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Bookmark INTRODUCTION – WARES & HODGSONS by S Linton 2008
Introduction Wares & Hodgsons
Hodgsons cont...
The Other Wilsons
Back to the beginning of research
William Wilson
The Wilson Line
The Whincups
Alne & Tollerton
The Bells
Working with the wider family
Keith
Wilson (2009)
Mathew
Wilson 1726-1802
George Wilson 1758-1830
Mathew
Wilson 1790-1873
George
Wilson 1818-1903
William Wilson 1855-1941
SECTION 3
Title 1
Title 2
Title 3
Title 4
Title 5
SECTION 4
Title 1
Title 2
Title 3
Title 4
Title 5
Title 6
There is a tendency to think that our ancestors lived in their own little villages and never ventured very far, always staying in the same locality. In fact, this is far from the case. According to David Hey’s book, “Family History and Local History in England”, ancestors such as ours, agricultural labourers in the main, were constantly on the move. Little by little, each generation would travel to a neighbouring village, probably seeking work, doing a part of the journey which ended in York with our present family.
“After studying the detailed entries in the parish registers of a group of farming settlements in the Vale of York from 1777 onwards, Dr. B.A. Holderness has concluded that, ‘ The picture which emerges is of village communities refreshed by an influx from similar settlements lying at a comparatively short distance away.’ Short-distance mobility was a normal feature of provincial life. ‘Farmers were the most likely to stay put and the labourers to move on.’ It was very common for men, women and adolescents to move within a few miles radius of their birthplace. Many walked. Otherwise, the cheapest way was by the carrier’s cart which trundled slowly but regularly to the market towns, where another carrier offered a service to the next destination. The whole of England was linked by a network of carriers’ routes.”
This was certainly the case with the branch of the family whose origins, as far back as they can be traced, were in Brandsby in North Yorkshire. ‘A small village of warm sandstone cottages, and larger more impressive homes, Brandsby is situated on the wooded slopes of the Howardian Hills overlooking the Vale of York. The village now comprises two separate settlements connected by a broad avenue of limes.’ The church, re-sited when the original Norman church was demolished, is unusual, being ‘the only one in the district built in the classical style with an impressive open cupola.’ Our ancestors would have been baptised, married or buried in the original church, pulled down in about 1767.
The earliest reference to a possible ancestor of ours in the Brandsby parish registers is the entry relating to a marriage: “Steven Wayre and Marr…(Mary?) Maistor was marid on 24 Nov 1681.” Then, on 27th August 1682, Stephen Wayre, son of StephenWayre was baptised. Later there is an entry for the marriage of ‘Stephen Wayre et Anna Wilson’ in 1709, and in the same year ‘Anna filia Stephen Wayre’ (Ann daughter of Stephen Wayre) was baptised. In 1729, Ann Wayre’s marriage is recorded in December, to John, whose surname is illegible. These are almost certainly ancestors. The first reference to a Ware who is definitely connected with us is to be found in the Stillington Parish register. The marriage of Stephen Ware of the parish of Marton cum Grafton, husbandman and farmer, born in Brandsby, son of John Ware, and Ann, daughter of Robert Colling of Stillington. Stephen, born in 1761, was 24 years old, and Ann, born in 1755, was 30. The date of the marriage was 24th December 1785. Charles II was on the throne at this time. Unfortunately, details of Stephen’s birth or baptism cannot be found as the registers for that period of time are badly damaged.
The first child of Stephen and Ann - and our direct ancestor- was Sophia, born on 28th November 1786. They went on to have another daughter in 1790, not named in the register, Lydia was born in 1791, then Margaret in 1795, followed by George in 1798 and Ann in 1801.
Sophia married John Hodgson in Sutton on the Forest on 23rd November 1812, edging nearer to York. They had eight children: Thomas b. 1813, John b. 1815, Mary b. 1818, Anne b. 1820, George, our direct ancestor, b. 1822, Anne b. 1825, Nancy b. 1828, and Robert b. 1831. Although Sophia and John were married in the church in Sutton on the Forest, they must have been living in Huby, as all their children were born there. Huby did not have a church of its own.
The 1841 census found Sophia and John living at ‘Blackwoods’, a farm in Huby. Sophia was 50 years old by now and John 72, described as a farmer. In the same household were Thomas, now 25, Nancy 13, and Robert 10. Twenty years later, John was 92, described as an agricultural labourer, there being no state pensions in those days, Sophia was 74, and Robert was 47, also an agricultural labourer. It is interesting to note that not all people in the past died at a young age, another example being Sophia’s mother, Ann, who died on 15th April 1837 at the age of 82. It seems likely that country people such as these lived a healthier life, compared with people who lived in more industrial areas, such as maternal ancestors of ours who worked in the cotton and steel industries.