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The Hathornthwaites
and a Multitude of Haythornthwaites, Hawthornthwaites, Haythornwhites and Haythorn(e)s
The Descendants of William of Catshaw, (d 1592), Recusant, and John of
Tarnbrook, (d 1630), Yeomen of Over Wyresdale
and Several Other Trees as yet Unconnected
The Family of Peter Kenway HAYTHORNTHWAITE
Compiled by Peter Kenway Haythornthwaite, with much help from other family members, past and present, near and far.
Genealogy updated 21 Dec 2010. Amendment Code: Pink: 2005-6. Blue: 2007-8. Red: 2009. Green: 2010
Participants at the Haythornthwaite Gathering held at Sawley, nr Clitheroe, on 13 October 2001 are highlighted in yellow.
All documents of this nature contain errors, omissions and unsolved problems. Readers able to correct the errors, fill the gaps, or offer solutions to the problems, are urged to contact the compiler.
Peter K Haythornthwaite
5 Brownhill Crescent
Rothley
Leics.
LE7 7LA
Tel: 0116 2302525
Email:
Contents Page
Tree & Chapter Structure 4
Introduction 5
Notation and Searching 7
Chapter 1 Origins 8
Chapter 2 Destinations 12
Chapter 3 The Early Years: 1550-1750 14
The Descendants of William of Catshaw, Recusant, (d 1592) 14
The Descendants of John of Scorton 17
The Descendants of John of Tarnbrook, (d 1630) 21
Includes:The Forbears of Edward of Dinkling Green 21
The Quaker Branch 25
Edward of Dinkling Green 26
Richard of Sykes 27
Edward of Higher Fence 29
Richard of Batrix 30
Chapter 4 The Descendants of Edward of Higher Fence (d 1799) 32
Includes: Robert of Dinkling Green and his Descendants 32
Tree of Richard & Frederick of Preston 35
Richard of Whitendale and his Descendants 40
The Liverpool & Bentham Branch 41
The Irish Branch 44 The British Columbian Branch 53
The Descendants of Richard of Kirkby Lonsdale 56 The Haythornthwaite Vineyard 59
The First Australian Branch 59
The Texas Connection & the Nebraska Ranch 65
Chapter 5 The Descendants of Richard of Batrix (1732-1795) 69
Includes:John of the Manor House, Hornby 69
The Midlands Branch 81
William of Higher Wood House 85
The BlackburnCotton Manufacturing Branch 86
The Scandinavian Connection 90
The Cross Connection with the Whitendale Branch
via Anne Parker 92
James of Foulds House 93 Victory V 95
The New Zealand & North American Branch 98
The Lune Valley Branch101
Chapter 6 The Descendants of Robert of Hare Appletree (1738-1805)113
The Ohio Migrants113
Chapter 7 The First Australian Branch120 Includes: The Descendants of William the Miner (1815-1880) 120
Chapter 8 The Descendants of John of the Manor House, Hornby(1807-1872)127 Includes: The First Canadian Branch 129
Chapter 9 The Descendants of James of Foulds House (1808-1869)136
Includes:The Burnley Cotton Weaving Branch136
Mount Pleasant Mill140
The Grenfell Cloth Connection144
Chapter 10 The Tree of Raymond Frank of Ontario147
Chapter 11The Tree of Roland of Burley-in-Wharfedale164
Chapter 12 The Tree of Christopher and the Blacksmiths180
Chapter 13 Other Unconnected Trees203
Includes:The Descendants of James the Exciseman203
The Arkansas Raid203
The Descendants of John & Ann of Lancaster206
The Tree of Derek of Singleton215
Fragment from Brindle222
The Descendants of Richard of Quarmore223
The Tree of Sibyl of Newcastle 226
The Descendants of Matthew of Kendal229
Tree of the Lancaster Coopers235
Tree of Peter the Clockmaker239
Chapter 14 Key Wills:241
Robert of Scorton 1686, John of Tarnbrook the Elder 1630, John of
Tarnbrook the Younger 1659, Edward of Dinkling Green 1700, Robert
of Netherwyresdale 1704, John of Slean End 1741, Richard of Sykes 1760,
Edward of Higher Fence 1798
Chapter 15 The DNA of the Haythornthwaites251
References252
Appendix: Haythornthwaite Households Worldwide in 2001253
Index260
Tree & Chapter Structure
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Introduction
In mid 1999, when I first started tentatively tapping into my word processor what I thought I knew of my Haythornthwaite ancestors, I little dreamt how this project would grow. I certainly did not foresee how the descendants of Richard of Sykes ("elder children missing"), who then headed my tree, would grow into a veritable army that seems to represent a high proportion of the living Haythornthwaites all round the world.
Although his great grandfather John of Tarnbrook now heads the tree, (with a possible connection to his putative great great great grandfather William of Catshaw), it is the sheer fecundity of Richard of Sykes and his descendants which has caused this document to grow in size to the point where coherent presentation is problematic. For the moment, in this edition, I have stuck to the methods developed in earlier versions, and hope that the index for key names and places will help the reader sufficiently to find his way about.
As before, the document is neither quite a family tree, nor a narrative. It is a bit of both. The bare bones of family structure are interwoven with occasional details of place, occupation and inheritance. I have added a comment or a story line where I thought it might be of interest.
The document remains "work in progress" rather than something final and definitive. I offer it "warts and all" and I have tried to draw attention to the many gaps and unsolved problems and urge all readers who can suggest solutions to contact me. As work in progress, it inevitably evolves as new facts or questions come to light. This does mean there may be several different versions circulating around at any one time and some may find that confusing. If in doubt, ask me to email you the latest version, which I am pleased to do.
Although it is possible to send the document by post, its growing size makes it increasingly costly and time-consuming to print and post in large numbers. I hope that mainly it will be sent by email, leaving the reader with the choice of whether to look at it on screen (where the “Find” feature can be very useful) or print it out.
I embarked on this task for amusement. If in addition I have contributed in some small way to a better and wider understanding of the ancient and rather remarkable story of the Haythornthwaite family, I shall be doubly satisfied.
Although I have consulted original documents where feasible, many members of the family have generously shared their family trees and other information to make this compilation possible. They include Mark Etheridge of Cardiff; James Fisher of Bournemouth; Barbara Bond of Quairading, Western Australia; Christine Edmondson of Wimborne; Bill Haythornthwaite of Auckland, New Zealand; Carl Haythornthwaite of Broughton-in-Furness; David Haythornthwaite of Barrowford; Grant Haythornthwaite of Auckland, New Zealand; John Haythornthwaite of Kirkby Lonsdale; June Haythornthwaite of Priest Hutton; Mark Haythornthwaite of Martinborough, New Zealand; Natasha Haythornthwaite of Boulder, Western Australia; Patricia Weir of Waikiki, Western Australia, who dedicates her material to Edith Jane Haythornthwaite, indomitable pioneer of the Australian bush; Peter James Haythornthwaite of Kirkby Lonsdale; Robin Haythornthwaite of Auckland; Barbara Jeffs of Thornton Cleveleys; Jack Keeling of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Wendy Sheldon of Southam; Laura Slye (now Haythornthwaite) of San Francisco; Chris Turner of Bath; Martha Robbins of Virginia; Kathryn Yates of Burnley, who helped in the solution of the knotty problems surrounding Richard of Sykes, a great genealogical achievement; John Wood of Salterforth, who independently came to similar conclusions; and others. To all of them, many thanks.
A further acknowledgement must now be added. In late 2003 I became aware of a new publication deposited with the Society of Genealogists, The Families of Hazel Joy Snaith, by John H Snaith. Although I have had access as yet to only parts of this document, it is clearly a work of some stature, covering some of the field of, though rather less extensive than, this document. Where specific data of my own has been lacking, I have borrowed from Snaith, with many and profuse thanks. Sometimes we differ a little, and resolution of these differences over time will no doubt prove rewarding. Sadly, the most recent position is that this volume has disappeared from the SOG library before there has been time to study it in detail. One must hope that it, or another copy, will re-appear one day.
I must also particularly thank Carl Haythornthwaite for his extensive checking and supplementing of my work from his comprehensive database of H civil registration index entries, and for his comprehensive work on the 1911 Census and Lancs BMD database. The numbers in {curly brackets} are Carl’s IRN (internal reference) numbers, added to facilitate cross-referencing with his work and identifying particular individuals.
A final word about scope. This is primarily a study of Hathornthwaites (in all spelling variants). Near-Hathornthwaites are generally included only where they are spouses or add to the story, or where they are known in some way to me personally. If this seems severe, consider that to do otherwise and include all the descendants of John Hathornthwaite of Tarnbrook (d 1630) potentially multiplies the total number of names by a factor of 100 or more after 10 generations. For those who feel unfairly excluded, the remedy is in their own hands: they can write a genealogy of their own.
Notation and Searching
I have tended to assume that the genealogical notation used in this document is self-explanatory but, in case I am deluding myself, I append a few notes here.
The genealogical relationships are shown by means of simple Descendants Charts. This format is not so suitable for Ancestor Charts, but gives a simple means of recording descendants of a given individual using only readily available word processing software, in this case Microsoft Word, rather than a specialised database.
Surnames are normally UPPER CASE, given names Lower Case. Children are shown indented underneath their parents, normally in chronological order of birth. Spouses (or partners) are shown beneath their HAYTHORNTHWAITE partner and indicated by =, and each successive generation has an identifying letter such as j or k. The abbreviation b means birth or born, c christening or christened, m marriage or married, m(1) first marriage etc, d death or died, bur burial or buried, reg registration district or registered under the civil system instigated in Jul 1837, rec recorded as. [Square brackets] are used to indicate data which may be uncertain, to insert comments and queries, and to draw attention to unsolved problems (to which you, the reader, are urged to suggest a solution!)
There is an Index at the end of the document for surnames, first names, places and some occupations. On screen, the document can be searched by means of the FIND [CTRL/f] Command. Common first names have been given a subscripted year of birth, so Johnb1820 indicates John born in 1820 to aid identification and location. Less common first names such as Jabez or Major have not been given a birth year but should be readily found on their own merits. Other dates can also help. If you know someone was born or married on a particular date, e.g. 12 Feb 1863, or even 12 Feb 186 where the precise year is unknown, searching on that date may lead you right there if this date is included in the document, otherwise FIND “m abt Mar 1863” (where the marriage was registered in the first quarter 1863) may work.
One facet that often seems to give trouble is that of English placenames, particularly to those who live overseas and who are less familiar with English geography. The hierarchy of place names can be complex, so that on, for example, successive census returns, a respondant may state their place of birth in bewilderingly different and apparently contradictory terms, terms apparently at variance with their birth or christening record. It may help to understand that a rural person might be born in a particular farm or hamlet, within a township/civil parish, within an ecclesiastical parish, within (after 1837) a registration district, within a county, any one of which they might cite as their birthplace according to when they were asked, where they were asked, and, no doubt, who was asking. The names and boundaries of these places may have evolved over time. There is really no substitute for a good set of maps and long experience, but I have tried in the Index to indicate (where I know) the category a particular place falls into.
Chapter 1
Origins
Hathornthwaite[1] is a place name. When the Vikings settled the upper reaches of the River Wyre (in what is now the county of Lancashire) in the 9th Century, they cleared the ground of this rather harsh but beautiful landscape and set up farms for grazing their livestock. Hagthorn is Old Norse for hawthorn (or hedgethorn), and thwaite is a clearing or secondary farm. The usual interpretation of the name is "Hawthorn-field", but a more romantic version suggests that a Viking settler by the name of Athon (a name still current in Iceland so I'm told) landed on the west coast of England in around AD 900 and made his home at Athon's-farm. One way or another, modern Hathornthwaites may claim, without much fear of contradiction, to have Viking blood coursing vigorously through their veins.
Frustratingly, Hathornthwaite does not feature in the Domesday Book of 1086 which so meticulously recorded the ownership of land and its earning power for King William. Nor for that matter does the whole area of Over Wyresdale, which is uncompromisingly blank on the maps of Domesday place names. Probably this upland area was too sparsely populated to rate a mention, though the thought of a gang of post-Viking resistance fighters hanging out against the rule of the Conqueror in this remote valley is an intriguing one. Certainly, William's rule in the west did not extend at this time further north than Broughton-in-Furness and Bootle in modern Cumbria, so it is conceivable his grip was a little tenuous even south of the Lune.
Later in medieval times, Hathornthwaite (or Hawthornthwaite as modern maps have it) became one of the 12 vaccaries, or cow farms, of Wyresdale. These included also Tarnbrook, Marshaw, Abbeystead, Dunkinshaw, Lee, Emmetts, Catshaw, Hayshaw, Ortner, Lentworth and Greenbank, names still preserved in the farms and cottages today, many of them lived in by Hathornthwaites at one time or another.
From about 1600, there was more enclosure and improvement of the land by the application of lime, which was brought through the Trough of Bowland from the lime kiln at Sykes, and the population of Over Wyresdale eventually grew to reach a level considerably in excess of that of today. At Tarnbrook there were at one time as many as 25 cottages where today there are four or five, and at Hawthornthwaite there were 15 where today there is only Hawthornthwaite Farm itself.
Before hereditary surnames came into general use, a man might be known as John de Tarnbrook, Edward Richardson or Richard de Hagthornthwaite, but his "byname" might change from time to time according to the whim of the clerk with whom he was dealing, and would probably die with him. The custom of passing surnames from father to son or daughter started around 1200 and spread slowly down the social scale and from south to north, not reaching the denizens of this remote and isolated part of the kingdom till around 1400 or even later.
So we see that in 1322, Jeffrey de Cover rented from Thomas, second Earl of Lancaster, the vaccary of Hagthornthwayt (2022.5 acres) for 5s 6d a year; William de Hagthornthwayt the vaccary of Emodes (564.5 acres) for 3s a year; and Richard de Hagthornthwayt the vaccary del Abbey (1635 acres) for 5s 6d a year. This is the earliest known record of the use of this surname. (Alfred Ian Haythornthwaite: "The Hathunuts" 19645)
On 5 March 1325, Richard de Haghethornthwait was fined 4d for failing to turn up at a court in the Wapentake of Lonsdale. (Private communication from Constance Turner, 1962)
In 1541, we come across the first known record of a Hathornthwaite in Tarnbrook. To quote again from "The Hathunuts"5:
In November 1541 William Hawthurnthwaite of Troughtonbroke (T' Rowton Brook House, 1 mile SSE of Quernmore Church ?) was under enquiry by the commissioners of Henry VIII. Apparently the Mayor and Burgesses of Lancaster went to their common in Quernmore Forest, impounded stray cattle, and left a guard. "Upon the morning next after, being the Feast of Corpus Christi, William …….(and others) did come to the said fold with long staves and brought with them a writing which they said was a replevie, and they hanged the said writing upon a gatepost of the said fold". They refused a request by the guard to wait while they got someone who could read, and took their cattle out. At the hearing, Richard Hathurthwaite of Tarnbrooke gave evidence claiming ancient grazing rights, and William Hathurthwaite "56 years of age" also gave evidence. For the prosecution it was said that fifteen years previously the wife of Edward Hathurnthwaite of Troughton Broke had paid a fine of 3d for the release of cattle.
Also very interesting in the above account is the mention of an Edward Hathornthwaite. Edward is a sufficiently unusual name to suggest that he just might be an ancestor of the run of Edwards who came later in the story of our family. First names were not given at random but in a very systematic way. The first son was named after the paternal grandfather, daughter after the maternal grandmother. The second son was named after the maternal grandfather, daughter after the paternal grandmother. Later children would be named after the parents themselves, uncles and aunts, and, particularly, after earlier offspring who had died in infancy. This "Naming Rule" works very well in the Hathornthwaite family until as late as 1840, giving a repetition of naming patterns from generation to generation and sometimes vital clues as to family relationships.
At present, the earliest Hathornthwaite we (that is, my branch of the family) can link to our tree with reasonable likelihood is John of Tarnbrook, Yeoman, d 1630. The fact that he was a yeoman is useful to us, since, owning his own land, he (and his descendants) needed to leave a Will to prevent quarrels about the family farm. Of my ten known direct ancestors, nine are known to have left Wills, a remarkable record of continuity and sound financial planning (See Chapter 14 and a separate document Haythornthwaite Wills3 for many of these). Richard of Batrix (1732-1795) is the sole exception, for reasons we can only guess at. Perhaps it is simply that we have not yet looked hard enough to find it. Perhaps there was no need to go for Probate.