the son of Thomas Shaw of Sinder Hill, Sedgley. His father is incorrectly given in some nineteenth century publications of Staffordshire families as James Shaw (1710-1776) of Dudley, an attorney by training. This was in fact his father-in-law as in about 1756 Thomas Shaw married Mary Shaw, James Shaw’s eldest daughter.  Continue reading →
Last updated on 31 July 2023 by JJ Morgan

Mary Owen

Mary Evans was born Mary Owen, probably in about 1743 and must have come from a wealthy family, receiving a good education. She was a key figure in establishing the Evans family in the coaching business in Wolverhampton. Because a Daniel Banton was guardian to her children and executor of her husband’s will, it has long been speculated that her maiden name was Banton. Continue reading →
Last updated on 31 March 2018 by JJ Morgan