Because I inherited a great deal of information about the Gent family from my great grandfather, I have given a great deal of attention to the maternal line of my ancestry, building in some cases on my great grandfather's research, and in others it is my own research. Some of this material I have already made available on the internet, some is material I have stored on my computer.
I shall try to summarise the information that is presented here so that it makes more sense. The evidence that I have included, from myself and other researchers, can be overwhelming. It makes sense to me, as I have lived with much of the information for decades, but needs to be presented in a more digestible form.

Schiff
I have completed a great deal of research about the Schiff family that can be accessed here:
1. Website
2. Blog
3. Research materials

Madriz

The Madriz Family of Gorizia

Some ten years ago I first began to research my grandmother’s family, from Gorizia. I discovered from telephone directories and other web sites that the surname was very localized, occurring chiefly in Gorizia and the surrounding area, with one other grouping of the surname near Genova. I conjectured that the surname might be of Spanish origin, and indeed the surname did occur in sixteenth century Spain, being associated with the city of Madrid, and the surname is quite common now in Latin America. However, I also suggested that the surname might be a variant of the Austrian surname Madritsch. [Since then I have discovered that the surname is almost certainly Friulian, from the village of Madrisio, a hamlet between Udine and Spilimbergo.]

In October 2003 I made two visits to Gorizia. Thanks to the internet, I had been able to send an email to the parish church of San Rocco at Gorizia, where my mother was baptized in 1927. On October 3^rd I caught the 8.11 train from Trieste, arriving at Gorizia less than an hour later, and then made my way on foot to the church of San Rocco, asking my way and making use of a tourist guide map I collected on a previous visit.

I found the church and went in. People working in there directed me to the neighbouring presbytery, where I went after taking some photographs of the interior.

At the presbytery I introduced myself to Monsignor Dipiazza, who knew of me from my email and was expecting me. He gave me free use of the many volumes of baptisms, marriages and burials, covering a period of just over two hundred years, and allowing me the use of the large dining room table to work at.

I had some names in mind: Madriz, of course, and also Pintar, Buzik and Fornasaric. I started with the volume of baptisms for the period 1882 to 1898 and found fifteen members of the Madriz family. I then looked at marriages for the period 1855 to 1881 and found just two entries. The volume of marriages for 1882 to 1904 contained just one marriage, that of my great grandfather Antonio. The second volume of marriages, 1820 to 1854 contained no Madriz marriage in its contents, but there were some members of the family recorded as mothers in law or witnesses. The very first register of marriages, covering 1785 to 1819 had several mentions of the Fornasarig family, but also the exciting entry for the marriage of Valentino Madriz to Maria Calot in 1810.

I then turned to baptisms, starting with a late volume because I wanted to discover more about my grandmother’s brothers and sisters, especially as I wanted to clarify the tradition that some brothers had been shot attempting to go and fight for Italy in the First World War, and to link this with the three Madriz family members recorded in Ettore Kers’ book ‘I Deportati’. I found births of people who were presumably cousins, and the births of her brothers and sisters of whom I had known nothing, but the first entry referring to my family was a sad confirmation of a tradition. My aunt Loredana came to see me in Trieste last year, and recalled a story of a brother or sister of her mother who had drowned in the river Isonzo. There was the entry: ‘Melita Joanna’, it read in Latin, giving her parents’ names, and with the later footnote: ‘in fundis fluminis Sontii 28/7/1912’. I then turned to the registers of burials, but did not find her, which suggests that sadly her body was not recovered.

There were many deaths recorded, including those of my grandmother’s brothers and sisters. In September 1898 Michele died, aged just two weeks, from enteritis. In January 1904 Pierina died, aged eight months, of bronchitis. In March 1908 Mario died, a day old. In September 1910 Luigi died, aged four months, from gastroenteritis. Two months later Antonio died, aged eight, of bronchitis. Less than two years later came Melita’s untimely death, already mentioned. With the outbreak of hostilities their mother too was to die, possibly some time in 1917, in hospital in Laibach, now Lubljana, far from her family. Her death is unrecorded in the register for that reason. Antonio himself was to die on 15^th February 1928, having received all the sacraments, from ‘pulmonitis omposa’. My mother says that he had come from Gorizia to visit her and her parents in Trieste, where they were living in Via Tigor. It was her first birthday on February 6^th, perhaps that was the reason for his visit. On the way back to the railway station he was caught in a heavy shower of rain, and consequently caught a severe chill, which led to his death from pneumonia aged 59.

I returned to Gorizia a few days later, on October 7^th, and spent the morning extracting further entries from the earlier registers of baptisms, and in the afternoon I made the long walk to the cemetery of Gorizia, where I found many graves of more recent members of the family in particular. Unfortunately most older graves did not survive, because of the practice of recycling burial plots and removing remains and monuments.

I then attempted to collate all the information that I had, which proved not too difficult because of the practice of recording the names of all four parents at a marriage, including maiden names. One confusion took a little while to sort out: my great great grandmother was variously known as Anna, Maria, and Anna Maria, and her surname was spelt in different ways: Fornasaric and Fornasarig.

Interestingly, Valentino Madriz and his son Giovanni were recorded in 1857 with the spelling Madritz. This reminded me of the theory of the origin of the surname as being from the Austrian Madritsch. To test this out, I checked for the distribution of the surname in modern Austria. The telephone directory showed 160 entries for the surname, and perhaps not surprisingly, they seemed to be concentrated in that part of Austria closest to Gorizia, which reinforces the theory. The family itself claimed to have come ‘from Austria’, meaning Austria proper, and that tradition appears to have been possibly correct.

And who were the Madriz family? The records are brief, but occupations are often given. My ancestors are described as ‘rusticus’: countryman, or ‘villicus’: peasant, and ‘agricola’: farmer. My great grandfather Antonio is described always as a ‘sutor’, a shoemaker, or cobbler. Others, such as his brother Giovanni, are described as ‘coriarius’, a currier, or leather-dresser, a trade akin to that of the cobbler, and another brother, Giuseppe, is described as a ‘cordicoriarius’, whose meaning I do not know, but which appears to be related to the leather trades.

The Madriz family dwelt in the parish of San Rocco for over one hundred years, in via Macello, via Parcar, and from 1903 via Aprica, where my cousins still live. They spoke the Gorizian version of Friulian, the language of north-eastern Italy, though some of their wives may have come from Slovene-speaking families, as is suggested by their surnames. San Rocco was always the agricultural suburb of Gorizia. The earliest members of the family seem to have lived a little further to the east out of Gorizia, at Rosenthal, later called Val di Rose, and now in Slovenia. The life of those people was undoubtedly hard, though very rich in other ways. San Rocco is still renowned for preserving many folk customs, many of which are recounted in the recent book ‘Gorizia Felix nel 1800’.It was a way of life though that was shattered during the First World War. My grandmother was fortunate to find somebody who truly loved her, and was committed to her, and who surmounted many obstacles in order to marry her. I have to admire them both for being determined to stay together, and to build their life together.

The Madriz family continues at Gorizia, and I now know that they are my second and third cousins. Now that I am able to visit Gorizia frequently, I hope to discover more. I must visit the other parish churches and the cathedral, hopefully to see their records. In that way I might discover more about my great grandmother, maria Pintar, who was born at Gorizia in 1874. The Pintar family is more well known as living in the Collio area, the wine-growing hills that surround Gorizia. The surname is also very common in Slovenia. The State Archives in Gorizia are now accessible, even though many records were lost or damaged as a consequence of two world wars. The census records for Gorizia from 1830 to 1910 are, I believe, preserved in the State Archives in Trieste. All these sources, and hopefully many more, will reveal a few more clues, but now I feel satisfied that I know my grandmother’s family a little better, I can imagine the kind of people they were, and the kind of lives they lived, and the experiences they underwent.

Bibliography
Gorizia Felix nel 1800, Maria Rosaria De Vitis Piemonti, Gorizia, 2002
I Deportati della Venezia Giulia nella Guerra di Liberazione, Ettore Kers, Milano 1923
“Un Esilio che non ha pari”: 1914–1918 Profughi, internati ed emigrati di Trieste, dell’Isontino e dell’Istria, Franco Cecotti, Gorizia 2001
8–9 Agosto 1916: La Presa di Gorizia. Immagini, documenti, memorie, Maria Masau Dan and Annalia Delneri, Gorizia 1990
Gorizia 1001–2001: Gli Sloveni di Gorizia, Gorizia 2002
Il Parlare di Gorizia e l’Italiano, Carlo Vignoli, Roma 1917 (reprinted Bologna 1970)

Finzi

These pages bring together much information that I discovered about my relations thanks to searches on the internet. They are the descendants of Elsa Finzi, my great grandmother's sister. The family tree is, as far as I know, like this.

At the turn of the nineteenth century my great grandfather, Silvio Schiff, married Emilia Finzi, daughter of one of Italy's oldest Jewish families, members of Ferrara's Jewish community, a community since made famous by the novels of Giorgio Bassani. 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis' was later made into a film by Vittorio de Sica, capturing the lifestyle of these assimilated, wealthy, Italian-Jewish families.

I found out more about her family in 1966, when I stayed with my grandfather and his new wife and family. On the 14th August that year it was his sixty-second birthday, and his aunt Elsa came to visit him, as she had the custom of doing, and I had the opportunity of talking to her about her family and her ancestors. She was my great grandmother's younger sister. She recalled that her father, Constantino Finzi, was the son of Guglielmo Finzi of Ferrara. Her mother was Emma Teglio, eldest of the thirteen children of Laudadio Teglio of Modena. Herself born at Genoa, Elsa was a rebel, feminist, acquaintance of the Pankhursts and Rosa Luxemburg, who refused to marry the father of her daughter Anna Rosa, one Canitano. During the war she fought with the partisans against the Fascists and the Germans. But she left her Jewish faith and became a Waldensian, an obscure Protestant sect founded in the Middle Ages. She lived at 11, Via Santa Maria alla Porta in Milan until her death. I believe her relationship with her daughter was unhappy. Certainly she disliked children. At my grandfather's on his birthday she would stand up and cross the room to another chair whenever approached by his young daughter Magda, then aged two. At her funeral many former members of the resistance came. Her daughter Anna lived in London for a while, married to Riccardo Aragno, an intellectual I once heard taking part in a discussion on Radio 3. They had two daughters, Anna and Susanna, one of whom was a ballet dancer.

Emma Teglio, mother of Emilia Finzi, and grandmother of Nonno Giulio

Emilia Finzi, her youngest sister Elsa, a 1905 De Dion Bouthon car, and a chauffeur

Silvio Schiff, his wife Emilia Finzi, the 1905 De Dion Bouthon, and the chauffeur

Silvio and Emilia only had one child, my grandfather Giulio Cesare, who was born on the 14th August, 1904. I do not know where they married, but I presume it was a Jewish wedding, though they do not seem to have practised their Judaism in any way at all. My grandfather said that he was not even circumcised, which is surprising, and indicates perhaps how completely assimilated they had become. When he was only seven his mother died of tuberculosis on 14th November, 1911 at Chiavenna, high in the Italian Alps, whilst returning from St Moritz where she had been convalescing. She was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Milan.

Emilia Finzi, wife of Silvio Schiff (this is the photograph that was on her grave)

This is the family tree of the Finzi family as told to me by Elsa Finzi in 1966.

Elsa Finzi

She was my great grandmother's younger sister. She recalled that her father, Constantino Finzi, was the son of Guglielmo Finzi of Ferrara. Her mother was Emma Teglio, eldest of the thirteen children of Laudadio Teglio of Modena.

Constantino Finzi, Elsa's father

Emma Teglio, Elsa's mother

Laudadio Teglio, Elsa's grandfather

Carolina Teglio, née Teglio, his wife

Herself born at Genoa, Elsa was a rebel, feminist, acquaintance of the Pankhursts and Rosa Luxemburg, who refused to marry the father of her daughter Anna Rosa, one Saverio Canitano.

Anna Rosa Canitano Aragno, Elsa's daughter

During the war she fought with the partisans against the Fascists and the Germans. But she left her Jewish faith and became a Waldensian, an obscure Protestant sect founded in the Middle Ages. She lived at 11, Via Santa Maria alla Porta in Milan until her death.
I believe her relationship with her daughter was unhappy. Certainly she disliked children. At my grandfather's on his birthday she would stand up and cross the room to another chair whenever approached by his young daughter Magda, then aged two. At her funeral many former members of the resistance came. Her daughter Anna lived in London for a while, married to Riccardo Aragno, an intellectual I once heard taking part in a discussion on Radio 3. They had two daughters, Anna and Susanna, one of whom was a ballet dancer.
[Written from my notes originally taken in 1964]

Elsa Finzi, n. a Genova il 14.5.1891. Fu arrestata nella primavera del 1942 assieme a un gruppo di antifascisti, tra cui Ferruccio Parri. Accusata di "costituzione di associazione antifascista, appartenenza alla stessa e propaganda", e processata, il 24.11.1942 fu assolta. (Si veda, in questo stesso elenco biografico, Anna Rosa Canitano).

Anna Rosa Canitano n. a Como il 19.11.1920, attrice. Faceva parte di un gruppo di antifascisti, tra cui Ferruccio Parri, arrestati nella primavera del 1942. Deferita al Tribunale speciale con altri 10 imputati e processata, il 24.11.1942 venne assolta. (Si veda, in questo stesso elenco biografico, Elsa Finzi).

CULTURE: AWARDS - ANDREA GAREFFI WINS "OSSI DI SEPPIA"

Rome, 14 Sept. (Adnkronos) - The Italianist Andrea Gareffi, with his book "Montale. La casa dei doganieri" (Studium) has won the "Ossi di Seppia" 2000 prize for essays. This has been decided by the jury presided over by Anna Canitano Aragno, composed by Claudio Cattaneo, Vittorio Coletti, Franco Contorbia, Anna Dolfi and Luigi Surdich.
The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, 16 September, at 21 hours in Levanto (La Spezia). Inspiring the award for this author was his essay dedicated to the work of Eugenio Montale, Nobel Prize Winner, published in the spring of 1999 and the spring of 2000. Tomorrow, 17 September, still at the ex-Convento degli Agostiniani di Levanto, a study conference will be held on the subject, "Eugenio Montale, il senso religioso".

Anna Aragno

"Anna Aragno, PhD, a psychoanalytic psychologist in private practice in New York City, is affiliated with the Postgraduate Centre for Mental health and the Washington Square Institute. recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Dr Aragno was born in Italy and has also lived in England, France, Russia, and the United States and is fluent in five languages.
Dr Aragno is now working on her second book, Forms of Knowledge."

THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP: ECHOES THROUGH TIME AN OVERVIEW GERD H. FENCHEL, PH.D. . Few conferences or symposia have been devoted specifically to the mother-daughter relationship and its consequences. It is not clear why we avoid the topic. What is clear is that it is a unique and intense relationship that often determines the future development of the woman. Its specialness is characterized by the following features. (I) the mother remains the identification object for the girl, not the boy, (2) it is an intense and ambivalent relationship, (3) it is a relationship between same gender persons and (4) it requires fusion as well as separation for the proper developmental sequence to occur. Difficulties that arise along the way will have efiectson body image, self-esteem regulations, career choices and relationship to men. Early analysts, including Freud, believed that the growing daughter had to make a libidinal connection with their father, thus seeing the mother as an oedipal rival. This process is the reverse of the growing boy who perceives the father as an oedipal rival for the attentions of his mother. Freud observed that a girl's sexuality had a 'bit of masculinity' in her that had to be overcome to develop into a 'feminine' woman. Jones (1924) described female donunance in a variety of primitive cultures and interpreted this to the wish to moderate the father's hostility- a transition of the oedipus complex. Since that time, recent theorists (Blum, 1977) have expanded our views on female development. Kestenberg (1968) called attention to the different focus boys and girls have toward inner and outer worlds. Women are more preoccupied with 'inner space' than men who have been oriented toward the externial world early on. It was assumed that girls are mystified by their anatomy and that hidden inner genitalia evoke such orientation. Sophie Freud (1991), granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, reflected that the mother has a large narcissistic investment in her children, particularly her daughters. Thus they transmit female narcissism through the generations. It becomes an adaptive effort at controlling their environment inner and outer. Women's survival depends on loving and being loved which is displayed in their relationship to their daughters. Narcissistic involvements are ambivalent and can easily evolve into sadomasochistic relationships. Sophie Freud comments how often we observe cruelty and negativity in such relationships. This is a focus when we talk about the intimate mother-daughter dyad, In order to develop into a woman a daughter needs sufficient libidinal resources to identify with her female partner-overcoming the ambivalence in order to have the confidence to go out into the world and find her own man to be loved by him as she was loved by her mother and as her mother was loved by her father. Where the mixture of feelings go awry there are disturbances in self representations, conflict in gender identification, career problems and difficulties in intimate relationships with men. Our panelists will look at an intergenerational research study that observes the personality of young girls growing up and becoming mothers and their sense of mothering directed to their children. We shall also explore the motivations for women who need two men in their lives and the effects of sexual and other maternal abuse of a daughter - the famous poet Ann Sexton.
Table of Contents
THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP: ECHOES THROUGH TIME, An Overview Gerd H. Fenchel, Ph.D. . LOVE, ADMIRATION AND IDENTIFICATION: ON THE INTRICACIES OF MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS Anni Bergman, Ph.D. and Maria Fahey ... SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CREATION OF CHARACTER: Ava L. Siegler, Ph.D . ANNE SEXTON AND CHILD ABUSE Arlene Kramer Richards, Ed.D FEMALE KIN: FUNCTIONS OF THE META-IDENTIFICATION OF WOMANHOOD Judith B. Rosenberger, Ph.D PART II ADOLESCENCE
DIE SO THAT I MAY LIVE!: A PSYCHOANALYTIC ESSAY ON THE ADOLESCENT GIRL'S STRUGGLE TO DELIMIT HER IDENTY Anna Aragno
DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE REVISITED: AMBIVALENCE AND SEPARATION IN THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP Molly Walsh Donovanv, Ph.D. PART III MARRIAGE AND MATERNITY MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS: DAYDREAMS AND MUTUALITY Diane Bart, M.S.W. THE EFFECT OF ROLE REVERSAL ON DELAYED MARRIAGE AND MATERNITY: Maira V. Bergmann, Ph.D. VANITY: OF MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS Joel S. Bernstein, Ph.D. THE MEDEA COMPLEX AND THE PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME: WHEN MOTHERS DAMAGE THEIR DAUGHTERS' ABILITY TO LOVE A MAN Robert M. Gordon, Ph.D. THE IMPACT OF THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP ON WOMEN'S RELATIONSHIPS WITH MEN: THE TWO-MAN PHENOMENON Dale Mendell, Ph.D. PART IV CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS - THE TIE THAT BINDS: EARLY IDENTIFICATION AND THE PSYCHOTHERAPY OF WOMEN Ronald Katz, Ph.D. "WILL YOU BE ABLE TO HEAR ME?": SOME ASPECTS OF THE TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE WITHIN THE DYAD OF A YOUNG FEMALE THERAPIST AND AN OLDER FEMALE PATIENT Agnieszka Leznicka-Los, M.A. "AM I MY MOTHER'S KEEPER?": CERTAIN VICISSSITUDES CONCERNING ENVY IN THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER DYAD Marilyn B. Meyers, Ph.D. UNCONSIOUS CONFLICTS IN THE PREOEDIPAL MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP AS REVEALED THROUGH DREAMS: Jill C. Morris, Ph.D. TRANSFERENCE-CURE IN THE POSITIVE-OEDIPAL, MOTHER-DAUGHTER DIMENSIONS OF COUNTERTRANSFERENCE AND THERAPEUTIC REPAIR: Roberta Ann Shechter, Ph.D. PART V AGING PARENTS MINISTERING TO THE DYING MOTHER: REPARATIVE AND PSYCHODYNAMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FEMALE PATIENT Helen O. Adler, M.S.W.
To Order call Order Department, Jason Aronson Inc. Publishers: 1-800-782-0015 Links to other WSI publications * Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology Vol 20 * Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology Vol 21 * Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology Vol 19 * Psychoanalysis At 100 *

«Natascia Diaz comes by her performing talent naturally: her Puerto Rican father, Justino Diaz, is an opera singer, and her Italian mother, Anna Aragno, was a ballerina before becoming a psychoanalyst.»

Justino Diaz

November 15, 1996 Anita in ' West Side Story' soars, but Tony crashes again
By Kenneth Jones / Special to The Detroit News Despite its depressing Romeo and Juliet ending, West Side Story is remembered for the hopefulness that runs throughout the masterpiece score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.
Anticipation, yearning and hope color the best songs that tell the story of urban-jungle lovers who hitch despite their warring, racially divided families: "Something's Coming," "Tonight," "Somewhere," "One Hand, One Heart," and, in not so subtle religious terms, "Maria."
"Say it soft," sings Tony of Maria's name, "and it's almost like praying."
That's hope for you.
At the Detroit Opera House, where the national touring company claimed turf Wednesday night just 14 months after rumbling at the Fisher Theatre, West Side Story again shows us that the hopeful sentiment "maybe tonight," sung by Polish-American street kid Tony, is the shared wish of the entire community of characters.
"Maybe tonight" is roughly the thought of a theatergoer who sat through this tour's early run in September 1996, when the actor playing Tony couldn't quite hit his notes and Natascia A. Diaz was so hot as Anita she scorched your program.
The wonderful Diaz is back, playing with guts and sex, driving into Puerto Rican Maria for taking up with a boy who is not her "own kind." She continues to be a knockout triple-threat actress-singer-dancer.
While Sharen Camille offers a soprano full of feeling and clarity as Maria, Jeremy Koch is a watery, dull tenor who sings Tony as if he's in love with a fire plug. No life.
Tony is no easy feat. Director Alan Johnson does not reinvent Jerome Robbins' original physical staging, which traps Tony in front of the curtain to sing "Something's Coming" and "Maria." A better actor could get away with it -- maybe.
One day, when this show is more removed from Robbins, a new director will let Tony play more freely in an open space, and will find a way to make the "Tonight" quintet as exciting to look at as it is to hear.
Here, that prerumble sequence is another front-of-scrim number sung by terrific singer-dancers who don't dance because the set is being changed behind the drop. Clunky. Very 1959.
The payoff of this revival is the Robbins choreography -- urban jazz ballet full of tension and release; fights tempered with fantasia.
It is still beautifully conceived and danced with ferocity and detail by a smashing ensemble.
Kenneth Jones is a Metro Detroit theater writer and critic.
Theater Review
'West Side Story'
Detroit Opera House.
Continues today through Nov. 24.
Tickets: $22.50-$75. Call (810) 645-6666.
* * 1/2 {Applause}

Published Wednesday, December 11, 1996It's Jets vs. Sharks: 'West Side Story' hits the mark
BY SANDRA PARK
Turf wars have hit the streets of New Haven -- well at least on College Street. The Jets and the Sharks square off in the Shubert's revival of the original story of boys in the hood. And once again "West Side Story" manages to makes finger snapping cool and the mambo hot.
This adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet," set in New York City's West Side, reverberates with passion, humor and rhythm as Tony and Maria fall in love despite the cultural divide. From the engaging opening prologue to the surreal "Somewhere," this show is the perfect antidote for Yalies suffering from paper-induced stress disorder -- if only for two and a half hours.

Natascia Diaz brings down the house with an inspired and sassy performance of Bernardo's girlfriend, Anita. Her spicy dancing in "America," coupled with her witty delivery of familiar jokes from the show ("I want to go back to San Juan/I know a boat you can get on -- bye-bye") still manage to elicit hearty laughter. Proving her dramatic prowess, Diaz also pulls off a stirring rendition of "A Boy Like That," when Anita learns that Maria is still seeing the American Tony.
The energetic, fast-paced choreography is faithful to the fancy footwork of the 1961 film version of Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim musical. The gymnastics and perfect timing in the fight scenes and the elaborate numbers are alternately breathtaking and touching. "Gee, officer Krupke," a humorous song explaining why the Jets are "punks" left the audience in stitches, while expressing the sad economic realities of New York underclass.
The leads, Jeremy Koch and Sharen Camille plays the saccharine couple who fall in love at first sight. As Clueless' Cher would say, their scenes gave us a "toothache," but when Maria looks into Tony eyes and says "Te adoro Anton," one knows she means it. Maria's naivete comes through in Camille's act two opening "I feel pretty." As she bounces on her bed cradling a rose in her left hand and waving her right as if she were Miss America, the audience, privy to the rumble that has taken her brother's life, cannot wholeheartedly share her happiness knowing of the heartbreak to come.
West Side Story, although a little pricey, is a must see. We give it four snaps and a "daddy-o!"
West Side Story is playing at the Shubert until Dec. 22. Balcony seats start at $38.

From THE CAPEMAN:
Natascia A Diaz (Yolanda) Born to the theatre family of opera singer Justino Diaz and ballerina Anna Aragno, Natascia has performed professionally since she was nine. Trained at school of American Ballet, she recieved her B.F.A. with honors from Carnegie Mellon and has performed regionally, Off-Broadway, and in the Tony winner Carousel. Most recently, she appeared in HBO's "DaVinci" special after recieving accolades in the national press and Chicago's prestigious Jeff Award for her stellar performance as Anita in West Side Story.

Natascia A. Diaz: Cecelia in "Leonardo: A Dream of Flight"
Dancer-actress Natascia Diaz brings her multifaceted talents to play in deftly balancing her role as Il Moro's companion and Leonardo's confidante.
"Cecelia's life is comfortable, if not a bit regimented, but she's also privy to the Duke's grave concerns," says Diaz. "On the other hand, she would normally take it for granted that the Duke's artist would paint her, but she actually finds herself developing a very real connection with this extraordinary genius, Leonardo, who is struggling with a whole different set of problems. It was a very interesting part to play--and I loved it."
Natascia Diaz comes by her performing talent naturally: her Puerto Rican father, Justino Diaz, is an opera singer, and her Italian mother, Anna Aragno, was a ballerina before becoming a psychoanalyst. A first-generation American, she lovingly recalls "going backstage with my dad and touring with my mom," and at age three started taking ballet lessons herself. "I always wanted to dance," she says of her years studying at the School of American Ballet, the typical route to the New York City Ballet, "but it took me longer to realize that I also wanted to sing and act, and that maybe I'd be better expressing myself in ways other than just ballet." A key learning experience for Diaz had been Bel Voir Terrace, a Massachussets summer camp for the arts she began attending at age nine: "It was like college for young people: I did ballet, jazz, theatre, musicals, piano lessons." After high school, she entered the acting program at Carnegie-Mellon University, where a showcase production caught the eye of a casting agent for the daytime soap Another World. Roles on-stage in A My Name is Alice and The Country Wife soon followed, as did the shortlived Fox-TV series House of Buggin', starring John Lequizamo. "It was hyper-ridiculous stuff, but it was fun," she says. For the most part, though, she spent the early 1990s based in hit musicals like Carousel in New York, or touring in the likes of Man of La Mancha, Sweeney Todd and 42nd Street.
Cast as Anita in the North American tour of West Side Story, she happened to play Toronto, where producer David Devine caught her performance and invited her to audition for the role of Cecelia in Leonardo: A Dream of Flight. "I felt privileged to be asked," she said--and delighted when she won the role, traveled to Italy and took direction from Allan King. "I'm so lucky. This was the biggest break I've ever had. There aren't a lot of opportunities to play in quality work like this. People see me as Anita, so this was my chance to prove to myself--and David Devine, who took a gamble on me--that I am indeed an actress. I was in awe watching Brenda Bazinet, working with Brent Carver and Cedric Smith, so in a way I felt lucky that I could hide, sometimes, in the demureness of Cecelia."

After wrapping her role in Italy, Diaz rejoined the West Side Story tour with renewed energy, with the intention of accompanying the show as far as Broadway. Though she has spent much of her career thus far on the road, she likes to call New York home.

Teglio

I know little about the Teglio family, and apologise for that, but I share what I can.
There are in fact two towns, or communities, in Italy named Teglio. One, in the North east, is known as Teglio Veneto. The other, known as Teglio Lombardia, is to the North west of Milan, not far from the border with Switzerland and St Moritz, close to the town of Sondrio. I can only guess that the family took its name from the latter community. I have so far been unable to trace if either place ever possessed a Jewish community. Many Italian Jews took their surnames from their town of origin.
My great great aunt Elsa Finzi told me that her mother's family came from Modena. This lies to the south east of Milan in Emilia Romagna. Elsa's maternal grandparents were Laudadio and Carolina Teglio. We know that Laudadio's mother was known by the forename Chiarina, but nothing more. We know the names of some of Laudadio's siblings: Elvira; Stella who was born in 1835 and died in 1897, the wife of Giacomo Levi and mother of four children; and Abramino Teglio.
At some time in the 1850s Laudadio must have moved westwards to the great seaport of Genova, like Modena the home of a Jewish community. Laudadio was a member of the last generation to practise Judaism as a living religion, before the great assimilation that followed the Risorgimento. Laudadio was the founder of the salted fish importing business that is possibly still in existence today. He and his wife had thirteen children, Zia Elsa told me in 1964, of whom Emma was the eldest. Laudadio's sons Roberto, Federico and Guglielmo were the most active in the family business, according to the deeds of the factory they purchased in Polperro, Cornwall. Five of the children's names are unknown to me. Guglielmo's I have only just discovered, and his date of death in 1926 in Plymouth, England.
Emma Teglio, Laudadio's eldest daughter, married Costantino Finzi, son of Guglielmo Finzi, of Ferrara. She had two sons, Riccardo Finzi, father of Gianfranco, and Umberto. She also had two daughters, Emilia, who married Silvio Schiff (my great grandparents), and Elsa, the youngest, and the source of most of my information.
Zia Elsa told me of Roberto's sons Massimo and Mario. He also had three daughters: Emma, wife of Bruno DeBenedetti; and Margherita, who died in a concentration camp with her husband Achille Vitale and two children; and Laura, born in 1909, and who died in June, 1993 at Genova.
Zia Elsa did not tell me of Massimo's exploits in the Second World War helping his fellow Jews, though I think she knew of his enthusiasm for aeroplanes: he was a founder of the Genova Aeronautical Club.

Polperro

The fish quay, Polperro, c. 1900 [Photograph by A. E. Raddy of Looe]

Catching the Pilchards

Fishing boats in the harbour at Polperro, c. 1880.

Pilchard catch

Processing the Pilchards: Salting

Salting the pilchards, Sennen, 1907

Processing the Pilchards: Pressing

Pressing the pilchards, Newlyn 2000
[Jeremy Hilder]

Pressing the pilchards in hogsheads, Newlyn 1925

Inside the Fratelli Teglio factory at Polperro c.1910

An old painting of the Teglio factory sold at auction in 2015

Processing the Pilchards: Packing

Traditional packing of pilchards in boxes, Newlyn 2000

[Jeremy Hilder]

"Salacche Inglesi": traditional packing of pilchards in casks, Newlyn 2000
[Jeremy Hilder]

Choosing the Best Pilchards

The Three Pilchards public house in Polperro, where the annual blind tasting of the preserved pilchards by the buyers took place.
[Photograph by Lewis Harding, c. 1860]

Processing the Pilchards: Sealing the Casks

Sealing the casks, Newlyn 2000.

[Jeremy Hilder]

Processing the Pilchards: Export

Loading the SS Adria at Penzance with casks of pilchards for the Mediterranean.

[Royal Institution of Cornwall]

Polperro, 1970. The Fratelli Teglio factory is just beyond the breakwater, on the right.
[Aerofilms Ltd]

Yesterday, 20th October 2000, I visited the tiny, picturesque Cornish fishing village of Polperro. We left our car at the carpark on the outskirts, and walked alongside the fast-flowing stream down to the harbour. Approaching by extremely narrow lanes, we quickly found the Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing.

The Fratelli Teglio factory, now the museum, is in the centre of this photograph behind the boats.

The factory and the quayside

The factory and the neighbouring store: note the sign "Teglio Store"

The entrance to the museum

Pressing the salted pilchards: a rare photograph taken inside the factory of Fratelli Teglio, Polperro in the early 1900s.

In the entrance we were met by the volunteer receptionist, and by the volunteer curator, Mr Bill Cowan. And also there in the entrance was a photograph of Roberto Teglio, former owner of the pilchard-salting and packing factory which was now the museum. He was also the brother of my great great grandmother, Emma Teglio.

Bill Cowan explains the history of the Teglio factory

Bill Cowan with Lili Thorn Gent, the five greats granddaughter of Laudadio Teglio

Roberto Teglio
[Polperro Heritage Museum]

In 1965 I travelled to Italy with my aunt Silvana. We stayed at Monza with my grandfather, Giulio Cesare Schiff, his young second wife, Nadia, and their two children, Aladino and Magda. Aladino I think was about four, Magda about two. Also there was Nadia's grandmother, from Cairo, whom we all called 'La Nonna'.
On August 14th 1965 I had the tremendous good fortune and great pleasure of meeting my great great aunt, Elsa Finzi. It was her custom, whenever possible, to visit her nephew, my grandfather, on his birthday. My grandfather lost his mother when he was only seven years old, and his aunt maintained this link throughout the years until her death.

During the afternoon of my grandfather's birthday I took advantage of the opportunity to ask Zia Elsa - for thus we called her - about her parents, grandparents and other members of her family. She knew the names of her grandparents, and even of her great grandparents. Her mother's mother, Emma Teglio, she said had been the eldest of a dozen children, many of whose names she could remember. She even knew the name of Emma's father, Laudadio Teglio. And there in the entrance of the museum in Polperro yesterday was correspondence with Laudadio Teglio, my great great great grandfather.

To my surprise according to a document dated 1888 he signed the lease on the building that was the Teglio family's pilchard processing plant in December 1861, and purchased the freehold in 1892. It was his sons Roberto, Federico and Guglielmo, who also signed the lease, who were responsible for the Cornish end of the business. A guide book I purchased stated that they settled in Polperro, but I don't think the author realised quite who they were. They were not settlers, or economic migrants, they were agents for the commercial enterprise that was their family business, and Polperro, not too far from Lands End, was definitely far removed from cosmopolitan Genova (known in England still as Genoa), an impoverished backwater in comparison. Their enterprise brought employment and income to Polperro, and this was recognised in the loyalty of their staff. Bill Cowan told me that their former manager Mr Donald Pengelly was still alive, aged ninety-two, in Looe, just eight miles away. He had even named his house 'Teglio' in their honour. We went to find him, but were told that he had died. Sadly we were too late to hear from him about the business and how it was run.

Postcard addressed to Laudadio Teglio in Genova from Civitavecchia
[Polperro Heritage Museum]

Postcard from Guglielmo Teglio
[Polperro Heritage Museum]

Postcard to Laudadio Teglio, Genova, from Looe, Cornwall
[Polperro Heritage Museum]

Another surprise in the opening display at the museum was the information that Guglielmo Teglio had died in Plymouth on 4th January 1926. I would have expected to know about this, because I know the name Teglio, and because I know the Jewish burial records for Plymouth. I presume that his body must have been taken back to Genova for burial, though it is possible he was buried in a municipal cemetery in Plymouth. This also perhaps explained why I did not know about Guglielmo from Zia Elsa. The Plymouth connection is also interesting, for I did not know that the Teglio's also had a factory in Plymouth.
I know about the burial records for Plymouth because Guglielmo, like all of his family was Jewish. I don't think anybody in Cornwall ever knew that the Teglio family was Jewish. They were just Italian. The Teglio family took its surname from a small town in north eastern Italy. They were settled in Modena, according to my Zia Elsa. But at some time in the nineteenth century they must have moved to Genova. Laudadio is said to have been the last religious and observant Jew in the family. Most Italian Jews rapidly assimilated after emancipation. Typical of this assimilation was Roberto's son Massimo. He did not join the family business (except briefly) but he had his hour during the Second World War when he saved many Jews from the Nazis. His story is recorded in Alexander Stille's book 'Benevolence and Betrayal'. According to Bill Cowan members of the family also fought as partisan's during the war. Roberto was himself president of the Jewish community of Genova before the war, even though his staff and colleagues in Cornwall appear to have known nothing of this. The Teglio family had to relinquish the Cornish business when economic sanctions were applied against Fascist Italy in consequence of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Their experiences during the war were consequently hidden from their former employees in Cornwall.
Roberto Teglio returned to Polperro in about 1952, when he was eighty. He was accompanied by a daughter who spoke English, presumably Laura. At that time the four cottages that he owned behind the factory were sold to their occupiers for £400 each. Roberto's grandson Piero has been in contact with the museum within the past ten years, and it seems the family is still involved with the import of fish.

The four cottages behind the factory owned by the Teglio family

It was a very moving experience for me to see the name of my great great great grandfather Laudadio Teglio on prominent display in a Cornish fishing village. Similarly, to know that his son had died tragically in Plymouth, a son whose name had not been hitherto recorded. When I wrote my chapters in 'The Jews of Devon and Cornwall', published earlier this year, I could not have imagined that my own Italian Jewish ancestors had already visited these shores before me.

Esther and Brana return from the museum at Polperro

Piero Teglio I wrote to Piero Teglio on 1/12/00 enclosing a copy of this website, and introducing myself as a distant cousin. I had hoped to discover more about the Teglio family business, the family history, in particular about Guglielmo Teglio and his daughter Nora. Sadly that was not to be, as he was already very ill. I heard today (31/12/00) that his death occurred two days ago, and that his funeral took place in Genova this morning.

Piero Teglio

However, thanks to this website, I was recently contacted by a good friend of Nora Teglio, who now lives in the house that Guglielmo built, which his father bought from Nora, though she continued to live there until her death.

Obituary of Piero Teglio 31.12.2000

I am gradually collecting some of the pieces to assemble an outline of the story of Guglielmo Teglio, born in 1861, who spent his adult life in England in charge of the family factories at Polperro, Looe and Plymouth. The lease on the Polperro factory is dated 1888, though it seems possible from the information in the museum that the Teglio family were there as early as 1862, soon after Guglielmo's birth.
Guglielmo must have married his English wife, Jane Nora (I do not yet know her surname) before 1896, when he was 35, for they had a son, Max, who was born in 1896. I do not know if they had any other children.
Guglielmo became known in England by the English versions of his forenames: William Charles Isaac.
Guglielmo and his wife, known as Jennie, lived in the Hartley area of Plymouth, a very respectable area.
Their son Max enlisted in the Devonshire Regiment at the beginning of the First World war. He was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and seconded to the Worcestershire Regiment. He was killed fighting the Ottoman Turkish army in Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, on April 11th, 1917. He was buried in the vast Baghdad (North Gate) cemetery. His parents must have been devastated by the loss.
In the early 1920s the couple moved from 'Restormel', a very respectable house in Russell Avenue in Plymouth to a new home, a newly-built mansion called 'Redcott' in the adjacent Lockington Avenue, in the Hartley area. Their neighbours were all wealthy professional and business people. It was perhaps the financial investment in this new home, together with the financial collapse of the 1920s, that may have caused problems for Guglielmo Teglio.

At the age of 65 Guglielmo committed suicide at his home, on 4th January, 1926. Unfortunately the coroner's papers for the inquest do not appear to have survived, so we do not know if there was a particular cause. He was buried at the Efford cemetery, quite near to his home.

A Diary of the research into his life
[October 31st, 2000: I learnt today that William Charles Isaac Teglio, aged 65, died by his own hand on 4th January, 1926 at Redcot, Compton, Plympton, Devon. I am attempting to discover more about his tragic story]

[November 17th, 2000: I learnt today that Guglielmo had been married to Jennie, and that their son Max died in action during the First World War.]
In Memory ofSecond Lieutenant MAX TEGLIO
Devonshire Regiment
attd., Worcestershire Regiment
who died aged 21 on Wednesday, 11th April 1917.
Second Lieutenant TEGLIO was the son of William and Jennie Teglio, of "Redcott," Lockington Avenue, Plymouth.
Remembered with honour
BAGHDAD (NORTH GATE) WAR CEMETERY, Iraq.
[Most of this information is repeated in the regimental history.]

[Later today I discovered that William Charles Isaac Teglio was buried at the Efford Cemetery, Plymouth, in grave number A842. The deeds of the grave were issued to Jane Nora Teglio, presumably his widow.]

[21/11/00: extracts from directories
1904 (Eyre)
Teglio Brothers fish curers Commercial Wharf Plymouth
Teglio & Co wine merchants Commercial Road Plymouth
1911
Teglio Brothers Commercial Road and Commercial Wharf
(only 2 houses in Lockington Avenue)

1920
Teglio, W. 'Restormel', Russel Avenue, Plymouth]

[22/11/00
A search of the indexes of births and marriages of the General register Office for England and Wales between 1890 and 1898 produced the following information:
William Charles I. Teglio married Plymouth 1st quarter 1889
Frank Teglio born Plymouth 4th quarter 1893
Roy Paddon Teglio born Plymouth 4th quarter 1894
Max Teglio born Plymouth 4th quarter 1895
Nora Teglio born Plymouth 4th quarter 1896]

[24/11/00
Today I visited the Efford Cemetery in Plymouth, and found Guglielmo's grave, and said kaddish for him. It is a simple grave, maintained beautifully. It has a granite edging, the head and foot raised about 12 inches with a curved top. Along the left hand rail is the inscription in lead lettering: "In loving memory of William Teglio of Genoa and Plymouth, died January 4th 1926, aged 64 years."

Afterwards I visited Russell Avenue and Lockington Avenue. These are fine Edwardian houses, of considerable style, and still the most respectable part of Plymouth. The neighbours include the Lawn Tennis Club, and the constituency office of Dame Janet Foukes, MP for Plymouth. When built, they had the newly extended tramline connecting them to central Plymouth, and Guglielmo's place of business.]

[25/11/00
Today I received a copy of Guglielmo Teglio's will. It is clear that his sons Frank and Roy had died in childhood. His daughter Nora was 30 at her father's death, and I suspect that she never married, like so many women of her generation. The will was made in 1906, before Max's death, when the family was living in Yelverton, then a short train journey to Plymouth.

[29/11/00
Today I received from Plymouth the following certificates that I had ordered:

Marriage Certificate of William Charles Isaac Teglio, son of Laudadio Teglio, to Jane Paddon, daughter of John Shepheard Paddon, on 20th February, 1889, at Green Bank Bible Christian Chapel, Plymouth. Both Guglielmo and his father's occupation are given as "Fish Merchant". Jane's father is described as a "Fish Salesman". The witnesses were Jane's father, and Guglielmo's brother Robert.
Birth Certicate of Frank Teglio, born 19th October, 1893. His mother was now known as Jennie, his father is described as a "Wine Merchant". They were living at 4, Citadel terrace, Plymouth.
Birth Certificate of Roy Paddon Teglio, born 14th October, 1894.
Birth Certificate of Max Teglio, born 10th September, 1895.
Birth Certificate of Nora Teglio, born 20th September, 1896 at her maternal grandparents' home, Hoe Gate House, Hoe Gate Street. All her brothers were born at home at the same address.]

The biography of Massimo Teglio is recorded in Alexander Stille's book "Benevolence and Betrayal". I bought a copy very reasonably second hand on the internet through the Bibliofind site, now part of Amazon. It was cheaper bought with my credit card from the States, than buying a copy in England.

In outline, Massimo was the family rebel: not industrious, besotted with aviation, married to a non-Jew. During the Second World War he became something of a Scarlet Pimpernel, working under an alias and with false documents to save other Jews, smuggling them to safety in Switzerland.

Postscript 2017

In recent years I have received a great deal of assistance from my cousin Guy Hassid of Paris, like myself a descendant of Laudadio Teglio. He has shared with me his research, including many photographs, and has presented me with a magnificent bound volume. It was a delight to meet him in Paris in 2015.

Family tree of the Teglio family, provided by Guy Hassid

Neild

My paternal grandmother's family were originally named Neill, and came from Northern Ireland to Penwortham, near Preston, and farmed there from about the middle of the nineteenth century.

William Neild, his wife Hannah, nee Steele, together with their children (in order of age) William Herbert, Edward, Ernest Robert, Margaret Ellen, Edith Mary and Walter. The two youngest died of diphtheria in1888.

[Photograph courtesy of Chris Preston, Sydney, Australia]

William Neild and his wife Hannah Steele

Uncle Vince Auntie Janie (Thomson) Unknown Auntie Maggie (Neild) Auntie Mima UnknownTed Neild EttieThomson

The bride's parents were both dead. Prominent by their absence are the groom's parents. Perhaps they were offended by the bride's pregnancy.

Back Row: Unknown Unknown Unknown Uncle Vince Auntie Janie Thomson (sister of bride) Unknown

Middle Row: Unknown Unknown Edward Neild Georgina Thomson Jemimah Thomson (wife of Uncle Vince?) Margaret Neild

Front Row: Unknown Unknown Unknown

Ted Neild with a group of friends or family

Gibb Lane, at the side of Wythenshawe Hall

Hannah Neild, nee Steele, with her son Edward (Ted) Neild, his daughter Eva, and his grandson Frank Dennis Gent, in 1922.

Frank Turner Gent, Hannah Neild, nee Steele, with her son Edward (Ted) Neild, Frank William Gent and his wife Eva, her son Frank Dennis Gent, and Georgina Henrietta Neild, nee Thomson, wife of Ted, in 1922

A field of daffodils at Sharston for cutting for the market

Hannah Neild with her grandchildren Billy and Eva Neild.

Family members at the wedding of Walter Neild to Ethel Hewitt. At the centre is Hannah Neild, with her son Ted sitting on her right.

Grave at Northenden of Ted, Georgina and two of their sons who died young

Barrington

My grandfather's mother's family, the Barringtons, were from Salford, and I should say of the lower middle classes, her father being a police officer, but I believe her mother was of humbler origin and was formerly a mill girl.

Ancestry tree

Arthur Barrington
Name: Arthur Barrington
1881 birth reg Salford Vol 8d page 136. 1901 Census Arthur age 20 Electrical Armature Winder livng 131 Oldfield Road with parents & siblings.

1 16 Jun 2009 12:02 PM

Name: Emily Barrington
1873 Dec birth reg Salford Vol 8d page 143. 1891 Census Emily age 17 Drapers Asst living with parents
& 5 siblings @ 145 Oldfield Road Salford Lancs. 1901 Census Emily age 26 Drapers Shopkeeper living 131 Oldfield Road (Drapers Shop) with parents & siblings. 1908 Dec marriage reg Salford Vol 8d page 8 either Amos Ogden or William Tomlinson.
Florence Barrington
Name: Florence Barrington
1869 Jun birth reg Salford Vol 8d page 122. 1891 Census Florence age 21 was a millenier living with parent

& 5 siblings @ 145 Oldfield Road Salford Lancs. Barrington reg Salford Vol 8d page 126.
Frances Barrington
Name: Frances Barrington
1864 Q4 oct-dec birth reg Salford Vol 9d page 82.
Maud Barrington
Name: Maud Barrington

1891 Q3 jul-sep marriage Frank Gent to Florence

1882 Jun birth reg Salford Vol 8d page 156. 1901 Census Maud age 19 Drapers Shop Keeper living with parents & siblings @ 131 Oldfield Road which is the Drapers Shop. 1906 Jun marriage Reg Salford Vol 8d page 129 either Albert Edward Farren or Frederick Adams.
Ralph Barrington
Name: Ralph Barrington
1876 Mar birrth reg Salford Vol 8d page 177. 1891 Census Ralph age 15 was an Engraver.
William Barrington
Name: William Barrington
1871 Census William age 31 Dectective Sargeant of Police living 9 Hope Street Salford with wife Harriett age 27 & 2 children Frances age 6 & Florence age 1. + lodger Eliza Jane Woods age 19 from Warrington who is a Pricer Cotton Mill. 1881 Census William age 40 Detective Sergeant in Police living 9 Liverpool Street Salford with wife Harriet age 37 & 6 children. 1891 Census William age 52 is a Police Detective Inspector living 145 Oldfield Road, Salford Lancashire with wife Harriet age 47 and 6 children. 1906 Sep death reg Salford Vol 8d page 21.

William Barrington
Name: William Barrington
1901 Q1 jan-mar birth reg Salford Vol 8d page 157 months old.
William Henry Barrington
Name: William Henry Barrington

1901 (31st March/1 April )Census William was age 2

1871 Sep birth reg Salford Vol 8d page 129. 1891 Census Wiliam age 19 Iron Furnacer living with parents & 5 siblings 145 Oldfield Rd Salford Lancs. 1901 Census William age 29 Confectioner & Tabacconist Shop keeper living 133 & 135 Oldfield Road (confectioners shop) with wife Emma age 17 & 1 son William age 2 months + Bertha Harrison age 14 servant. family living next to William Barrington senior.

Warburton

Esther Warburton, my great great grandmother, was of humble parentage, her father being an agricultural labourer, but her grandfather was a farmer, and she was descended from an important Cheshire family.

Information kindly supplied by a relation whose details I cannot trace at present.

TOM AND BETTY’S CHILDREN

Thomas Warburton married Elizabeth (Betty) Norris

(of Dunham) 18 April 1782 (died 11 April 1820)

Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Mary Thomas Norris John Margaret

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 9 May 1784 c. 27 May 1787 b. 9 April 1790 c. 18 Nov. 1792

d.10 July 1824 c. 2 May 1790

d. 9 Oct. 1868

Edward Elizabeth Samuel Elijah

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

b. 25 Aug. 1795 b. 18 June 1798 b. 10 Feb. 1801 b. 29 April 1804

c. 20 Sept. 1795 c. 22 July 1798 c. 8 Mar. 1801 c. 27 May 1804

d. 4 Nov. 1862 d. 29 Dec. 1864

Thomas Warburton (b. 1756) was buried in Bowdon grave number P586. The gravestone has the following inscription, “Here lieth the body of Thomas Warburton of Sinderland who departed this life 9^th December 1807 aged 51 years. Why should we mourn departing friends/Or shake at death’s alarms/Tis but the voice that Jesus sends/ To call us to his arms.” The gravestone continues, “ Also Elizabeth Warburton wife of the above who departed this life the 11^th of April 1820 aged 59 years. Also Mary Warburton their daughter who departed this life the 10^th of July 1824 aged 41 years.” There was also a capital “T” and “W” on the bottom line. It was also possible to obtain the documents of Thomas and Elizabeth Warburton from Cheshire Records Office.

Thomas Warburton died without leaving a will and what we have is a letter of administration dated 1 March 1808. His widow, Elizabeth, and two witnesses Nathaniel Timperley (the elder and younger!) “…in effect entered into a bond with the Bishop’s Court, agreeing to pay the sum of £380 should the terms and conditions not be kept. As part of the agreement, they have to provide an inventory of everything owned by Thomas Warburton. The letter of administration would then give Betty …legal authority to pay and recover debts, and dispose of assets as laid down by the agreement.” (My thanks to Barry Moss for this clarification). The final part relates to an oath sworn on the Bible that the value of the estate was under £200. It seems likely that it had taken Betty some four months to prepare the inventory and paperwork. Sadly that seems to have been lost in the period since 1808.

The will left by Elizabeth proved to be especially interesting and became a vital element in understanding the family at that time. It was dated 29 January 1820, and Elizabeth died 11 April of that year. Probate was issued on the 22 August 1820. She outlined her wishes for all eight children, but two featured especially strongly. A considerable effort went into the bequest to Mary, by then 36 years old and clearly something of a worry to her mother. Mary had by then three illegitimate children, named in the will as Mark, Ann and Eliza Warburton. Elizabeth wanted to ensure that money would be available to keep Mary and the children going after her death. But my reading of the will suggests that Mary would only have access to the interest that accrued rather than the eighth part itself, as with all the other children. The executors, Thomas Warburton and John Amory, were asked to manage the bequest until Mary “…shall happen to intermarry…” It is difficult at this distance to understand the situation, but it may have been the case that Mary was in some way not entirely able to manage her own affairs. She may have been in poor health and the proviso that should Mary “…depart this life without having been married…” then the eighth part be distributed amongst her children would make sense.

Since nearly half of the will concerns the arrangements for Mary then clearly we are dealing with a special case, at least where Elizabeth was concerned. Mary died 10 July 1824 and was buried with her parents in the churchyard at Bowdon St. Mary three days later. She was 41 years old. It has been difficult to trace the experience of the three children, although we can say that Mark Warburton was born 5 March 1807 and christened on 5 April of that year. The mother was given as Mary Warburton of Sinderland. Anne Warburton was born 25 May 1812 and christened 2 August 1812, quite a long time perhaps indicating some sickness or problem with either mother or child. It has so far proved to be difficult to establish when Eliza Warburton was born, although there is an entry for an Elizabeth Warburton, christened 9 July 1820. The mother was given as Mary Warburton of Hale. This might fit although the timing is very tight given the fact that Elizabeth Warburton had already died and could only have named the child in the will in the January of 1820. The interesting element is that in the two christenings that we can be more certain about, there is no comment about either mother or child in the register. It was not uncommon for the child to be described as “base” or “bastard,” and the nicest comment on the mother would be “singlewoman.” This was certainly not an age of political correctness!!

The second child that receives some attention in the will of Elizabeth Warburton was Thomas Warburton. Although not nearly as concerned about him as she was about Mary, Elizabeth obviously had some faith in Thomas. This proved to be a significant breakthrough in establishing the sequence of births in the family as previously I had not been able to discover either Mary or Thomas on IGI, for example. Once encountering these people in the will I was able to check on the Bowdon parish records and discover their precise birth details. It was also fascinating to discover in the will that Thomas had been a farmer in Congleton, a few miles to the south of Bowdon. And that might be an explanation as to why John Amory deals with the probate in August 1820 after the death of Elizabeth Warburton. John would be in Bowdon and Thomas (probably) was not in town!

There is a fascinating possibility as to the fate of Thomas Norris Warburton. Correspondence with Frank J. Gent has revealed that one of his ancestors left some brief notes on the Warburton relatives. Frank Turner Gent wrote these notes in 1905, and headed them, “My Dear Mother’s Family.” Esther Warburton married Dr. Henry Gent in the parish church of St. John, Manchester, 23 March 1847. She was born 21 May 1826 at Kermincham, in the parish of Swettenham near Holmes Chapel. All of these villages are near to Congleton. Earlier notes suggest that her Warburton family were working-class and not particularly well off. There was money in the family, however, and one of the witnesses at the wedding was Esther’s cousin, Ann Taylor, who was part of an Ancoats brewing family that lived in Manchester.

Esther was described as loyal and hard-working, but the marriage seems not to have been an especially happy one. Esther had suffered a bout of smallpox that left her scarred for life. Dr. Gent died 27 March 1874 aged 80 after a series of debilitating strokes and increasing dementia. He is buried in the parish church at Knutsford. There is an entry on the 1881 census (RG11/3923/40 page 25) for Esther Gent, aged 51, and a widow, living at 18 Poynton Street, Chorlton On Medlock. Her son, James F.T. Gent, aged 22, was living with her. His occupation was given as “Jewellers Shopman.” The birthplace of Esther is incomplete (obviously difficulties with transcription) and was given as “…ingham, Cheshire.” James was born in Knutsford, Cheshire. Esther later provided accommodation for Methodist ministers, and died aged 73 on 13 February 1900 at 15 Greenhill Street, Manchester.

Frank Turner Gent said that Esther’s father was Thomas Warburton, born 1787. He died 8 April in 1861 or 1864, and was buried in Astbury. Helpfully, St. Mary’s church at Astbury, near Congleton has a webpage, as does The Egerton Arms in Astbury (www.econgleton.co.uk). The latter site is far from modest, both about its own worth as well as that of the village and area in general! The church also has a web-page, Rector @AstburyChurch.co.uk and this might be useful at a later date. The notes also said that Thomas Warburton had married Mary Lea, born 1800 and the daughter of Joseph and Esther Lea of Withington, Cheshire. They had five children, Edward who died 27 June 1860 (Cheshire BMD has an entry for the death of Edward Warburton, aged 39, in 1860 at Congleton), Thomas born 8 February 1823, Esther born 1826, Mary Ann born 31 March 1830, and Joseph Lea Warburton born 7 August 1841.

Unfortunately, we do not know when Thomas and Mary married or where, but the notes say that he was not well-educated and led a hard labourer’s life. He was quite a stern person. He also had black, curly hair. The only information we have about his family is that he had a sister named Elizabeth, signature…Frank Turner Gent also wrote that, “My mother’s father’s cousin was Dr. Warburton of Betley who lived in good style there and brought up five sons as doctors. One, Edmund, was godfather to my cousin in Liverpool. One settled at Pontypridd, Wales.”… (Borrowing from my mountain climbing friends I have long adopted the principle of “three points of contact.” This apparently provides a certain amount of security, although I have to point out that one of them fell off a mountain, surviving albeit in a substantially diminished manner! The principle is clearly not infallible). The evidence in summary is that a Thomas Warburton lived as a farmer in the Congleton area, was born in 1787, and was a cousin of that Warburton family in Betley, Staffordshire. We also know that he had a sister named Elizabeth. All of this would apply to Thomas Norris Warburton, and instead of three points of contact we actually have five.

However, I have also found evidence of another Thomas Warburton also born in 1787. He too had a sister named Elizabeth. Their parents were John and Mary Warburton and they lived in Dunham, within the parish of Bowdon. The name of Warburton is, of course, very common in the area, and it has not yet been possible to firmly identify this family origin. But the evidence is strong in arguing that it is a dead-end, literally. The Bowdon parish records have Thomas Warburton, christened 25 February 1787 and an entry for the death of Thomas 24 January 1801, aged 14. This was the son of John and Mary Warburton. We know, of course, that Thomas Norris Warburton was still firmly alive in 1820. Equally, we have an entry for Elizabeth, christened 3 July 1796 but who then appears six months later as dead on 10 January 1797, entered as “daughter of John and Mary.” And again the Elizabeth that we know as the sister of Thomas was alive in 1820. Why might this continue to be significant? Because the notes left by Frank Turner Gent seem to suggest that his Thomas Warburton had a mother named Mary Warburton. Thomas Norris Warburton had a mother named Elizabeth or Betty.

The 1820 will of Elizabeth Warburton also confirmed some of the details that we have about John Warburton (see below), and we now know that Elizabeth had advanced him the sum of ten pounds, to be deducted from his eighth part of the estate! She seems to be a woman who kept a close eye on matters, presumably because she had been a widow since 1807. She seems to have managed her estate and effects in an efficient manner, given that the overall sum of under £450 was more than Thomas had left in 1807, and would in today’s money be around £20,000. It is a pity that the other children are simply mentioned, although it interesting for me that Edward, then 25 years old, received his eighth part and might have used the money to establish himself in the trade of tailor (or “Taylor” as it was entered when he married two years later).

There is only a small amount of information available on Samuel and Elijah so far. They each receive their eighth part, although they would be only 19 and 16 years old, and presumably the money would be administered by older brother Thomas and John Amory until they became legally adult. The records from Bowden St. Mary have a reference to grave number 1338 which held the remains of “Mary wife of Samuel Warburton of Hale died 8 June 1831 aged 37.” There was also “Mary wife of Elijah Warburton of Hale who died 4 October 1828 aged 30”, and the body of William Warburton, “their son”, who died 10 November 1847 aged 19. IGI has an entry of William Warburton christened 10 February 1828 at Bowden St. Mary, father Elijah, labourer and mother Mary. Another son, Thomas, was buried in grave 1338 and he died 2 February 1854 aged 14 months. Elijah had remarried and his second wife Jane is also buried in this grave. She died 18 May 1903 aged 75. However, their son, Thomas, died 2 February 1854 aged 14 months.

Elijah Warburton died 29 December 1864 aged 60, according to the grave inscription. On 7 June 2006 I bought the death certificate for Elijah. “When and where died” says “26 December 1864 Navigation Lane, Altrincham.” His age was given as 68 years old, and he died of “natural decay.” He had been a “farm labourer.” The informant was John Warburton, “in attendance,” and he lived in Albert Street, Altrincham. Clearly there is some discrepancy about when he died and how old he was at the time. The former might be the difference between dying and being buried; the latter is more difficult, although it could simply be a mistake. It is not unusual for errors to creep into certificates. In any event the grave inscription is correct. There are very, very few Warburtons named Elijah around at this time, and an entry found in the 1841 census seems to confirm that we are, after all, dealing with the same man. Elijah Warburton, aged 30, and an “agricultural labourer” lived at Navigation Lane, Bowdon, with his son, William, aged 15. The age would be wrong, however, this census was only really concerned with a few statistical areas. It rounded up the age of the head of the household.

A possible John Warburton can be found on the 1851 census, aged 61 and a “shoemaker.” He had been born in Altrincham. His wife Elizabeth, aged 59, lived with him as did three sons: Edward (30), and a “farm labourer”; Isaac (28) and William (23), also farm labourers. They lived in Albert Street, Altrincham (HO107/2162/451). Recent correspondence with Barb Walker, in Casper, Wyoming, opened up a Pandora’s Box of surprises and shocks, as well as a few delights! The evidence supports Barb’s view that John Warburton, born 9 April 1790 in Sinderland, and christened 2 May at Bowdon St. Mary’s church, is the son of Thomas and Betty Warburton. Barb Walker’s research is extensive and confirms that John married Elizabeth Collins, daughter of James and Ellen Collins on 22 August 1814 in the Collegiate Church in Manchester. They had an astonishing eleven children, most of whom survived into adulthood. One was Edward, born 4 October 1820 (and perhaps named after his Uncle Edward); another was Isaac, born 1824; and a third was William, born 1827. The information fits exactly with that in the 1851 census, and ties in with the death of Elijah. The John Warburton named as “in attendance” seems almost certainly to have been Elijah’s older brother. John Warburton died 9 October 1868 in Moss View, Altrincham, aged 78, from “old age.” William Warburton was the informant.

Edward Warburton married Sarah Charlton

3 October 1822

Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Anne Charlton John George Ellen

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 11 Jan. 1824 c. 19 Feb. 1826 c. 20 July 1828 c. 23 Jan. 1831

d. d. d. d.

Elizabeth Thomas Fanny Samuel Charlton

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 28 Aug. 1833 c. 21 Feb. 1836 b. 19 Oct. 1838 b. 11March 1842.

d. d. c. 6 Jan. 1839 d. 26 March 1848

John Charlton Peter Charlton

Warburton Warburton

c. 2 June 1844 c. 4 April 1847

d. 9 April 1848 d.

WARBURTON FAMILY TREE

Version two

July 2006

In 1970 the book, “Warburton: The Village and The Family” was published. It was written and researched by Norman Warburton. He included in the book the following genealogy of the family. This included a variety of branches through the generations, and I have pruned most of them! What follows is the particular path taken by my Warburton family tree, with my ancestors in bold type. Initially I have also used the information from the book, where relevant, and the later sections developed from my research are written up separately in potted biographies.

Piers (Peter) Warburton

Marriage unknown

Their children

Peter Warburton Matthew Warburton

b. circa 1535

d. circa 1597

“Peter Warburton was the son of Peter and the great-grandson of Sir John Werberton. He became a husbandman and farmed approx. 49 acres in Warburton in 1572. The land was part of 540 acres settled upon Peter Warburton of Hefferston Grange for life and held in reversion by his brother Sir John. Peter was commissioned Esquire for life on 24 June 1572, and died before 1597. He was the father of Thomas the Elder and William” (1970:66).

Peter Warburton

Marriage unknown

Their children

Thomas Warburton the Elder William Warburton

(of Warburton)

b. circa 1557

d. Sept. 1627

“Husbandman and life holder of land to the NE of Warburton. Native of Warburton, son of Peter and grandson of Sir Peter senior. He had four children…His will was dated 7 September 1627 and he died at the age of 72 within a few days. At his request he was buried at the south end of the chancel in ‘ye Chappell yard at Warburton.’ He bequeathed 12d each to Peter and Katherine. An inventory dated 12 Sept. 1627 had,’…butter and cheese 2s, a bed and a shirt with other clothes 8s, Turnes and one shelf 7s, Total £3.10.4.’ He died ‘…soe aged and weake…’ His son Thomas had a large family and was not overblessed by prosperity.” (1970; 67)

Thomas Warburton married “wife.”

Their children

Joan Katherine Thomas Peter

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

b. circa 1588 b. circa 1590

d. 4 June 1661 d. circa 1653

“Peter Warburton (b.c.1590) was a leaseholder of lands in Warburton. In 1646 and 1648 he was paying Martinmas rents of 12s 1d and 12s 4d, denoting a holding of about 49 acres.” (1970; 68)

Peter Warburton married Margaret Rowlinson

Circa 1615

Warburton

Their children

Richard James William John Robert

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

(of Higher Lymm Booths)

b. 20 Sept. 1629

d. 8 July 1678

Lymm

“John Warburton of Higher Lymm Booths (B.20 Sept. 1629) spent most of his life farming in Lymm. He was buried in Lymm church 8 July 1678. His wife Margaret outlived him, was the executrix of his will together with his brother and John Leigh, bread-maker of Higher Hall, Lymm. John’s will was proved 16 Sept. 1678. Part of it read, ‘ Whereas I have settled my messuage in Lymm where I now inhabit in trust for the use of my eldest son William with a very easy and moderate charge I make it my humble request to ye Right Honourable my very good Lord and Master the Earl of Bridgewater his commissioners and officers that they be pleased to accept my second son James as tenant to that small cottage I hould in Swinehead within High Legh before my eldest son or any person.’” (1970; 73)

John Warburton married Margaret (?)

(of Higher Lymm Booths)

Their children

Elizabeth George Peter William

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

b.20 Nov. 1659 b. 3 April 1665 b. 2 April 1668 (of W. Bowdon

and Baguley)

b. 1670 (Lymm)

d. 12 Aug. 1728

(Warburton)

James Unknown child

Warburton Warburton

b. circa 1673 b. June 1678

d. circa 1728

“William Warburton (b.1670) was the eldest son of John. William married Prissille Ashaton in 1689. (Both came from Lymm and Norman Warburton gives the Marriage License Bond, 1689, Bishop’s Registry Cheshire, page 74). In William’s will he left his son William one shilling; and his other Arnold, the sole executor, his cottage, ‘…other than what is already assigned upon my wife for life and after her decease the whole to him during the term of the lease I enjoy under Sir George Warburton of Arley’. The sum of one shilling indicates that provision had been made previously. William’s will was made during his final illness on 4 Feb. 1727 and his wife survived him by some two weeks. It was nearly a year later, on 17 Sept. 1729, when the will was finally proved. William, his son by Priscilla, was in possession of a large holding of land in 1775 and this might have been assigned to him and the legacy or devise to Arnold could have been restricted to the cottage…Arnold of Warburton is subsequently found to be in possession of a holding of only 15 acres, presumably inclusive of the leasehold held in his own right in 1727.” (19170; 73)

William Warburton (1) married Prissille Ashaton

(of W. Bowdon 23 May 1689

and Baguley) Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Mary William James

Warburton Warburton Warburton

b. 1 Jan. 1691 b. circa 1693 d. 6 Mar. 1778

George Robert

Warburton Warburton

c. 8 Jan. 1697 b. circa 1700

d. 8 Jan. 1698 d. 8 Aug. 1727

William Warburton (2) married Joan Cartwright

1705 (of Baguley)

Warburton died 24 Aug. 1728

Their child

Arnold Warburton

(of Sinderland)

c. 25 May 1707

d. circa 1790

“Although Arnold appears to have fared reasonably well by his father’s will and interest and was secure in worldly possessions, the ultimate fate of his half-brothers and their children was hard and unfortunate…Arnold married twice.” (1970; 75)

Arnold Warburton (1) married Anne Shelmerdine

14 January 1729

Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Thomas William Ann

Warburton Warburton Warburton

(of Sinderland)

b. circa 1731 c. 4 Sept. 1732 c. 21 Oct. 1744

d. 25 Nov. 1801

Arnold Warburton (2) married Martha Dawson (2)

21 July 1756

Bowdon St. Mary

“Arnold’s son Thomas was a farmer at Sinderland and a churchwarden of Bowdon in 1771.” (1970; 75)

Thomas Warburton(1) married Ellen Small

(of Sinderland) 29 January 1754

Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Martha Thomas John

Warburton Warburton Warburton

(of Dunham)

c. 3 Nov. 1754 c. 30 May 1756 c. 28 Jan. 1759

d. 17 Jan. 1755 d. 9 Dec. 1807

Joseph Benjamin Arnald

Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 1 July 1764 c. 1 July 1764 c. 3 May 1767

d. d. d.

Thomas Warburton (2) married Sarah (?)

Their child

David

Warburton

“Thomas died in November 1801, and made special provision for his son David in his will. His son John supplied stone to the Surveyor of Highways in the village of Warburton.” (1970; 75)

All entries from now onwards are the result of original research by

Dr. Alan Warburton

Thomas Warburton married Elizabeth (Betty) Norris

(of Dunham) 18 April 1782 (died 11 April 1820)

Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Mary Thomas Norris John Margaret

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 9 May 1784 c. 27 May 1787 b. 9 April 1790 c. 18 Nov. 1792

d.10 July 1824 c. 2 May 1790

d. 9 Oct. 1868

Edward Elizabeth Samuel Elijah

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

b. 25 Aug. 1795 b. 18 June 1798 b. 10 Feb. 1801 b. 29 April 1804

c. 20 Sept. 1795 c. 22 July 1798 c. 8 Mar. 1801 c. 27 May 1804

d. 4 Nov. 1862 d. 29 Dec. 1864

Edward Warburton married Sarah Charlton

3 October 1822

Bowdon St. Mary

Their children

Anne Charlton John George Ellen

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 11 Jan. 1824 c. 19 Feb. 1826 c. 20 July 1828 c. 23 Jan. 1831

d. d. d. d.

Elizabeth Thomas Fanny Samuel Charlton

Warburton Warburton Warburton Warburton

c. 28 Aug. 1833 c. 21 Feb. 1836 b. 19 Oct. 1838 b. 11March 1842.

d. d. c. 6 Jan. 1839 d. 26 March 1848

John Charlton Peter Charlton

Warburton Warburton

c. 2 June 1844 c. 4 April 1847

d. 9 April 1848 d.

Anne Charlton Warburton

Unmarried until 1865

Her children

Emily Bargh Arthur Charlton

Warburton Warburton

b. b. 6 October 1858

c. 1 Oct. 1848 c. 3 April 1859

Anne Charlton Warburton married William Smith Burgess

17 September 1865

Lymm St. Mary

Arthur Charlton Warburton married Sarah Ellen Ford

5 August 1877

Warrington

Bold St. Methodist

Their children

Rhoda Knowles George Edward Thomas Ford

Warburton Warburton Warburton

b. 5 March 1878 b. 28 Jan. 1880 b.

c. c. c.

Annie Chorlton Fanny Emily

Warburton Warburton Warburton

b. b. b.

c. c. c.

George Warburton married Ada Narraway (2)

14 September1918

Warrington St. Paul’s

s

I, Elizabeth Warburton of Hale in the county of Chester, widow, do declare this to be my last will and testament. I direct all my just debts funeral expenses and the expenses of probate and execution of this my will to be paid and discharged by and out of my estate and effects. I give and bequeath all my personal estate and effects of what nature or kind soever and wheresoever situate unto my son Thomas Warburton of Congleton in the said county farmer-and John Amory of Hale aforesaid yeoman their executors administrators and assigns upon trust that they my said trustees or the survivor of them or the executors or administrators of such survivor do and shall immediately after my decease sell and convert into money such part or parts thereof as shall not consist of money or securities for money and do and shall call receive and get in such part or parts thereof as shall consist of money or securities for money. And I do hereby direct that the same shall be divided into eight-equal parts or shares. One eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath unto my said Son Thomas Warburton and the said John Amory upon trust that they my said trustees and executors or the survivor of them or the executors administrators or assigns of such survivors do and shall place the same out of interest and do and shall pay the interest thereof from time to time as the same become due unto my Daughter Mary Warburton and her assigns to and for her own use for and during and until such time as she shall marry and from and immediately after the marriage of my said Daughter Mary then upon trust that they my said trustees or the survivor of them or the executors or administrators of such survivor be and shall call in the said eighth part or shares of my said personal estate so placed out at interest as aforesaid and the interest thereof which may be then due and so and shall pay the same sum unto the person with whom my said daughter Mary shall happen to intermarry to and for his own use. But in case my said daughter Mary shall happen to depart this life without having been married as aforesaid then I give and bequeath the said eighth part or share of my said personal estate and the interest thereof which may be then due unto and among the three natural children of my said daughter Mary viz Mark Warburton Ann Warburton and Eliza Warburton or such of them as shall be living at the time of the decease of my said daughter Mary and to the issue of such of them as shall be then dead having issue equally share and share alike such issue nevertheless to have and take the part and share only which his her or their parent or parents would if living have been entitled to. But in case any of the said three children of my said daughter Mary shall happen to depart this life under the age of twenty one years and without leaving lawful issue then the share of him or her bodying shall go and be paid to the survivors or survivor of them equally share and share alike. One other eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath unto my said son Thomas for his use and benefit. One other eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath unto my son John for his own use and benefit. One other eighth part or share thereof I bequeath unto my daughter Margaret for her own use and benefit. One other eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath to my son Edward for his own use and benefit. One other eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth for her own use and benefit. One other eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath unto my son Samuel for his own use and benefit and the remaining eighth part or share thereof I give and bequeath unto my son Elija for his own use and benefit and I hereby direct my Executors hereinafter appointed to pay the said several legacies hereinbefore given to such of my sons and daughters (except my said daughter Mary) as aforesaid who shall have attained the age of twenty one years at the time of my decease at the extirpation of six calendar months to be computed from the time of my decease and to such of my other sons and daughters immediately on their respectively attaining the age of twenty one years. And whereas I have advanced unto my said son John the sum of ten pounds now I do hereby order and direct that the same sum shall be accounted for out of the share to which he shall be entitled to under and by virtue of this my will. And I do hereby constitute and appoint my said son Thomas and the said John Amory executors of this my will and also guardians of my younger children during their respective minorities and so declare that it shall and may be lawful for my said trustees and executors and each of them their executors administrators and assigns by and such of all or any of the monies which by virtue of this my will or the trusts hereby declared shall come to their or any of their hands to deduct retain to and reimburse themselves and himself all such reasonable costs charges and expenses as they respectively shall or may sustain or be put unto in or about the execution of all or any of the trust hereby in them reposed. And also they my said trustees and executors and their respective executors administrators and assigns shall be charged and chargeable only each of them for and with his own respective receipts payments acts or wilful defaults and not otherwise and shall not be charged or chargeable with or for any sum or sums of money other than such as shall actually and respectively come to his or their hands by virtue of this my will nor with or for any loss or damage which shall or may happen in or about the execution of the several trusts aforesaid without his or their respective wilful default. In witness thereof I the said Elizabeth Warburton the testatrix have hereunto set my hand this twenty ninth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty.

Signed published and declared by the above named Elizabeth Warburton the testatrix as and for her last will and testament in the presence of us who at her request and in her presence have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.

John Dod

Peter Leicester

Signed Elizabeth Warburton

Probate issued 22 August 1820

The 22nd day of August 1820 John Amory one of the executors in this will named was sworn in common form (power being reserved to Thomas Warburton the other executor therein also named) to take upon him execution of the said will when he shall lawfully request issue. If the further made oath that […] estates and effects of the testatrix […] Diocese of Chester were under the value of four hundred and fifty pounds.

Before me

Peter Leicester

[Unintelligible]

The Testatrix died 11th day of April 1820

Booth

Find extensive note

Edmund Samuel WARBURTON (son of John WARBURTON) was born on 8 Feb 1845 in Betley, Staffs. He was a General practitioner. Apprenticed to father 5 yrs, practice in Liverpool Royal Infirmary & Kings College London.

MRCS 1870. Registered 23/9/1870.

Moved to Treharbert by 1878.

Surgeon for Ynysfeio, Fernhill, Bute, Merthyr & Blaencwm collieries.

He died on 6 Feb 1904 in Treherbert. Buried Penderyn 11/2/1904.

Rachel Mary RHYS was married to Edmund Samuel WARBURTON on 13 Sep 1883 in Nunhead, Surrey.

They had the following children:

1. Edmund Watkin Piers WARBURTON was born on 6 Oct 1885 in Treherbert. He was christened on 29 Nov 1885 in Ystradyfodwg. He died on 31 May 1911 in Ebbw Vale. Died in a motorcycle accident. Buried Penderyn 3/6/1911.

2. Llewelyn Rhys WARBURTON

3. Walter Hulme WARBURTON

4. John Rollo Noel WARBURTON

5. Mary Dorothy Katherine WARBURTON

Booth

I received a great deal of assistance some years ago from my distant kinsman Dr Andrew Booth whom I met with his wife whilst I was on a visit to York for a conference many years ago. Today I tried to contact him but was saddened to find that he died a few months ago. He once provided me with print outs of extensive pedigrees of the Cheshire Booth families, that I am desperately trying to relocate in all my papers.
[Postscript 2nd February, 2017: I have found these and have shared them here in a separate blog.]

To our beloved etc John Booth of Spen Green within the township of Smallwood in the parish of Astbury and county and diocese of Chester late husband of Sarah Booth heretofore Richardson late of Spen Green aforesaid deceased Greeting

John Booth of Spen Green in the township of Smallwood within the parish of Astbury and county of Chester yeoman, Josiah Booth of Spen Green aforesaid yeoman and Charles Wildblood of Smallwood aforesaid yeoman

27th January 1777

The condition of this obligation is such, that if the above bounden John Booth administrator of all and singular the goods, chattels, and credits of Sarah his late wife deceased who was one of the daughters of William Richardson late of the parish of Sandbach in the said county of Chester yeoman deceased

Value of effects about £150

Look Astbury registers marriage of Thomas Lowndes and Mary Ñ of Swettenham 1735 back to find maiden name of Sarah Gent's mother.

Probable pedigree of John Booth of Astbury and Mary Lowndes his wife, who I believe was a Vaudrey, from Aunt Mary Gent's papers.

Information from Cuthbert Pigot, 3, Coleman Road, Norwich, and Mrs J. F. Booth, Manor House, Lees, Oldham

4 Copied from paper of Aunt Mary Gent

Joshua Stonehewer, Vicar of Audley, Staffs., B. 1737, D. January 12th, 1790, aged 53, married

Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Mary Lowndes, B. May, 1736

John, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Hollins, B. January 13th, 1761

Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Joshua and Elizabeth Stonehewer, B. June 6th, 1774

Sponsors: Tollett, esq., Mrs Vaudrey, Miss E. Moreton

Jane, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth Stonehewer, B. March 19th, 1776 [alive 1843]

Sponsors: Mr Leadbeater, Miss Sa

rah Booth, Miss Jane Stonehewer

Miss Hollins of Knutsford says Elizabeth Lowndes was married to Thomas Hollins of Barthomley, who died 7th July, 1767, aged 39, and afterwards to the Rev. J. Stonehewer. She also says Elizabeth Lowndes was half sister to Sarah Gent, n_e Booth, so her father John Booth must have married her mother Mary after Thomas LowndesÕs death. Miss Hollins also says grandmother Sarah Gent, n_e Booth, was cousin to the Vaudreys of Millgate, whose daughter Ann married the Rev. James Egerton Mainwaring of Elliston, Staffs, and then of Bodenhall, near Keele. James Egerton Mainwaring, born 1750, D. 1808, married Anna, only child of Thomas Vaudrey of Middlewich. Richard Vaudrey of Kinderton, 1825, had settlement of legacy to Sarah Gent.

Elizabeth daughter of the Rev. Joshua Stonehewer appears to have died before 1819, according to a letter of Aunt Mary Gent. Miss Hollins tells me Jane Stonehewer, B. 1776, married a Mr Armitt.

1786 Marriage Settlement of John Gent and Sarah Booth

Joseph Gent, father of John Gent, on the marriage of his son, and in consideration of £400 being secured to John Gent by John Booth, father of Sarah Booth, as a marriage portion, and of John Booth having agreed to settle £200 on the issue of the marriage, conveys to Richard Wood and the Rev. Joshua Stonehewer as trustees the farm of Middlehulme, and Acrehead purchased of Thomas Chapman. Joseph Gent to receive £40 a year for his life out of rental; after his death to Rev. Daniel Turner and John Hollins as trustees.

In case Joseph Gent's widow Mary Gent shall declaim her dower she shall receive £10 per annum and the remainder to John Gent for his life. Then his widow Sarah Gent to have £20 per annum for her life.

After John Gent's death to Ralph Oakden and John Booth, grazier, as trustees, then to John Gent's son in tail.

Trustees Turner and Hollins to raise by mortgage £500 after Joseph Gent's death, to be applied as he shall direct.

John Gent acknowledges receipt of £400 marriage portion of Sarah Booth.

Will of John Leadbeater of Congleton (Probate Copy)

In the name of God Amen. I John Leadbeater of Congleton in the county of Chester, gentleman, being of sound and disposing mind, memory and understanding do make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner following, that is to say: First I will and direct all my just debts, funeral expenses and the probate of my will to be paid and subject thereto I give, devise and bequeath all and every my real and personal estate whatsoever and wheresoever to my son-in-law John Booth of Congleton, gentleman. To hold unto him, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns for ever according to the nature of the tenure thereof respectively and do nominate the said John Booth sole executor of this my will hereby revoking all former wills.

10th April, 1801 John Leadbeater

Witnesses: Francess Gee, Elizabeth Booth, Richard Malbon

Agreement 3rd August, 1818

Between John Gent of Spen Green, Astbury, gentleman, and Thomas Leadbeater of the same place, gentleman, for the sale to Thomas Leadbeater of Spen Green for £600. Tenement and two fields on north side of road from Congleton to Sandbach.

Agreement 4th May, 1787

Between John Kenton of Moreton yeoman and John Booth the younger of Congleton yeoman of one part; and William Smith of Congleton gentleman of the other part. Sale of property occupied by John Kent to William Smith for 80 years for £140.

John Booth of Astbury, grandmotherÕs father, by his will 13th May, 1797, gave his son John Booth, daughter Ann Booth, and William preston of Odd Rode, £800 in trust for his daughter Sarah Gent and her children, along with the £200settled on her at her marriage.

This will seems to have been of a later date and revoke the will on p. 121 and p.109.

Deeds of Middlehulme

1791 Joseph Gent late of Middlehulme, now of Springs Leek, to Thomas Moult of Mere, publican, for £500.

1799 Joseph Gent and Thomas Moult to Thomas Hulme, Nether Knutsford, threadmaker, for further £300.

1811 Joseph Gent and John Gent of Spen Green, apportionm

ent of £200, part of £500 raisable under trusts of John GentÕs marriage settlement from two estates in Leek.

1814 John Gent of first part, Rev. Daniel Turner of Norton-le-Moors of second part, and John Hollins, Knutsford, Thomas Hulme, Knutsford and Dr Howard, Knutsford, fourth part, William Hollins, Knutsford, fifth part, to secure Thomas Hulme and Dr Howard £1,000.

1820 Thomas Hulme first part, Robert and Thomas Thornley and executors of Dr Howard, Knutsford, second part, John Gent third part, William Hollins fourth part, Isaac Whittaker, Great Warford fifth part. Assignment to Whittaker £500.

1822 Joseph Whittaker etc assignment of mortgage of £500 to Miss Mary Gent.

John Booth, grandmotherÕs father, who died 18th September, 1798, by his will dated 10th June, 1789, gives to his son John Booth, John Hollins of Knutsord, and William Lowndes of Sandbach, £500 on trust to pay the interest to his daughter Ann, widow of John Booth, late of Astbury, grazier, and then to divide among her issue (three sons and

three daughters, one of whom was Mrs Craig), except the son, John Booth also, who shall be entitled to estates in Smallwood and Congleton, which were settled by his grandfather Thomas Booth, and £400 to pay the interest to each of his two daughters from a chief rent purchased from Samuel Leadbeater, also a chief [rent] from Mr Kent of Moreton, and a legacy to his sister Elizabeth Booth, and to Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Joshua Stonehewer.

John Hollins, December 5th, 1799, received £600 from John Booth junior, which with £400 more to be advanced by him, and left by his father to Sarah Gent and her children, is about to be put out at interest on security of an estate in Yorkshire.

(This would be the £1,000 settled on grandmother and her heirs at her marriage.)

1786, 14th April

Marriage Settlement of John Gent and Sarah Booth.

Between Joseph Gent and his eldest son John Gent of first part, John Booth of Astbury and Sarah Booth his daughter of second part, Richard Wood (brother-in-law of great grandfather?) and Rev. Joshua Stonehewer (vicar of Audley, second husband of John BoothÕs stepdaughter) of third part, Rev. Daniel Turner, vicar of Norton in the Moors (brother of my godfather James Turner, and nephew of my great great grandmother Mary Turner) and John Hollins of Knutsford, gentleman, (son of Joshua Stonehewer's wife) of fourth part, Ralph Oakden of Waterfall, Staffs, yeoman (husband of niece of Jane Grindy, my great great great grandmother) and John Booth of Astbury of the fifth part.

My father's mother's half sister Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Mary Lowndes of Swettenham, born 1736, and widow of Thomas Hollins of Barthomley, who died 7th July, 1766, aged 39, married secondly Rev. Joshua Stonehewer of Audley, Staffs, born 1737, died 1790. Miss Georgina Hollins of Knutsford says this Elizabeth was grandmother's half sister, so grandmother's father must have married the widow of Thomas Lowndes about 1747. Thomas Hollins married Elizabeth Lowndes; they had a son John. She married secondly Rev. Joshua Stonehewer. Joshua and Elizabeth Stonehewer had daughters Elizabeth, born June 6th, 1774, (John Hollins born June 15th, 1771, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Hollins, connected I suppose with Hollins's of Knutsford, who gave my sister the workbox and £10 note), and Jane, born 17th March, 1776.

Father also had an uncle Joseph, married to Ann Harrison, custom house officer in Liverpool, and died there in 1811, aged 46, leaving Randle, James and four infant children, only one, Mary Ann, who married J.A.Molyneux, leaving issue two daughters, and one of them married and left four daughters. Also an uncle Thomas at Macclesfield, born 1768, whose children I have no trace of. Mother said he had a daughter named Okell or Occleston. A letter of father's says his uncle Thomas visiting him at Knutsford in 1847 on 16th December, and still alive 1848/9. My father's great aunt, Ann, married Mr Allen whom I believe lived in Manchester; and his great aunt Mary married Mr Livesley.

Grandmother Sarah Gent's father John Booth,

died 18th September, 1798, in his will leaves all to his son John and daughters Ann, widow (who married another John Booth, perhaps cousin), and Sarah Gent, and to grandson John Booth, son of his daughter Ann, a house and land in Buglawton Street, Congleton, for him to pay £6 a year each to his two younger brothers and three sisters.

Mary Booth's will 1788, grandmotherÕs mother, I believe.

A deed of Booths mentions the Belle Vue property on the Moss Estate, Smallwood, near Congleton, which they owned, but upon which amortgage or something was held by Wrights, Leadbeaters and Sampson Fairbanks.

John Leadbeater of Congleton by will 1801 (died 26th August, 1803) left all his property to John Booth his son-in-law, who would be my grandmother Sarah GentÕs brother, who married John Leadbeater's daughter in 1777.

John Leadbeater of Astbury (father or brother [?] of the preceding, in his will, 1778, states that he bought Reeves farm from John Ridley Gent [name ot title?].

John Gent bought Spen Green from Morris for

1927.

Father had a cousin Betsy Booth, and a cousin Thomas Leadbeater Booth, who was born 1778. He lived in Hull 1853, and at Hornsea, London, in 1856 (and 1861) when aged 78, son of grandmother's brother and Miss Leadbeater.

John Booth junior died 22nd March, 1809. He was John Booth seniorÕs son. His daughters Ann, Mary and Betsy lived on Astbury Green.

Extracts from a book of my grandfather John Gent, Spen Green, near Astbury, called The Complete Farmer, now in possession of my brother.

Baptisms of my grandfather's family

John, son of John and Sarah Gent, born 1787. He was MD London and died unmarried in West Indies 1817.

Joseph, son of John and Sarah Gent, born April 1789, 3am, baptised May 2nd by Rev. Joshua Stonehewer. Christened 1790. Mr John Booth senior, Mr Gent senior, sponsors.

Brian, son of John and Sarah Gent, Born May 10th, 1791, 1.25pm. Mr and Mrs Salmon [sponsors].

Mary, daughter of John and Sarah Gent, born January 23rd, 1793, 10.30am, christened February 2nd. Mr Tom Gent, Mrs Gent senior, and Mrs J. Booth, sponsors.

Henry, son of John and Sarah Gent, born October 24th, 1794, 4pm, christened November 10th. John Booth, John Gent and Ann Gent (wife of Joseph of Liverpool?) sponsors. M.R.C.S. London

Uncle Brian Gent died 18th January, 1844, aged 53; at the funeral Rev. W. Bewshaw, Messrs Minshull, Pigott, Hodgkinson and Broadhurst (husbands of Catherine and Ann Gent respectively, who were the daughters of James Gent his uncle), Messrs Hulme and Turner, Thomas Gent his uncle, Henry and Joseph his brothers.

Grandfather John Gent died at Spen Green, Smallwood, September 22nd 1840. At the funeral Revs. Bullock and Bewshaw, Messrs Bull, Ball, Leadbeater, D. Turner, J.D. Turner and Hollins, Thomas gent brother, Joseph, Brian and Henry Gent sons. Buried in the tomb Astbury churchyard.

>1st Thomas Lowndes = Mary (probably Vaudrey) = 2nd John Booth

>2nd Rev. Joshua Stonehewer = Elizabeth = 1st Thomas Hollins

4 John Hollins (= Elizabeth Stonehewer?)

?William John = Ñ Leadbeater Sarah = John Gent Ann = John Booth

MElizabeth Jane

B.1737 B.1736

D. before 1819

M. Ñ Armitt

&Ann Mary Betsy John Leadbeater Booth

* John Booth Mrs Craig 2 sons 2 daughters

Sir William Booth

of Twemlow

D. 1520

&a son,

ancestor of the Salford Booths

Edward

William Booth

of Twemlow

Buried 1591

John Booth

the Antiquarian

= Isabella

daughter of Richard Lowndes of Smallwood

and Elizabeth daughter of Oliver Swettenham

and Margaret daughter of William Reade of Mosley

3Anthony Booth

Alderman of Macclesfield

living 1686

= daughter of William Stonehewer of Bailyford

She had sister Ellen = Bourne

Sarah = 1 R. Pigot 2 Bagnall 1668

and brothers George, Joseph and and John,

whose daughter was sponsor to Elizabeth

Stonehewer, John BoothÕs stepdaughterÕs daughter,

1776

(Thomas Booth

D. 1699

Yeoman of Rudheath

Timothy Booth

D. 1738

Yeoman Astbury

2Elizabeth John = 2 Mary 1 = Thomas Lowndes

From Dr Andrew Booth:

Frank I have a copy of the will of John Booth of Astbury, gentleman. In it, he mentions his son John, his daughters Ann Booth and Sarah, wife of John Gent. Several grandchildren are mentioned as well. The will is dated 30/5/1797 and probate was granted 20/6/1799. Are these the same John and Sarah? Thank you very much for the text of the letters. The attached GIF files came out fine. Sarah's 'sister Booth' would have been Ann Booth, who married John Booth, grazier. He had died by the time that John Booth wrote his will in 1797. I also have the will of John Booth, grazier. I will photocopy both wills and send them to you. Please let me know your postal address. I am very curious to know the relationship of this family to the other Booth family of Alcumlow, particularly their relationship to the family of Thomas Booth of Alcumlow (d. 1688). Perhaps your great grandfather's notes will clear it up. Do you use a computer to record your data? If so, can you accept GEDCOM files? I use Brothers keeper for Windows. In the meantime, I have transcribed John Booth's will. Here it is: ------

This is the Last Will and Testament of me John Booth of Astbury in the County of Chester Gentleman. And first I direct all my just Debts and Funeral Expences to be paid and satisfied out of my Personal Estate. I give and bequeath unto my son John Booth my Daughter Ann Booth and William Preston of Odd Rode in the said County of Chester Gentleman and the Survivors and Survivor of them him or her Executors Administrators and Assigns the Sum of Eight Hundred pounds Upon the Trusts and to and for the Intents and Purposes hereinafter mentioned that is to say Upon Trust that they the said Trustees and the Survivors or Survivor of them and the Executors or Administrators of such Survivor do and shall as soon as conveniently may be after my decease place out or continue the same at Interest upon real or other good Security and pay the yearly Interest and produce of the said Sum of Eight Hundred Pounds unto my Daughter Sarah the Wife of John Gent for and during her natural life. And I do hereby declare my Mind and Will to be that my said Daughter Sarah shall take receive and enjoy the Interest and yearly produce of the said Sum of Eight Hundred Pounds to and for her own Sole and separate use notwithstanding her present or any future coverture and that her Receipt alone and none other shall be a good and effectual discharge to the Person or Persons who shall from time to time pay the same and that the same shall not be liable to the Debts controul or other disposition of her Husband. And from and after the decease of my Daughter Sarah Upon this Further Trust that my said Trustees and the Survivors and Survivor of them and the Executors or administrators of such Survivor do and shall pay and divide the said sum of Eight hundred Pounds unto and between the lawful issue of my said Daughter Sarah or the Issue of such of them as shall be dead at her decease (such issue to take the share that his her or their parent or parents would have taken had he she or they been then living) in equal Shares and proportions. And I do hereby order and direct that the said Sum of Eight hundred pounds so given to the lawful Issue of my said Daughter Sarah shall be paid to them respectively at the respective Times and in manner following that is to say to such Child or Children being a Daughter or Daughters when she or they shall have attained her or their respective age or ages of twenty one years or shall be Married which shall first happen and to such Child or Children being a Son or Sons when and so soon as he or they shall have attained his or their respective age or ages of Twenty one years But if such Child or Children being a Daughter or Daughters shall not have attained her or their respective age or ages of twenty one years or be married at the time of the death of their said Mother or being a Son or Sons shall not have attained his or their respective age or ages of twenty one years at their said Mothers Death That then my said Trustees and the Survivors and Survivor of them and the Executors or Administrators of such Survivor do and shall place out the Share or Shares respectively of and in the said Sum of Eight hundred pounds of such of the said Children of my said Daughter Sarah being a Daughter or Daughters until she or they shall have attained her or their age or ages of Twenty one years or Marriage which shall first happen and the share or shares of such of the said Child or Children being a Son or Sons until his or their attainment of the age of twenty one years for the use and benefit of and to be applied in the maintenance Education and bringing up of the said several Children of my said Daughter Sarah being so under age and unmarried as aforesaid until their respective Shares shall become due and payable as aforesaid. And whereas in and by the Settlement made previous to the marriage of my said Daughter Sarah with the said John Gent I did covenant promise and agree that I would vest the Sum of two hundred pounds in the Hands of Trustees for such purposes as are therein mentioned and expressed Now I do give and bequeath the said Sum of two hundred pounds unto my said Son John Booth and the said Ann Booth and William Preston and the Survivors and Survivor of them and the Executors and Administrators of such Survivor to be payable to them from the Time of my Decease upon such Trusts and to and for such intents and purposes as are in and by the said Marriage Settlement expressed and declared in regard to the said Sarah Gent and her lawful Issue. And Whereas in and by the Settlement made previous to the marriage of my said daughter Ann with John Booth Grazier I did Covenant and agree that my Heirs Executors or Administrators should within three months next after my Decease pay unto my said Son John Booth and unto James Hilditch of Smallwood in the County of Chester Yeoman since deceased the Sum of two hundred pounds as part of the Marriage Portion or fortune of my said Daughter Ann Now I do hereby Will and direct that my said Executors do and shall pay the same accordingly but the same shall be considered and taken as part of the Money hereinafter mentioned and given by me to my said Daughter Ann Booth. And Whereas I have purchased from Samuel Leadbeater of Astbury aforesaid Yeoman a contingent Rent charge of twenty pounds per annum for the said Samuel Leadbeater's Life in case he shall Survive his Father John Leadbeater which rent charge is Issuing out of premises in Twemlow Now I do hereby give and grant to my said Daughters Ann Booth and Sarah Gent the annuity or yearly rent charge of ten Pounds (part of the said Twenty pounds rent charge) to be equally divided between them and to be issuing and payable from and out of the the said Premises (after the Death of the said John Leadbeater) for and during the Life of the said Samuel Leadbeater the first payment thereof to begin and be made at the end of Six Months next after the decease of the said John Leadbeater and in case of the Death of either of them the said Ann Booth and Sarah Gent in the Lifetime of the said Samuel Leadbeater then I direct that the said annuity of ten Pounds to go and be paid to the Survivor of them. I also give and grant to my said Daughters the annuity or yearly rent charges of five Pounds to be equally divided between them and to be issuing and payable from and out of the moiety of the Tenements at Moreton which I have purchased from John Kent to be paid to them and the Survivor of them for and during the natural life of the said John Kent the first payment whereof to begin and be made on the twenty fifth Day of December next after my Decease. And I do hereby give my said Daughters every Power of Distress and Entry for the recovery of the said annuities of ten Pounds and five Pounds as is usual in cases of rent charge. And which said rent charge or annuity given to my said Daughter Sarah is to be paid to her exclusive of her said Husband and that her receipt alone from time to time and no other shall be a sufficient Discharge for the same. I direct that my Household Goods and Furniture Plate and Linen be equally divided by the said William Preston between John Booth, Ann Booth and Sarah Gent. I also give to Mrs Elizabeth Stonehewer the Sum of Ten Guineas. I give and devise to my Grandson John Booth Son of my said Daughter Ann Booth All that messuage or Dwellinghouse with the outbuildings Garden and Croft to the same belonging siuate in or near to Buglawton Street in Congleton in the County of Chester and which I lately purchased from Abel Howarth Gentleman To hold to my said Grandson John Booth his heirs and assigns for ever charged and chargeable nevertheless with the payment to his two younger Brothers and to his three Sisters with the Sum of Six pounds apiece the same to be paid in five years next after my decease without any Interest for the same. And all the Rest residue and Remainder of my real and personal Estates whatsoever and wheresoever and of what nature or kind soever not herein before given bequeathed or disposed of I give devise and bequeath the same respectively unto my said Son John Booth and Daughter Ann Booth their Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns according to the nature or quality thereof respectively To hold and enjoy the same as Tenants in Common and not as joynt Tenants but I do hereby declare that the said Sum of Two hundred Pounds so agreed to be settled by me on my said Daughter Ann on her marriage shall be taken and considered as a part or share of the said bequest to her and received by her as such. And I further direct that the Securities for money which I have from my said Son John shall be considered as a part or share of the said bequest to him and be retained and received by him as such and in case such Securities for money shall exceed the bequest hereby made to him then he is to pay to his said Sister Ann Booth such difference as may belong to her accordingly to the intention of this my will. And I do direct that none of my said Trustees shall be answerable or accountable for the acts or Receipts of the other of them but each of them for his and her own acts and Receipts only or for any money placed out on insufficient Security unless it shall be by their or any of their wilful Neglect or Default and that they do retain and reimburse themselves by and out of the Trust Monies a reasonable recompence and satisfaction for their trouble Charges and Expences as they or any of them shall be put unto for or by reason of this my Will or the Trusts hereby in them reposed. And I do further direct and declare that in case any money shall be lost or not recovered by my Executors within two years next after my Death or good security got for the samethen if such loss shall exceed the Sum of Seventy pounds the same shall be borne equally by all my said three Children but in case such loss shall not exceed Seventy pounds the same shall Be borne equally bewteen my said Son and Daughter Ann. And Lastly I do nominate and appoint my said Son John Booth my said Daughter Ann Booth and William Preston Executors of this my Will and do revoke all former Wills by me made and do publish and declare this as and for my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I the said John Booth the Testator have hereunto set my Hand and Seal the thirtieth Day of May in the year of out Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety seven. John Booth This Will contained on three Sheets of paper each Sheet signed by the said Testator John Booth and annexed together with a back Sheet Was signed Sealed published and declared by the said Testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who subscribe our names as Witnesses hereto in the presence of the said Testator and of each other Wm Smith John Yearsley Mary Whitehurst The twenty eighth day of May 1799 John Booth one of the Executors within named was sworn in common form. (Power reserved for William Preston the other Executor to tke the execution upon him when he shall lawfully request the same) before me J. Heptonstall Surrogate The twentieth day of June 1799 William Preston one of the Executors in this Will named wassworn in common form Before me J. Heptonstall Surrogate Probate issued to John Booth and William Preston the Excecutors Dated 20th June 1799

-------------------- Regards Andrew Booth Harrogate, UK A few months ago, I helped the Cheshire Family History Society to put on the World Wide Web a list of all of the probate documents held at the Cheshire Record Office in Chester. As a consequence, I have a database of all of the wills held there. I have just searched through it for the surname Gent. There are five entries. SURNAME FORENAMES ABODE OCCUPATION DATE TYPE GENT CHARLES CONGLETON SILK MANUFACTURER 1838 WILL GENT JOHN SMALLWOOD, SPEN GREEN GENTLEMAN 1840 WILL GENT SAMUEL LATCHFORD CABINET MAKER 1850 WILL GENT SARAH LATCHFORD SPINSTER 1846 ADMON GENT THOMAS CONGLETON 1695 WILL, ADMON

The John Gent is presumably Sarah's husband. If you would like to obtain a copy, simply write to the Cheshire Record Office, Duke Street, Chester, CH1 1RL, giving the details as above and they will send you a photocopy of the will. Regards Andrew Booth Harrogate, UK

Frank My wife expressed no surprise to see an A. Booth described as a blackguard! Ho Hum. I think Allen Booth may have been the son of Ann Booth and John Booth, grazier, and hence Mary Gent's cousin. In the IGI, there are the following entries for baptisms at Astbury: Fanny daughter of John Booth and Ann 6 April 1775 Mary daughter of John Booth and Ann 13 June 1776 Elizabeth daughter of John Booth and Ann 13 August 1777 John son of John Booth and Ann 10 March 1780 Allen son of John Booth and Ann 12 February 1783 Do any of the other names ring true? I can't find John and Ann's marriage in the IGI. Looking through my notes, I find that I have the marriage of John Gent and Sarah Booth. In the unlikely event that you don't have it, the register has: John Gent of Leek, farmer and Sarah Booth of this parish, spinster 11 May 1786 I have a split appointment at the University of Leeds. Half of the time I am a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and the other half, I look after learning technology in the Teaching & Learning Support Unit. It is quite enjoyable - I spend half my time teaching biochemistry and finding out what the problems are, then the other half is spent trying to to something about it. Family history sort of gets fitted in between.

The photocopies of your great grandfather's notes arrived today. They contained a surprise. He refers to John Booth's will of 10 June 1789. This is obviously an earlier will than the one I transcribed, which was dated 30 May 1797. The earlier will states that John Booth junior 'shall be entitled to estates in Smallwood and Congleton which were settled by his Grandfather Thomas Booth'. (In the later will, these properties seem to have been divided between John junior and his widowed sister Ann). A Thomas Booth of Spen Green, Smallwood was buried at Astbury on the 17th January 1732. I have no other details about him and there does not seem to be a will at Chester. I photocopied the wills of the two John Booths and put them in the post today together with the Booth pedigrees that I have been working on.

I am descended from Sarah Booth, daughter of John Booth of Astbury. She was baptised 11/4/1751. I have a fair amount of information about her family, including letters written by her c.1805, and some heirlooms. I'd be delighted to share any information with you. Best wishes, Frank J. Gent
I would be very interested to exchange information. I am descended from Nathaniel Booth of Sandbach, butcher, who married Mary Booth, spinster in 1756. From the naming pattern of their children, I am convinced that one or both of them were related to the Astbury family/ies. There was also a London link, since his youngest son was a London cabinet maker. There are other London links, particularly with Astbury, via the cheese trade. Do you know if Sarah had any siblings? I have been trying to trace George and Thomas, sons of John Booth about that period. I have an extensive pedigree of some of the Booths of Astbury and have established links with other parishes.

Don't bother looking in the IGI for John and Sarah's marriage. It isn't there. From time to time I visit the Central Library in Manchester where they have most of the Cheshire and Lancashire parish registers on microfilm. Last year I extracted some of the Booth marriages at Sandbach and Astbury and theirs was among them. I didn't go back far enough for John and Mary's marriage, but I may go and and have another look. The IGI for Cheshire is particularly sparse, probably because the Bishop of Chester refused the Mormons permission to extract data from the registers. The fecundity of the Booths and their tendency to wear out wives is a major problem for me. Wherever you look there are hundreds of them (us?). Sorting out the relationships is quite tricky. Most of the pedigree material that I have sent you is derived from relationships spelled out in wills and monumental inscriptions, with parish register details added on. I have had much more success with my mother's family, the Halls. Despite the relatively common name, they were an Airedale family (ten miles away from here) and I have been able to trace them unequivocally back to about 1480. A collateral branch - the Beanlands, go back even further. I have a Hall and a Beanland as direct ancestors in the Craven muster roll for the battle of Flodden Field (England beat Scotland 1-0 at home). Both were bowmen. The difference between my ability to trace my Yorkshire ancestors and my Cheshire Booths is simply down to the availability and proximity of the records. Within easy lunchtime driving range of Leeds the wealth of material is superb with the West Yorkshire Archive Service, the Yorkshire Archaeological Society at Leeds, the Borthwick Institute at York, the West Riding Registry of Deeds at Wakefield and many good libraries, not least the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds.

Your book arrived today. I am green with envy. I wish I had as much information on my ancestors or had any heirlooms. I am especially interested in getting hold of the parish register entries for the Booths, and I was wondering if you had them available as a computer file. I have a reasonable collection of Booth baptisms and burials which I am gradually extracting from the parish registers. (No IGI!) I have them in an Access database. If you let me know how you would like them, I'll try to export the tables into something that can be handled by a Mac. I was amazed to hear from you that Manchester Central Library has microfilm copies: no mention of that in the GENUKI pages for Cheshire. When the parish registers were gathered into the county record offices around 1974, they were microfilmed to protect the originals from grubby hands such as mine. Cheshire RO seems to have contracted Manchester Central Library to do the job and the Central Library has kept copies which are in the Microfilm Unit of the Local Studies section. So in one visit you can look at microfilms of many parishes in Lancashire and Cheshire. (You can also get robbed, but that's another story.) I am curious about the admon that I told you about. Sarah Booth nee Richardson died in 1777. Was she another wife of John Booth, before or after Mary Lowndes, or are we dealing with a previous generation? The signatures of the John Booths on this document and on his will are similar, bearing in mind the twenty year difference. When you get both documents have a look and let me know what you think.

I think I now know how John Booth, Grazier fits into the Booth families. At Astbury, there is the following grave inscription:

This stone is here in Memory of Thomas Booth of Astbury who dyed 9th June 1769 aged 60 and also of Hannah his wife who died 10th August 1771 aged 66 Also John Booth son of the above said Thomas and Hannah Booth who departed this life September 3rd 1786 aged 43 years Also Samuel son of the said John and Ann Booth who died August 7 1805 Also the remains of John Booth son of the aforesaid John who died March 25 1871 aged 92 Years

The will of John Booth, grazier is dated 1st September 1786, so I am pretty sure that this John and Ann were the grazier and the sister of Sarah Gent respectively. Thomas Booth was the son of Moses Booth (both butchers) and Hannah was Hannah Stanway. The grave of Moses and Martha Booth is nearby. Samuel was baptized at Astbury on the 21st March 1787, so it looks as if Ann may have been pregnant with him when John died. Andrew Booth Harrogate, UK Frank I thought I had a transcript of John Booth's gravestone, but infuriatingly, I can't find it. I need to check some dates on some of my gravestone transcripts, so I will revisit Astbury as soon as possible. In particular, I want to check the grave of Timothy and Charlotte which seems to contain a certain Elizabeth Lownds. Andrew Booth Harrogate, UK Frank Having had visitors recently (Harrogate is a popular stopping off point), I was unable to drive over to Astbury, so instead, I bought the FHC of Cheshire's transcripts of the MI's on microfiche. Here are some that might interest you:

Here lie the Remains of Mary Booth who died 31st August 1788 aged 70 Years Also John Booth Gentleman late of Astbury Husband of the above mentioned Mary Booth who died 21st Septenber 1798 aged 78 years Also John Booth Gentleman late of Belle Vue Son of the Above Mentioned John Booth who died 25th March 1808 aged 63 years Also Elizabeth Booth relict of the above mentioned John Booth Who died June 29th 1819 aged 60 years

Here lies the body of Sarah wife of John Booth of Brownlow who departed this life the 21st day of July 1771 aged 25 years /* is this Sarah Booth née Richardson? */ Also the body of Richard Booth son of William and Ellen Booth of Spen Green who departed this life March 28th 1793 aged 1 year and 9 months Likewise Ellen wife of William Booth who departed this life Aug 3rd aged 57 years Also Samuel Booth who died Jan 21st 1860 aged 54 years

Here lies the body of William son of Josiah and Elizabeth Booth of Brownlow who was interred 24th June 1766 aged 25 years

Here lies interred the body of Elizabeth Stonehewer the Elder of the two Daughters of the Revd. Joshua Stonehewer Vicar of Audley by Elizabeth his wife who departed this life 4th November 1818 aetatis suis 41 Also Ann daughter of John and Ann Booth of Astbury who died Nov 10th 1850 aged 63 years [Ann was baptised at Astbury 16 Jan 1785-from the IGI] Also Elizabeth their daughter who died July 4th 1858 Aged 81 years Also Mary their eldest daughter daughter who died January 5th 1862 aged 86 years [So Fanny must have died young]

Here lie the Remains of John Gent gentleman of Spen Green in this parish who died Sepr 22nd 1840 aged 78 years Also here lie the remains of Sarah Gent relict of the above mentioned John Gent who died Novr 15th 1843 aged 92 years

Sacred to the memory of Brian Gent son of John and Sarah Gent who died Janry 18th 1844 aged 52 years

This stone was laid in memory of William Gent of Congleton who died January 4th 1818 aged 65 years Also of Peter Gent son of the above who died August 31st 1858 aged 70 Also Hannah wife of Peter Gent who died March 6th 1865 aged 50 years Also James son of the above Peter Gent who died September 17th 1902 aged 60 years
Andrew Booth Harrogate, UK

Turner

For over a hundred years the Turner family had a considerable influence on the Gent family, from a marriage in 1757 to a legacy in 1863, finally handed over in 1879, and we still own some of their possessions. The Gents were farmers at Middlehulme, near the village of Meerbrook, just outside Leek, from around 1750. The Turners were vicars of Meerbrook (and several other moorland parishes around Leek) throughout the period. The Turners were graduates, a necessary precondition for ordination at that time, and created their own intellectual milieu. Furthermore, they were teachers, running their own school to which people sent their sons as boarders, and also providing an education for the children of the other families in the parish. Pupils at the boarding school would proceed, when possible to the universities.

John Gent of The Booths, in the parish of Ipstones near Leek, but described as being of Middlehulme was buried aged 57 on 3rd September, 1753 in the churchyard at Leek, according to a tombstone my great grandfather recorded in 1904. He left no will so administration of his estate was granted to three people: his wife Jane, née Grindy, to Thomas Gent, gentleman of Leek, presumably his younger brother, and to William Gent of Leek, his older brother, described as a grocer but elsewhere as an ironmonger. His son Joseph was presumably a minor but must have reached his majority very soon afterwards

In 1755 John Grindy made his will, leaving the farm of Middlehulme to Joseph Gent, son of his niece Jane Grindy. Joseph in the normal course of things would inherit the family farm at Ipstones, also near Leek, which was known as The Booths. Joseph was now able to marry, which he did in 1757, just two years later. His wife was Mary Turner, twenty years old, five years younger than himself, and the eldest child of the local clergyman, the Rev. Daniel Turner and his wife Elizabeth, née Potts, also a local girl—her parents farmed at Fairburrows, a farm between Leek and Rushton. They had married on 14th November, 1736. A year later the Potts’ daughter Mary was born, on 10th November, 1737, and baptised at Rushton, very near to Meerbrook, and a parish also cared for by the Turners.

It would be interesting to ascertain what became of The Booths farm at Ipstones. John had a brother James, eleven years his junior, who married Mary Fletcher at Ipstones church on May 24th, 1740. They had three sons baptised at Ipstones, at least one of whom died in infancy, and they were separated by death in 1750. After that James appears to vanish from the records. Younger sons made their fortunes as best they could. They do not appear to have inherited The Booths. The farm itself later became the site of a mine, now closed, though the route of the track remains.

Joseph Gent and his wife Mary started their own family soon after their marriage. Their daughter Ellen was born a year afterwards. There is an entry in the parish register of Leek, the mother parish of Meerbrook, recording her baptism on 5th August, 1758, and giving their residence as Middlehulme. Clearly he was already living and farming at Middlehulme, and it had not been leased it to a tenant. Given the fact that his father was recorded as living at Middlehulme at his death in 1753, it is more than likely that the Gents had already left The Booths, possibly selling it, and gone to live with John Grindy at Middlehulme before his death. In Meerbrook churchyard is a tombstone recording that John Grundy [sic] of Middlehulme died in 1758 aged 73. Strangely, John Grindy did have a daughter, not mentioned in his will. Her husband, Ralph Oakden, was executor of John Grindy’s will but received nothing. Perhaps they were childless and wealthy? Perhaps his daughter had died young?

Joseph and Mary’s family increased. Ellen’s sister Elixabeth, named after her maternal grandmother, was born on 4th February, 1760. A son, John, named after his paternal grandfather, was born on 4th October, 1761. A second son, named after his father, Joseph, was born in 1765; a third son, Thomas was born in 1768, possibly named after his great uncle, Thomas Gent, and a daughter Mary was born in 1770, but died when four years old. There was another son James, whose birth or baptism cannot be traced. He was presumably named after his mother’s grandfather, James Turner, of the parish of Bradnop. James was very much a Turner family name.

What happened to these children? Ellen married Robert Clowes, of a local family, on 24th June, 1777, when she was eighteen, or just nineteen. A year later she was buried. Probably she died in childbirth. Her sister Elizabeth married a Thomas Green and, I believe, lived in Liverpool, and they had a daughter, Mary. Elizabeth died in 1792, aged only 32. (That is the age given on her tombstone: records suggest she was 33). She was buried in the Gent family grave at Meerbrook. The inscription on her tombstone suggests a tragic story, with the blame given to her husband. The style suggests it was composed by her uncle, the Rev. James Turner, vicar of Meerbrook. Her grandfather, the Rev. Daniel Turner, died in 1789 and was succeeded by his son, the Rev. James Turner.

Elizabeth

daur of Joseph & Mary Gent of Middle-Hulme

and ill-fated Wife of Thos Green,

died Apr 9th 1792 Aged 32

By Amram’s Son thus God proclaimed his Word;‘Increase & multiply’; My will concurr’d.From that unlucky Period may be seenHow short & evil has my Journey been:For lo! his conduct t’whom my Plight I gaveWith Sorrow sent me to an early Grave.

Here

Lieth the Body of John Grundy

of Middle-Hulme who died

the 5th of Feb. 1758 Aged 73 years

Mary daur of Joseph

And Mary Gent dy’d 5th Augt

1774 Aged 3 years

Joseph Gent of Middlehulme

Yeoman died October 27th 1811

Aged 78 years

ALSO Mary his wife died

November 5th 1815 aged [78] years

Blessed are the dead which

die in the Lord

Elizabeth’s tombstone is replete with resentment and coded messages. We do not know when she married Thomas Green. At her early death, aged thirty two, arrangements were made for her burial by her own family, not her husband. Where was he? She is described as his ‘ill-fated’ wife. Was he the cause of her pain? Or was she fated in some other way—childbirth, consumption, suicide? The phrasing suggests he was the cause. And the verse makes this clear: it was his conduct that ‘With Sorrow sent me to an early Grave.’ What conduct? Cruelty? Desertion? Crime?

The verse must be the creation of one of her clerical uncles and cousins. The stone must have been erected after Elizabeth’s parents death—her mother died in 1815. The biblical allusions in the poetry and its style suggest the Rev. James Turner as author. Amram’s son was the patriarch Abraham, who was told to ‘go forth and multiply.’ Marriage is the fulfilment of that commandment, if it leads to the creation of a family. It is possible that Elizabeth died in childbirth, but that is conjecture.

How can we find out more? Tracing Elizabeth’s marriage would help. It is possible, even likely, that they were married by special licence, which would require a search of marriage Bonds at Lichfield and Cheshire. A Marriage Settlement, providing her with a dowry, would have been extremely likely, as the eldest daughter. A copy has not been found. If Thomas Green committed crimes, Quarter Sessions records at Lancaster or Stafford might throw some light. There is the possibility of an entry in a newspaper, though it is a little early in date. Finally, what happened to Thomas Green? He left a daughter, Mary, a broken heart and angry, resentful in-laws. Perhaps that was enough.

Elizabeth died on April 9th, 1792. This was just a few weeks after her brother Joseph, had married Ann Harrison, on 21st February. The marriage must have been arranged hastily, for seven months later their son Randle was born. Joseph was 26. He was also a graduate. Presumably educated by his Turner relations, he went on to university and received a degree. He lived with his family—Anne bore him a further three sons and two daughters—until his early death in 1811. He was not long survived by his father Joseph, who died on 27th October, 1811, at Middlehulme, and was buried at Meerbrook. Randle was scarcely more fortunate. After the death of his father he wrote to his uncle John, announcing the departure of his brother James for Quebec in the ‘Progress’, and showing concern for his grandparents: ‘I hope my grandfather and grandmother are well, for they are both very old, and I am afraid the unhappy news of my father’s death has hurt them very much.’ There seems to have been a whole network of relations in Liverpool, for Randle mentions his cousin Mary Green, and his Aunt Clowes, presumably a relation of his late Aunt Ellen. The Turners, too, formed part of it. A James Turner, cousin to the vicar, wrote on 26th November, 1812, from Liverpool, mentioning that ‘Cousin Gents here are but indifferent. I am sorry to say poor Randle gone on board a Man of War.’

Of the two younger sons of Joseph and Mary, little is known. The Thomas who was born on 17th September, 1768, is known to have married and to have left a daughter, who married someone believed to have the surname Okell. The son James, whose birth is not recorded in the parish registers, also married, and is believed to have lived in Congleton, a successful silk manufacturer, who left two daughters, Catherine, who married a Mr Hodgkinson, and Ann, who married a Mr Broadhurst. Mr Broadhurst lived at Sharston Mount, Northenden, a house I once visited in the 1970s. My great grandfather had a vivid childhood memory of Mr Broadhurst riding over to Knutsford c. 1865 to tell Dr Henry Gent that he had been ruined after standing surety for Mr Hodgkinson.

The son and heir was John, named after his grandfather, born in 1761 on October 4th and baptised on the 9th. When he was 25 he made a financially advantageous marriage to a woman ten years his senior, Sarah Booth.

John’s mother, Mary, died on 5th November, 1815, and was also buried at Meerbrook. The funeral was almost certainly taken by her brother James, vicar of Meerbrook until his death in 1828. He was succeeded by his son James, who was married to Elizabeth Cruso of Leek, but who died childless in 1863, leaving legacies to his four-year old godson and namesake, my great grandfather, James Francis Turner Gent, who wrote the following notes.

“The oil painting of my godfather the Rev. James Turner, vicar of Meerbrook, near Leek, was bequeathed by him to me along with his mahogany bureau, clerical walking stick and £100, and from him and Elizabeth Turner his maiden sister I received the legacy of silver plate which was bequeathed to his father by the earl of Courtown of Co. Wexford (whose will could be seen at Somerset House) to whom his father was private chaplain. The legacy was retained by his widow from his death in 1863 to my coming of age in 1879, and I was unable to discover whether I had the whole of the original bequest handed to me, as the crest it bore, a unicorn, is not the Courtown crest.

I am descended from the Turner family who trace their descent back to the year 1200 in the Leek district of Staffordshire. My great grandfather Joseph Gent of Middlehulme having married Mary Turner daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Turner in 1757 and she was sister to my godfather’s father.

In the same generation a Miss Gent, cousin of Joseph Gent, was married to Thomas Turner (cousin of Mary Turner, my great grandmother) and their descendants are now in Hanley. He was the eldest son of the eldest male line. date of his marriage 1750 to 1758. [Mary Gent and Thomas Turner married at Leek 14th May, 1762]

Three successive generations of the Turner family held the living of Meerbrook for 120 years, from 1745 to 1863.

Daniel Turner BA D. 1789

Jacobus Turner MA D. 1828 aged 84

James Turner MA D. 1863 Vicar 37 years, age 66.

The plate is described on the next page for the instruction of my children with the place and date of manufacture and maker’s names etc, and its value so that they may have every information ready got for them and value it at its proper value.”

£10 Silver Cruet. 7 bottles London 1798

£3 Silver Drinking Cup. 1/2 pint London 1766

£5 or £6 Silver Large Marrow Spoon. Crest unicorn erect and inverted arrow 1787

Silver large Table Spoon. Initials G. B. probably Booth

1796?

Silver 6 Table Spoons. Crest a unicorn erect and an inverted arrow. Makers Geo. Smith and Samuel Wintle 1786 m one 1796 A

Silver 1 Gravy Spoon W.S. maker W. Sumner with same crest 1788

whose crest it is I don’t know

£3 Silver cream Jug Stamped initials HE 1760

Honble Society of Gray’s Inn London have a wine strainer by the same maker, a celebrated manufacturer

£2 Two Silver Salt Cellars 1775

The above are what I still have of the legacy from the Revd James Turner

This poem is a satirical comment on the Turner family, all of them clergymen. It may date from about 1800.

Clerical Comicalities

Another mandate with imperial sway

Is sent to me--the mandate I obey.

Breathe on me, Muse, I brieﬂy must rehearse

Six persons’ fame in quaint heroic verse.

First on the list the fam’d Pangloss appears

Renowned for folly and for length of ears/years.

In making blunders he’s unrivalled still

But famed for twisting out say what you will.

One summer’s morning chamber’d with his wife

(Alas the woes of matrimonial strife)

She asked, "Ah, Daniel! Whither will you go?"

But surly Daniel sourly said, "I know."

All eyes agog along the road he speeds

On horse-back galloping with title deeds.

On marriage ofta home is bought for gold

But Daniel marries and his home is sold.

He once could read with elegance and grace

But now he’s lost--alas!--he’s lost his place.

A coward always, but of late, oh! sad

The sight of Ishbibenob drives him mad.

His like you never will behold again.

He is a star of stars, a man of men.

Hence think of others--Yes, the rural Dean

The Vicar Metropolitan, I mean.

One day when dining with a chosen few

Maddening with rage a wild potato ﬂew

Right at his breast across the board it went.

By thee Pangloss, by thee ’twas surely sent.

Its cours …ing Jove and fate decreed

That such a man by him should never bleed.

The whizzing ball fell harmless on the ﬂoor.

Pangloss then picked it up and wiped it o’er.

He wished to eat it; this they all prevent

While roars of laughter round the room are spent.

From Leek to Norton Rectory repair

And see the man of learning seated there.

So passing high in lore could you suppose

That for a jug-nut he mistook a rose.

To know your age sans registration books

Your mouth he opens, at your teeth he looks.

Mistaken, once he gave in days of yore

The health of one who long had died before.

The learned Gent his speech but just begun

Abruptly closed it with "I’ve done, I’ve done."

With Norton’s rector Endon’s uncle dined

And then what wisdom and what folly joined.

With open arms they met, calm, mild and meek;

They hugged each other standing cheek to cheek,

With goggling eyes and long, distorted face

The reverend rector gave a close embrace

And said, "Oh! Brother oft for you I’ve sought;

You’ve come at last, I beg you’ll start a thought

Not curves cycloidal (to our seats we’ll go)

Those curves are brachystochronous we know.

The calendars of variation shall

Solve problems isoperimetrical.

And next avert your eyes to Meerbrook green

Indisposition’s parson there is seen.

To dine with him no party can refuse.

With form he meets them in his polished shoes;

His beard is trimmed, his clothes are neatly brushed,

frivolity is checked and laughter hushed.

To take their seats the party now prepare

The aged he places in an easy chair.

Politely ceremonious with the rest

They sit in order so may please them best.

With him we’ll leave them placed mild and meek

And turn our devious steps to lovely Leek.

The wily Barnes in Spout Street now is found

With wife he’s honour’d and with riches crowned.

Magniﬁcence in rooms and robes of state

While glittering footmen in attendance wait.

How different is this from teaching school

Say what you will but barnes is not a fool.

Caparisoned his horses snorting stand

With groom and coachmen waiting his command.

He and his lovely consort blithe and gay

Ascend the chariot and it rolls away.

With him the Bishop lately went to dine

And then what honours, Reverend Barnes, were thine.

The following poem was probably written by Mary’s brother when he ceased to act as chaplain to the Earl of Courtown in Ireland.

Lines written by the Revd James Turner MA after his return to his native country, in hopes there to end his days in peace and obscurity

Oft as I strive step Fortune’s hill to gain

Which some have done God knows sans part or pain

Some slip of conduct or oppression’s power;

Lies, whispers, slanders some unlucky hour,

Or what soever cause, unseen, unknown,

Still pluck’d me back, like Sisyphus’s stone,

And lastly dropt me in my native clime

To teach, preach, pray, read, muse and feebly rhyme.

Thus subtle magnets reel from shoal to shoal,

But lastly trembling nod towards the Pole.

Yet grant at Heaven’s decree I ne’er repine

But kiss the Rod and trust in Providence Divine

For to God’s fiat all things seem to tend

Malice might Joseph into Egypt send,

And Judas’ self contribute to that end.

Adieu, then Gew-gaws, Hail thou well-known spot

Pastures green and humble straw-thatched cot.

Haunts of my youth and conscious of my Toys,

O strange vicissitude of transient Joys

That actuate the breast to Man from Boys

Here then may wisdom be my first pursuit

Learning the soil may Virtue be the Fruit.

Thus may my thoughts improve the Talents given

And dress my Soul an offering fit for Heaven:

As each advance in knowledge may afford,

Proof of God’s being, attribute and word.

Till all Demurs and Doubts for ever past

The Infidel convinc’d, appall’d, aghast,

The Vision beatific full displayed at last.

Thus whilst the many dup’d by fading Joys

May I like Mary whom the Text records

Bend to my Saviour’s ever-during Words:

Unswayed by Martha’s or by Esau’s Taste,

Slighting eternals, lured by one Repast,

Oft view that Tomb which near the Lich-gate stands

Rais’d by a pious mournful Widow’s hans

To him whose life a bright example shone

Who liv’d in peace and dy’d without a groan,

Like full ripe Fruit that earthly Nectar yields

Or yellow Ceres that adorns the fields

Whose dear remembrance may my zeal inspire

And prompt the son to emulate the sire

For oft as day gives way to gloomy night

The mansions of the Deadmy steps invite

Where Prayers and Praises both spontaneous rise

To Nature’s God my evening sacrifice.

Now guess the Partridge to the hawk a prey

Signal that Night obtrudes retiring day;

And Grace to Birds though scorn’d by tasteless Fools,

Solemn in Voice and aspect hoot the Owls

Slow swings the Curfew-bell the Winds unseen

Through Piones and Yews improve the solemn scene

With Rosemary, apt Emblem of the dead

Which being crop’t the more erects its Head.

And last the moon pale Empress of the Night

With slow majestic pace appears to sight

Whilst stars unnumbered feeble light reveal’d

Which erst the radiance of the Sun conceal’d.

Thus whilst I rov’d in this obscure retreat

Feeding my soul with meditation sweet

Near midnight’s hour onviting soft repose

Job’s mystic vision to my Fancy rose.

Silent and solemn all, my heart subdued

My pulse beat languid, slowly crept my blood.

My voice supprest my heir erect thro’ honor stood

When lo a phantom stood before my eyes

Majestic large surpassing human size

With aspect calm he awful raised his hand;

Loose flow’d his gown and gently waved his Band

And thus with accent mild; Fond man behold

The gross delusions that attend on Gold.

Shun Syren pleasure false as Harlot’s smiles,

Which tempts and stings, still poisons yet beguiles

Tho’ specious Knowledge may thy wishes gain

Yet weigh, oh, weigh, the vast alloy of pain.

Here then thy Anchor fix with full assent

That Virtue only yieldeth true Content.

Thus having said, the Genius benign

Left me deep musing wrap’t in thoughts Divine.

Oh may such thoughts my mortal eye engage

And serve like Balm, to sweeten Lifes’s last stage.

Lines by the Rev. James Turner, senior, under the Commandments in Meerbrook Church

(Vicar of Meerbrook. Died 1828. Brother of Mary Gent, née Turner)

By Fear alarm’d may we receive imprest

These awful Mandates deep within our breast.

Whilst our rapt Souls to JESUS we resign,

Where wonder, love and gratitude combine.

Also these next the pulpit by the same.

Before Thee Lord, when prostrate I appear

In humble prayer; vouchsafe a gracious ear,

In balmy sleep, when sinks my drooping head,

Thy watchful Providence surrounds my bed.

And when this world’s affairs my hours divide,

Thy Spirit, instinct-like, be then my guide.

My race thus run, may I on Seraph’s wings

Soar to those Realms where bliss eternal springs.

Lines to be repeated by Children of Meerbrook Sunday School on Christmas Day.

For ever blest be this auspicious Morn

On which the Saviour of Mankind was born.

Dumb with amazement pause all human Kind,

Survey the Bliss ineffable. Design’d

For all your race. Lo, Christ your Ransom brings,

For Adam’s Lapse, with Healing in His wings.

Hear the blest promise as in scripture read

The woman;s feet shall bruise the Serpent’s head.

See the blest Babe in sordid flannel swath’d,

With tears of Joy his face the Mother bath’d.

Hear the Evangelist in raptures tell,

Satan like lightning shot from Heaven to Hell.

Pan’s lying Oracles began to droop

Gasping, desponding lay his vanquish’d Troop.

Lo, GOD a sojourner on Earth appears,

Who from repenting Eyes wipes off the Tears.

Faith and Repentance, Christ’s Benevolence

Almost outshine Man’s state of Innocence.

The bright inhabitants of Heaven proclaim

Their Joys in chanting Blest Messiah’s Name.

With such Ambition, Lord, our souls inspire

That we in Heaven may join that blissful choir.

1825

Lines by the Rev. James Turner, on seeing the sun set in Meerbrook Chapel Yard, July, 1825, when 81 years old.

Oft as I view day’s glorious Lamp descend

Awake my Soul, and view thy latter end,

Or , rather, entrance on an endless state

Where Bliss supreme or woe must thee await

Let me compute my days already past

And think this very day may be my last.

Weigh how much Duty every day requires

And what has been the main of my desires.

To me, O Christ, thy saving Grace impart,

That this sad thought may never rend my heart.

So one day more in Sin and Folly spent

And one day less to live the Penitent.

To banish such sad thoughts and soothe the mind,

Peruse the Scriptures, seek and though shalt find.

Draw near to Christ, who all thy troubles sees,

But bring a contrite heart and bending Knees.

To thy superiors pay all honour due,

Stoop to the meanest—Christian, Pagan, Jew.

See what abasement Christ himself sustain’d

When to redeem mankind the Saviour deign’d

Thus deference meek to all who bear the rod

Seems an appendix to our serving GOD.

These gentle hints if well observ’d my Friend

May sweeten life and bring an happy end.

For wisdom’s wages are the paths of Peace

Her harvest large, Eternity her Lease.

There is a letter from his son James to his cousin, John Gent, recording his death.

Leek August 8th 1828

Dear Sir,

After having been confined to his bed about nine weeks my dearest ever-beloved Father breathed his last yesterday afternoon, the day before he completed his 83rd year. He endured his sufferings and met his death like a bishop, and, through the merits of his Redeemer he is blessed for ever and ever. You will present my wife’s and my kind regards to Mrs and Miss Gent and say we had intended to pay them a visit at Spen Green in the midsummer holidays, but my poor Father’s sickness prevented it. If Miss Gent will spend a week with us here we shall be very happy to see her. Have the goodness to inform your brother James of the death of his relative and believe me to remain, dear Sir,

Very truly tours

Jas Turner

This same James Turner was to write again thirty years later.

My dear Miss Gent,

The ﬁrst part of your note caused me to put on a grave countenance, and feel a little queer, and conscience began to question. I had not heard of the arrival of the young stranger, though a few days ago I met with an old neighbour of yours, Mr Minshall, with whom I had some conversation respecting your family. When you next write to Knutsford let me be very kindly remembered, give my congratulations to the parents on the birth of another son, and forget not to thank them for the compliment paid me in giving my name to that son. Supposing my namesake to be like his brother and sister I am sure he is a very nice child, and I shall be very happy to see the young gent at Meerbrook as soon as soon as circumstances permit. You and some of your family before long will, I expect, visit this neighbourhood, and Mrs Turner and I shall be happy to see you here: there is a bed for you.

With our united kind love

I remain, My dear Miss Gent,

very sincerely yours

James Turner

Meerbrook, 31st March, 1859

Grindy
Some notes

The Will of Clulow Grindy of Middlehulme, Leek, Staffs

In the name of God Amen. I Clulow Grindy of Middlehulme in Leekfrith, Parish of Leek, County of Staffs, yeoman, being weak in body but of sound and disposing mind and memory thanks be to God for the same do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner following. First and principally I commend my soul into the hands of almighty God my creator hoping through the merits of Jesus Christ my saviour to receive free pardon and remission of all my sins, and my body I commit to the earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my executors hereinafter named. And as touching such worldly goods as it hath pleased God to bless me with I do dispose if the same as followeth. Imprimis, I give devise and bequeath unto my eldest son John Grindey and his heirs and assigns for ever all that messuage or tenement situate at Middlehulme where I now inhabit and all dwell and all buildings lands tithes premises and all other my lands tenements heridatements whatsoever situate in Leekfrith or elsewhere in the county of Stafford and do also give and bequeath unto the said John Grindy all my goods cattle chattels money bills bonds and other personal estate whatsoever on this consideration that my son John Grindy shall after my decease pay all my debts and funeral expenses and shall pay the interest of £60 yearly to Jane gent wife of John Gent of the Booths during her natural life and after the decease of the said Jane Gent my son his heirs and assigns shall pay the principal sum of £60 to the children of Jane Gent in equal shares. Item my son John Grindy to pay the sum of £5 to Dorothy Gould as soon as she shall be 21 years old and to John Gould and Thomas Gould brothers to Dorothy and children to John Gould and Ann his wife late of the Waterhouses the sum of £5 each at 21 years old pursuant to the request of my daughter Sarah Grindy late deceased as being part of her portion. Item I give to William Grindy of Baslow county of Derby and his wife each the sum of ten shillings and to Samuel Grindy of Bayley and Mary his mother and to Benjamin Brown of the parish of Stayley and to his wife each the sum of twenty shillings Item, I do also will and devise that all my real and personal estate shall be charged and liable and subject to the payment of the debts expenses and legacies herein mentioned and do hereby nominate and appoint my son John Grindy sole executor of this my last will

In witness whereof I have to this my last will and testament written on one sheet of paper put my hand and seal the 9th day of march 1727.

Signed Clulow Grindy

Witnesses Moses Mellor Ann Harrison Henry Royle

John Grindy son of above by will 1755 gives £23 per annum to his wife Ellen Grindy besides what was settled on her at marriage; unto his nephew Joseph Gent son of his sister Jane Gent the farm at Middlehulme subject to the annuity to Ellen Grindy and £3 per annum to Jane Gent [Joseph's mother] and thirty shillings per annum to nieces Mary Gent and Ann Gent and £6 per annum to nephew John Gould and £2 per annum to Dorothy Rowley son and daughter of his sister Ann and John Gould and 32 per annum to William Gent son of late brother-in-law John Gent and a further twenty shillings per annum to William Gent by codicil and thirty shillings per annum to John Gent also his nephew to begin after his wife Ellin's death and legacy of £10 each to William Mary and Ann Gent and all residue to his nephew Joseph Gent. His son in law Ralph Oakden sole executor.

Witnesses Mary Brough Sarah Gould William Condlyffe

Janney

Who was Rebecca?

When Esther Gent died on February 13th, 1900, her son, Frank Turner Gent, felt particularly bereaved because he lacked any close family. His father he hardly knew, being very elderly and for his last years senile, dying when Frank Turner Gent was only sixteen, and the only other relative he had ever met of his father's was Aunt Mary Gent, a spinster who died three years later at the age of eighty five. On his mother's side, most of them had moved away in search of employment, but he did make contact with his mother's sister Aunt Mary Williams of Dorking. In this means he felt able to reclaim some of his lost family, but more importantly, he was filled with a desire to discover his forebears, and he immersed himself in a genealogical search that was to fill much of his spare time over the next decade.

His brother had inherited family papers which provided a start, and he knew that the family had had its roots in Leek, in the far north of Staffordshire, in remote, hilly but beautiful country. He started the search through parish registers, visiting incumbents to copy the relevant entries, checking wills at Lichfield, and befriending other genealogists who assisted him in his search. Fairly quickly the family tree was constructed as far back as the early seventeenth century. He even traced his second cousin, Miss Lilian Molyneux of Liverpool, who sadly died soon afterwards, having fallen and broken her hip, and he was only able to spend a few minutes with her, the only relative of his father's he was to meet.

The one important gap in the family tree was the identity of the Rebecca who married William Gent of Overhulme, near Leek, in 1694. What was her surname? Who were her parents? Where did she live? Parish registers were searched, documents examined, but the missing link was elusive. He and his brother, Fred Gent, worked hard to unravel this tantalising puzzle, and made remarkably accurate guesses. Here is one of Fred's musings, sent to Frank:

"In Sleigh's "Leek" [William Sleigh wrote a history of Leek] re Ipstones he gives

James Janney=Ellen his wife

living 1664

William Janney =Rebekah

son and heir 1667 his wife

of ye Booths

will dated 1677

Mary Janney dau and devisee of William Janney of the Booths married to Richard Styche of Heywood Park Staffs 29/30 June 1730

"Now this must have been granddaughter of Rebekah if she Mary was married in 1730 and the William above died in 1677. She would hardly be likely to be married at 60 or 70 years of age.

"Now the above Rebekah is the only one of that name in Sleigh's books an here is a riddle for you as you have set me some about the Thomas's. Tell me if you think the following probable:

William Janney = Rebekah

son and heir 1667 his wife

of ye Booths

will dated 1677

William Janney= - Rebecca Janney = William Gent

son of John and Ellen Gent

Mary=Richard Styche 1694

1730

"That would account for the chirograph, for John and Ellen and William and Rebecca, and the settling of John at Ipstones."

So he reasoned the answer - an impressive piece of deduction. The place, the dates, the names, all seemed to tally, and there was the legal document from Mr Hulme in Leek. The Chirograph was a legal document for selling land whose contents had been noted by Mr Hulme, and on this occasion the transaction was a marriage settlement - marriages at that time were commercial transactions, involving land, money, and heirs. I cannot find a transcript of it in the family papers now, unfortunately, its full importance was not appreciated, but Fred's theorem was excellent, a good reading of the evidence of this document. All he needed was corroboration.

Frank and Fred Gent went to Ipstones on August 26th, 1903, and saw the Parish Registers at the vicarage, and copied out the entries concerning the Gent family. But they missed the important entry. On the 29th August, 1994, I examined a microfiche copy of the Genealogical Index prepared by the Mormons - there is a copy in many large public libraries - and there was the missed entry: William Gent married Rebecca Janney on September 17th, 1694 at Ipstones. It explains how the Gents came to live at Ipstones. It took ninety-one years to correct the mistake and prove the relationship, just in time for the tercentenary of William and Rebecca's marriage.

What about the riddle of the Thomas's? And all the other Leek Gents? Frank Turner Gent wrote: 'Yes, this is a great riddle for Frank or some other descendant to solve, if ever one has the will to do so.' It took four generations, but one gap has been filled. Now to solve the other riddles…

And what happened to Rebecca? As far as we know she had a daughter and five sons, from ten months after her marriage till the youngest, Samuel, was born fifteen years later. She died a few days after his birth. But the Booths, the family farm and her dowry, stayed with the Gents. In the next generation another successful marriage by William and Rebecca's son John brought the Gents back to Middlehulme, where they had been in the 1540s, and which they were to own till 1880, the last link with the land till the venture in Devon.

Frank's Life Story

Monday, 9 January 2017

The Maternal Line

Uncle Vince Auntie Janie (Thomson) Unknown Auntie Maggie (Neild) Auntie Mima UnknownTed Neild EttieThomson

Edward Warburton married Sarah Charlton

Piers (Peter) Warburton

Peter Warburton

Thomas Warburton the Elder William Warburton

Peter Warburton married Margaret Rowlinson

William Warburton (1) married Prissille Ashaton

William Warburton (2) married Joan Cartwright

Arnold Warburton

Arnold Warburton (1) married Anne Shelmerdine

Edward Warburton married Sarah Charlton

Anne Charlton Warburton

Anne Charlton Warburton married William Smith Burgess

Arthur Charlton Warburton married Sarah Ellen Ford

George Warburton married Ada Narraway (2)

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