The Welsh Connection

Hand loom weavers - Hogarth Industry and Idleness (1747)

This is not, in fact, the first Welsh connection. There are Tilleys who moved to and lived in Abergavenny. There is an Evans who moved from Amlwch, Anglesey. This post takes us back a generation from William Hughes, Baker of Unicorn Yard, Stockton and Durham Street, Middlesbrough, whose family is reconstructed and documented in the previous post. William Hughes and his wife Sarah are my 4x great grandparents, whose daughter Jane Hughes married Joseph Strong, the steam tug master.

There are not so many Hugheses living in Stockton - or at least baptizing children there - around this time period, the 1820s. Aside from children of William and Sarah, England, Select Christenings also has baptisms of children of parents Ellis and Frances Hughes at St Thomas Stockton:
       Mary Ann Hughes 3 September 1824
       Ellis Hughes 20 February 1827
              (burial 1827 according to durhamrecordsonline.com)
       Robert Hughes 21 April 1828
       James Hughes 4 March 1831
       Ellis Hughes 9 April 1834
       William Copland Hughes 13 September 1836

Prior to these baptisms, England, Select Marriages 1573-1975 has:
       Ellis Hughes and Frances Copeling 24 July 1823 Stockton Parish, Durham.

Which explains the name William Copland Hughes as derived from his mother's maiden name. Perhaps, my 4xgreat grandfather William Hughes, the Baker, and Ellis are brothers. This appears quite likely since durhamrecordsonline.com has a Unicorn Yard address for both the baptism and burial of Ellis Hughes in 1827, the same address as for William.

In addition, a search of durhamrecordsonline.com for records of children with last name Hughes 1780‐1820 makes this highly likely, with the following:
       James Hughes Baptism Stockton 1797
              James Hughes Burial Stockton 1798 born 1796
       William Hughes Baptism Stockton 1798 born 1798
       Ellis Hughes Baptism Stockton 1800 born 1799
       James Hughes Baptism Stockton 1803 born 1802
              James Hughes Burial Stockton 1810 born 1802

The survivors are William and Ellis. This is consistent with my hypothesis, by which Ellis goes on to marry Frances Copeling (or Copland), while William marries Sarah. The 1798 birth for William is also consistent with the Baker's later census data.

I bought the record for William Hughes, which reads:
       St Thomas, Stockton, Durham 8 Apr 1798 William Hughes, born 22 Jan 1798,
       2nd son of Ellis Hughes (weaver, native of Denbigh, North Wales) by his wife
       Mary Sigsworth (native of this parish)

Prior to these baptisms, durhamrecordsonline.com have this marriage record at St Thomas, Stockton:
       21 Jan 1796 Ellis Hughes, of this parish married Mary Sigsworth, of the
       parish of Norton.

I have not yet found a burial for Ellis. As to Ellis's birth, Denbighshire Parish Records, 1538-1912 offers five candidates for Ellis Hughes born between 1760 and 1780, and, of course, it's quite possible that there are unrecorded baptisms for Ellis Hughses. Without more information about the weaver from Denbigh, we will not get any further back.

On the other line of this marriage, there is an 1832 burial for a 64-year-old Mary Hughes in Stockton, Durham, who may be Mary Sigsworth of the marriage record. This would yield a year of birth about 1768, if her age is accurately recorded, although this is often not the case.

For Mary's birth a search of the durhamrecordsonline.com index reveals only one recorded Mary Sigsworth in the county of Durham who would be of age to marry in 1796.  And she is from a Sigsworth family residing in Stockton.  While it is possible that Ellis Hughes's wife came from outside Durham, all the trees I've seen place her in this family, that of Burdon Sigsworth and Mary Tate whose marriage is recorded in Stockton 24 December 1770. The following children of this couple are baptized in Stockton:
       Mary Sigsworth 1771
       Elizabeth Sigsworth 1771
       James Sigsworth 1773
       Margaret Sigsworth 1773
       William Sigsworth 1778

The above-mentioned burial for Mary Hughes, if for this Mary Sigsworth, and if her age were accurately remembered, would have her born 1768. Perhaps she was baptized later because the parents were not married until 1770. Or else her age at death is not accurate, or the records are not for the same person.

I would feel happier if there were a more certain connection between this Mary Sigsworth daughter of Mary Tate, and Mary Sigsworth who married Ellis Hughes, than name, geographical proximity and reasonable age. The 1798 burial record for James Hughes, son of Ellis and Mary, from durhamrecordsonline.com reads:
       3 Apr 1798 James Hughes, age: 1 year 6 months, died 1 Apr 1798, 
       son of Ellis Hughes by his wife Mary Sigsworth

The durhamrecordsonline.com website states that this record is transcribed from the Bishop's Transcript. From 1598 each parish was to copy its register for deposit with the diocese. In principle, there would be two copies of each record, although, of course, many have been destroyed through the years. Neither are the copies exact, with differing levels of information on each. The familysearch.org site has the following record from its England Deaths and Burials 1538-1991 index:
       James Hughes / Male / buried 3 Apr 1798 / at Stockton, Durham Co, England /
       age 19 / year of birth 1779 / parents: Ellis Hughes and Mary Cate Tynsworth

The burial date and names (partially, at least) mark this out as indexing an equivalent record to the Bishop's Transcript of James's burial. It's not much of a stretch to believe that the age has been mis-transcribed - perhaps because it is in years and months and difficult to read. The mother's name is then interesting because Mary Cate Tynsworth is likely a mis-transcription of Mary Tate Sigsworth. This record may be the parish copy, which is available on microfilm at the Durham Records Office, while the record from the England Deaths and Burials 1538-1991 index cites film number 1894159. At some time I should get to the Family History Center in town and order a copy of the film. Until then, this is what I have.

Proceding on the assumption that I have the correct Mary Sigsworth, her father Burdon Sigsworth's burial is recorded in Stockton 29 March 1789, aged 50, while his baptism, in England, Births and Christenings, 1738-1975, is at Stainton in Cleveland, on the Yorkshire side of the Tees. His parents are James Sigsworth and Mary Burdon, married 27 September 1739 in Stainton (England Marriages, 1538-1973).Their children baptized there are:
       Burdon Sigsworth 23 Nov 1740

       James Sigsworth 17 April 1743       
       James Sigesworth 17 January 1747/8       
       William Sigsworth 17 June 1750       
       Eliz Sigsworth 23 January 1753 

There is also a Joseph Sigsworth baptized in Stainton 16 Dec 1746, father given as Joseph, which, perhaps, should be James, the clerk confusing the son's name with the father's. I have seen this happen elsewhere. A 1746 baptism would thus fit neatly into the sibling series.

Thus I have 5xgreat grandparents Ellis Hughes and Mary Sigsworth; then probably 6xgreat grandparents Burdon Sigsworth and Mary Tate, and 7xgreat grandparents James Sigsworth and Mary Burdon.