LANCASHIRE FAMILY HISTORY AND HERALDRY SOCIETY

Rossendale Branch Newsletter September 2010

Research and Advice Sessions:

at Rawtenstall library every Tuesday 1.30 – 3.30 pm

and every Monday at Haslingden Library 5.30 – 7.30 pm

Rossendale Branch has a group of members who are on hand every Tuesday and Monday, to assist members of the public with their Family History enquiries. You will find us upstairs at Rawtenstall or Haslingden on the appropriate days, as indicated above. When contacting us with an enquiry, please include your membership number. Not a member? Then see the Benefits of Joining on our Home Page.

Subscriptions June to December

Please note that at this time of the year you can take out a subscription for half the usual price. This is a marvellous offer. You will receive 2 copies of our magazine and all the benefits of the society until January 2011.

The LFHHS Resource Centre. Extension of Opening Hours.

We are pleased to announce that the Society’s Resource and Research Centre at 2 Straits Oswaldtwistle, BB5 3LU is open every Thursday from 1pm – 5pm. and the Centre will now open on the 1st Saturday of each month 1pm

www.lfhhs.org.uk/download/index.htm

News from the Federation of Family History Societies

Living the Poor Life.

The untold history of the Poor is now online. Thousands of pages of Poor Law Records have now been made available following the conclusion of a major project by The National Archives.

The records comprise letters, reports and memos passed between local and national poor law authorities and help to spread light on the lives and experiences of the Victorian poor. The records start in 1834, the year of the Poor Law Amendment Act. Living the Poor Life can be found at: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/workhouse

Rossendale: News Notes and Queries

Book Review

Haslingden and Helmshore Through Time

Last month I drew your attention to a new book of photographs entitled "Edenfield Through Time". Since then another book of local photographs, in this same series, has been published. This one is entitled "Haslingden and Helmshore Though Time". It has been compiled by Chris Aspin in conjunction with John Simpson. Both men are prolific local history writers.

This latest book complements other books of photographs on the area which you may have purchased in the past. It records the coming and going of the mills which once dominated the skyline; the switch from railway to motorway; and the many other changes of the last century.

The book is available from local shops and on-line bookstores. It retails at £14.99. It is published as a paperback by Amberley Publicising, Chalford Stroud, Gloucestershire. June 2010. There are 96 pages, and 180 illustrations.

Did You Miss… Our Out Visit to the Higher Mills Textile Museum?

Twenty of us assembled at the museum to take a journey through our industrial past. It took about two hours for our very knowledgeable guide to show us round both the mills, which jointly tell the story of woollen production and the development and decline of the cotton industry. We started with the giant water-wheel and the fulling machinery, and watched films showing how the various industrial inventions had affected the fortunes of the workers. Whenever possible the machinery was run for us and explained. We finished the tour with (my favourite) the mule room. Three generations of my family were responsible for keeping the cotton mules running. The museum is well worth a visit, it has been extensively renovated in recent years. There are ramps, a lift and sufficient seating available. Also a café and a souvenir shop.

Newchurch Registers Transcripts

Following an enquiry from one of our members, I contacted Craig Thornber to find out what has happened to his promised update of the earlier registers. In October 2009 Craig informed me that his last volume Newchurch-in-Rossendale 1606-1723 would replace the original Volume 45. This includes addition pages, as the original publication had not been checked against the bishops’ transcripts. However our member found that the original volume 46 was still on sale as a CD and he had purchased this in error.

Craig tells me that according to the AGM minutes for the Lancashire Parish Register Society, this updated volume is a candidate for publication in 2011 along with Wigan and Hindley. For 2010 there should be Lowton, Melling and Salford.

Warburton One Name Society

Last month I gave you some information regarding the Warburton One Name Society which has been set up by Ray Warburton. Ray lives in Wales, so he is having difficulty with the local geography.

He is now asking for your help with some research he has been doing for one of his contributors.

A Tangled tale of conflicting evidence.

A little while ago I received a submission to my Warburton One-Name project from a lady in Oregon. This was her family tree which centred on her ancestor John Warburton who became a Mormon in Halifax and emigrated to Utah in 1856. It was a sad tale because John’s wife Betty died at sea sailing from Yorkshire to Liverpool, and John had continued with his son Edward who was about 6 years old. There are various entries on the FamilySearch website for this family, including several for John’s birth. His parents are identified as James Warburton and Elizabeth Halstead of Haslingden, Lancashire. However John’s own birth is more often said to have been in Radcliffe.

I was then sent a history found in the Church of Latter Day Saints and written by Eva Proctor Warburton, John’s great granddaughter. It told John’s story in some detail. He was born in Radcliffe in 1823, and baptised in Warrington. His eldest brother William was born in 1810, followed by Edward in 1815, Mary in 1820. In 1827 their mother died shortly after giving birth to Elizabeth, who also died. James then remarried to Sarah Warburton, the widow of James’s cousin Abnern (a name I haven’t seen in any other context). They had one son Joseph, who also emigrated to Utah in 1860, and whose descendants are well documented.

This story has lots of detail, such as how John’ moved to be near his favourite brother Edward who had set up home in Todmorden, Yorkshire. However as soon as I started to verify details the story began to unravel. Firstly I found the geography confusing as Eva’s first sentence placed Radcliffe in the parish of Warrington. I then found John, his wife Betty, and son Edward living in Wadsworth, Yorkshire in the 1851 census, and he clearly stated his place of birth was Haslingden. I also found his parent’s wedding in Haslingden in 1814 some 4 years after his eldest brother was supposed to have been born. The new pilot record facility on FamilySearch also records John’s baptism at Haslingden. Meanwhile William, Edward, and Joseph appear in the records of St Mary’s Radcliffe as the children of James and Sarah of Pilkington. Then I found the marriage of James and Sarah Warburton at Prestwich in 1810 [both of Whitefield], James also appears as a 74-year-old widower, living at Stand Lane, born in Pilkington, in the 1851 census. His son Joseph aged 20 is still living at home. However in 1841 he was given as only 50 years old, living with Sally, 50, E.(presumable Edward) 26, John 20, Betty 15, Joseph 10 and another John aged 5.

Eva has clearly combined two separate families in order to show that two Warburton immigrants to Utah were half-brothers. Why would she believe this? It can be explained to some extent by Joseph’s submission to the Genealogical Society of Utah in which he names his father as James Warburton born in 1784 in Haslingden. He names his mother as Sarah, daughter of William Warburton and Elizabeth Pollet.

Joseph’s submission is at odds with the census entries, but which one is correct? Whatever the truth is, I am planning to establish a tree of both the Haslingden and Pilkington Warburtons as part of my One-Name study. I am even hopeful of getting DNA profiles of both families in due course.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone with connections to any of these Warburtons. I can be contacted through the Warburton One-Name project website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~warburton/

Ray Warburton member 9699

I have attempted to solve this conundrum myself without success. There was a John Warburton born 1822 at Heap Clough (Grane) to James and Elizabeth, occupation, Weaver. There seems to be no viable siblings. Ray thinks that a John son of James and Sarah of Warburton born 1822 can be accounted for elsewhere in Pilkington 1851 census. We agree that it is necessary to extract all the Warburtons from the Radcliffe/ Pilkington/ Prestwich and Haslingden resisters. Haslingden registers are online but Radcliffe is not. If anyone with access to these registers can help. Please contact Ray at the address above. Rita Hirst