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Family History 4 AllLearn how to trace YOUR family tree.Newsletter No.14 – November 2007.1. Our welcome message.
2.
Featured Article –
How
I got started 3. Help wanted - Back in the New Year! Instead - Our Christmas Story (Not for the kids!!) 4.
Latest news from www.Ancestry.co.uk
5. Next month’s article. See Competition below!
1. Hi all, Sorry we are late this month. In fact it's now December! The next newsletter will arrive in January so I would like to wish all our subscribers 'A Very Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year' We have a very good article courtesy of John Lindley this month. I'm sure you'll be delighted with it. That's enough from me - enjoy your newsletter. You have received this newsletter by subscribing from this or one of our 'sister' sites. Or it has been forwarded from a friend/relative etc. If it's the latter and you would like your own subscription, then please click here: Free Newsletter. Unsubscribe info can also be found on this page. Here's the link to our archives: archive.htm I hope this message finds you all in good health. If you have an article or amusing story to share with us then please don’t be afraid to send it for publication…you can remain anonymous if you prefer but we want you all to feel you can contribute if you want to. Just send an with the words ‘Newsletter item’ in the subject box. And we will include it at the first opportunity, subject to editing, if necessary of course. Christmas is just around the corner and you will find lots of suitable Family History/Genealogy gifts here: Visit our store now.*
2. How
I got started
How I got started
Meaning & Origin of LINDLEY When I was boy I
thought how unusual my surname was, not only was I the only boy in my
class with that name, but I was the only boy in the whole school. I asked my father
about this and he said that although he was born in Conisborough my
Grandfather was not. He said he was born at either Hunslet or at Thornhill
Lees. He was not sure. When I became
interested in family history I decided to find the meaning of the name and
its origins. I did this by looking
at surname books such as the one by George Redmonds-about 1973 – now out
of print, it covered surnames in Yorkshire-mainly the West Riding. The name originates
from 2 places in Yorkshire called Lindley, one at Huddersfield and one at
Otley. The LIND part means Lime Tree & the LEY part means clearing- so
Lime Tree Clearing.
FAMILY VALUES By this I mean, speak
to relatives in your family – interview them! You may say that you
have never interviewed anyone in your life, but I say that you interview
people every day – You may ask your husband or wife ‘how they have gone on
at work’? or your children ‘how they have gone on at school’? You are
asking them questions and you get answers -(sometimes)
Some questions to ask your relatives:-
1
Where & on what date you were born?
2
Do you know if and where you were Christened/Baptised
3
When were you married & where?
4
Have you got your marriage certificate?
5
Where did you work?
6
What are/were your parent names? Include middle names & maiden
names
7
Do you have any old Photographs of the family?
8
Do you have any old documents or certificates? These are just a few
of the questions you can ask, there are many more. With this information
in mind I asked my parents all about themselves & got lots of information,
writing it all down for later use. So I now knew some detail about my
parents and also about my Grandparents on both sides, but be warned, only
try one side of the family at a time when new to FH. As I have said my
father mentioned that my grandfather (who died in 1955) had come from
either Hunslet, near. Leeds or Thornhill Lees, near Dewsbury and that he
had been a Glass Blower at the KILNER glass works at Conisborough.
At the local library
I came across 3 very useful books, namely
Books That
helped 1. COAL MINERS,
GLASS WORKERS & POTTERS A profile of the DENABY area from 1801 – 1871 By J E MacFarlane MA 2. Tracing your
Family Tree By jean Cole & Michael Armstrong 3. Family History
& Local History By David Hey The Book on COAL
MINERS, GLASS & POTTERY was my first real clue to finding my
ancestors. The book shows the 1871 census for Mexborough, Denaby &
Conisborough & lists all those who worked in the Mines, Glassworks &
Potteries. I went straight to the GLASS workers & found 3 LINDLEY’S WILLIAM, JOHN & JAMES. John & James were from HUNSLET & William was from ALLERTON BYWATER Hunslet was the place
my father had mentioned to me, so I knew I was on the right track, but
Allerton Bywater had not been mentioned.
THE CENSUS The census started in
1801, but it was not until 1841 that the records contained any personal
details & not until 1851 did it include place of birth, relationship to
Head & marital status. It is one hundred
years before the census information is released so the 1901 census will
not be available until 2001. Armed with the
information from the book I decided to look at the1881 census for
Conisborough & Denaby.
I found the family
living at the Glass House Houses at KILNER BROS glass works, on the 1881
CD's the name was down as 'Findley' so watch out for misspellings.
The Glass works is now part of the site of the EARTH centre at
Conisborough. The head of the
family was my Great Grandmother MARY ANNE LINDLEY widow, & 2 children, my
Grandfather & his sister LILLEY. My grandfather
WILLIAM HENRY was 16 and at the glass works as an apprentice glass blower,
and LILLEY was down as a scholar, I checked her out and found out she went
the local BOARD school at Mexborough some 4 miles away- these
school records are at the Doncaster Archives. My great grandfather
must have died prior to the census, so, I decided to check in two places,
the PARISH RECORDS of Conisborough St Peters at Doncaster archives & the
SOUTH YORKSHIRE TIMES newspaper available at the local library. Both came
up with the answer, my great grandfather who was WILLIAM LINDLEY- the 3rd
person mentioned in the COAL MINERS, GLASS & POTTERS book, had died in
JUNE 1880. I then checked the 1871 census and found the family living at
the same address, but with William as the HEAD and from ALLERTON BYWATER
(this was mentioned in the COAL MINERS, GLASS & POTTERS book) with quite a
few children. Some of the children came from THORNHILL LEES near DEWSBURY.
This was the clue that my father had given me, in fact that is where my
grandfather was born in 1865. I next checked the
1861 census for Thornhill Lees and again found the family there,
some of the children were born as early as 1854,and my great Grandfather
William Lindley was down as a Glass Worker at the KILNER glass works at
Thornhill Lees. The next step was to
check the 1851 census at HUNSLET- LEEDS, these was available at the
Leeds Central library. The family were
there, wife Mary Anne, Mother in law Anne Edwards- widow & 3 children,
John, James & a William- a child by a former marriage. This meant that
William Lindley had been married before – but when? The child William was
10 and worked at the FLAX Mill in Hunslet. I checked the marriages in the
LEEDS area at the archives at Sheepscar and found that William my Gt
Grandfather had married a JANE LISTER in 1846 at Leeds St Peter. So Jane
had died between that date & the 1851 (Census). Checking the burial
register for Hunslet I found Jane had died in late 1849 of Cholera (an
epidemic in Leeds at this time) & that William had married Mary Anne
Edwards in the March of 1850 & a few weeks later had given birth their
first child, which meant that Mary Anne was pregnant before Jane had
died! The child William I found was baptised William Lister at
Swillington – no father’s name mentioned on the Birth Certificate, the
young William took the name of Lindley - we shall never know the true
father. So up to now I had verified the book details which contained the
1871 census of Conisbrough.
THE IGI The IGI is an INDEX
as you know & is a very good guide, but at times not all that reliable. I
soon discovered that the name LINDLEY was very common, particularly in
West Yorkshire.
My Great Grandfather
was from Allerton Bywater according to the census records, so I looked for
a William Lindley at Allerton Bywater & could not find one. I discovered
by visiting Allerton Bywater, that the church there was not built until
about the 1850’s. The parish church people used was before that date was
KIPPAX. Re checking the IGI and Registers ,I found a William Lindley
Baptised at KIPPAX in January 1814, & the fathers name was JOHN & he was
from Allerton Bywater & a farmer (this occupation was also on William’s
marriage cert’) I found 2 more children Ann & Luke & then no more. Looking
at the Burial Register again I discovered that John died at the age of 31
in 1819, this then gave me a clue to his birth date. John was married to a
MARY according to the registers. When did John get married? and where? I
found the marriage at Leeds St Peter in 1813 & the marriage was a Licence
marriage- and that the Mary was a Mary Coldwell.
Marriage
Bonds & Allegations Licence marriages can
be most helpful, a copy of the marriage BOND (not the
licence) may be available for Yorkshire at the Borthwick Institute at
York. These documents often give valuable information, such as age,
occupation and consent if a minor. Printed books of 'Marriage Bonds &
Allegations are available from the Borthwick and currently start at 1715
and go through to 1837 in several volumes. These books are available for
purchase. They would be an excellent research tool at the society's
workshops as each volume has several hundred entry's. I then checked the
Kippax Baptism records & found that John was Baptised in 1788 & that his
father was a WILLIAM further checks in the register revealed several more
children, but none after 1788. Looking further back I found no more
Lindley’s at Kippax only in the early 1600’s.
With the aid of the
IGI & Registers I found the family again at CASTLEFORD & traced
them back to the 1650’s. The Castleford Registers do not exist before
1650, & the Bishops Transcripts are very spare before 1650..
Marriages &
an important find I discovered
something strange about the marriage of William Lindley of Allerton
Bywater who was born in 1744 at Castleford and married in 1777 at
Castleford to a Betty Hippon, it was a Licence marriage- The
marriage bond said that Betty had the consent of her father Mr George
Hippon. I thought the insertion of MR was a little strange & soon
discovered that it was a Gentleman family & that it was referred to as MR
in many documents of that period. The Hippon's were from
Featherstone, & looking in the Featherstone Registers I soon found the
family going back to the start of the registers. This is where my interest
in Heraldry comes in, I decided to look at the VISITATION books, these are
books in printed form. They are copy's of the Heralds visits from the
College of arms in London to various counties, starting in about 1524. The
visitations took place at random intervals usually every 30 to 40 years.
They stopped in the 1680's and they recorded the gentlemen families and
families of higher society up to the level of Duke's I found the Hippons
who were in fact an Heraldic family and their pedigree is well documented
as far back as the 1400's
Land Tax
Records At this point I
decided to fill in some background information & looked at land tax for
the late 1700’s and discovered 3 returns in the 1780’s. These were
available at the Wakefield Archives, I obtained copy's of these documents
and they show what tax/rent my ancestors were paying in the late 1700's.
Wills The next item I
looked was WILLS, many original wills are kept at the BORTHWICK at York.
Even the poorest of families often made a Will and just because your
ancestors were say Agricultural labourers it does not mean they did not
make a Will. I found a Will of William Lindley of Allerton Bywater for
1789 and it went into quite some detail. Wills are very important.
Protestation Roles Protestation Roles
are LISTS of signatures of people who signed allegiance to the King in
this case Charles 1st in 1641/2. These are available if they
exist for the area you are interested in from the House of Lords in
London. The House of Lords as an archives department and they are normally
very helpful. There is a cost to obtaining these, but again are an
important research tool, they can locate your ancestor and let you know
his allegiance.
Manorial Records Next I turned my
attention to Manorial records & found that they did exist for
Castleford They started in 1592 and ran until the 1800’s. These
records if available are often kept at the archives and in this case are
at the Leeds archives at Sheepscar. They are in Latin
until the early 1700’s, so I had to get someone to look at them on my
behalf. It was soon discovered that the Lindley name was cropping up
several times, but I cannot at present connect the Lindley’s between 1592
& 1650, but they must be connected somehow because after 1650 they are
related to me and there were so few people in a village set up in those
days.
Quote from two
Manorial records extracts : In May 1698 a
'Richard Lindley' was fined for making an affray & drew blood of one
Charles Lapidge. Another incident by the same Richard was that he did
‘smite the Steward of the court & was fined 10 shillings. He must have
been a hot-tempered man. This Richard was my descendent.
Hidden Wills Sometimes Wills can
be ‘Hidden’ in documents & one such Will I found in the manorial records
of 1688. A Richard Lindley (deceased) had left property etc to his sons &
wife & it is quite detailed, so look for these. It told me of a son John
who was Richards heir this John was born before the start of the
Castleford registers and was living in Leeds at he time of his fathers
death. So do look for 'Hidden' Wills, they often occur in land registry
deeds.
Finally There are many other
records that are available, that I have not used, but the ones outlined
here have brought me some success. One of the key points in family
history is that you must be persistent in your efforts. In some of my
research I came across a Heraldic Lindley family- but that is another
story! By John Lindley
Copyright © John Lindley 2003 3. Our Christmas Story (Not for the kids!!) Hope you have a sense of humour Sorry.. a bit naughty
Not long ago and far away, Santa was
getting ready for his annual trip, but there were problems everywhere. 4. Latest news from:
Ancestry.co.uk
We are
pleased to announce that the complete British Phone Book collection from
1880-1984 is now available on
Ancestry.co.uk
Use your
14 Day FREE trial
Dating back to 1880, the year after the public telephone service was introduced into Great Britain ; phone books are really helpful tools for family historians. Because they are updated so regularly (every 12-18 months from the mid 1900s onwards) phone books are a great companion to Census records for tracing your ancestors' whereabouts. You'll find information on where your ancestors were living. Indeed telephone ownership in itself is highly revealing in establishing class and social prominence of your ancestors too. So, even if you don't find your ancestors listed in the early directories, this in itself is very telling in terms of establishing the social status of your ancestors too. From the structure of the directories themselves, you'll also be able to get a very rich picture of the areas in which your ancestors were living and for the types of concerns which would of occupied their every day lives. For example, from the very first issue, the changing nature of local and national advertisements (from local milk supplies to major utility suppliers) provide for a fascinating picture of economic and industrial development of Britain . Note: The British Phone Books data 1880 - 1984 is provided in association with BT, this database contains images of original records. 5. Next month’s article. Why not send us an article for a future newsletter? email The sender of the best article (which must be family history related) will receive a copy of 'Coronation Street Game' Containing more than 700 questions; 'Superfan' Section & Images and Clips! This is a fantastic prize produced by: Granada Ventures Limited. So get your thinking caps on and send your articles to reach us by January 10th 2008. All articles will be published and YOU, our subscribers will be asked to vote for your favourite. Good Luck * * * That’s all for this month folks…I hope you enjoyed this months newsletter. See you next month. Jim. Editor PS. Please forward this newsletter to your friends/relatives, if they are interested in family history, with our compliments. If this newsletter was forwarded from a friend/relative and you would like your own copy, you can sign up here: http://familyhistory4all.co.uk/newsletter.htm To send us a comment or an article you can us here Jim Ackroyd. Address: 12 Avondale Road. Doncaster. UK. DN2 6DE Take a look at our other web sites here: http://jamesackroyd.com PS. For our UK subscribers. If you like to have a flutter on the National Lottery, Use this link: http://playlottery.at/A1Shopping I buy my lotto tickets online as it’s much more convenient. (It is normal to find the site closed on Wednesday and Saturday evenings GMT. Just try the next day) P.P.S. If you like quizzes - Take a look at our new quiz site: www.quiz4free.com Hope you like it.
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