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While this post is last in a series with the John Chapman's Will, it also follows-up from and updates Hugheses Crossing the Tees. Thanks are especially due to Clifford Graham who directed me to William's third marriage, which led me to find his second, and Susan who showed me where to find evidence for Sarah's first marriage.
Divorce and remarriage has been relatively common for several decades now. Genealogically, this can result in large half- and step- sibling groups. I have, for example, one sibling, three half-siblings and two step-siblings. In the nineteenth century, similar blended families arose frequently from remarriage of the surviving spouse after bereavement. As we will see, the children of William Hughes (by his first and third wives) and of Sarah Chapman (by her two husbands) have birth years from 1807 to 1865.
But first, to recapitulate John Chapman's will. When researching William's wife, Sarah, earlier this year, I had no firm knowledge of her maiden name. I had been able to reconstruct their family, and among their children I saw Mary Davison Hughes and Chapman Hughes. Both Davison and Chapman look to me like surnames passed down to preserve them, and on various public trees on ancestry.com I saw that both were proposed as names for Sarah.
However, I saw no documentation on public member trees, and it was Susan who kindly explained what the documentation was for Sarah's marriages, and where to find it. Sarah's maiden name was Chapman, and as soon as I added that to my tree on ancestry.com, I was directed by search engine to a probate record for one John Chapman. The will listed most of his children, including Mrs. Sarah Hughes. She was one of five beneficiaries, and received her equal fifth share of the value of her father's estate, less £10 which she owed him. Her husband William Hughes, Baker of Middlesbrough was one of three executors, each of them a son-in-law of John Chapman. John had died in 1845, but the estate was still being administered in 1873. By then, William Hughes and Francis Bulmer had died (1870 and 1850 respectively), while the remaining executor John Lynn was 77 (he was to live to 1879), and was likely only too happy to relinquish his trusteeship to William Hughes, junior, Innkeeper of Middlesbrough.
Here are the lives of Sarah Chapman and William Hughes from BMD records.
(dro = durhamrecordsonline.com)
Sarah Chapman baptized 1789 (familysearch.org)
Born in Greatham, Durham, 15 Jul 1789; Baptized 24 Jul 1789;
parents: John Chapman and Mary
William Hughes baptized 1798 (dro transcript)
St. Thomas' Stockton on Tees, 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)
Sarah Chapman married 1807 William Davison (dro transcript)
St Hilda's Hartlepool 16 Mar 1807 William Davison (bachelor), of this
parish married Sarah Chapman (spinster), of Stockton on Tees; Witnesses:
Robert Shadforth, George Corps, James Horsley
Child: Mary Davison 1807-1822 (dro index search)
1807 baptism Hartlepool
1822 burial Hartlepool, age 14
Child: Ann Davison 1809-1816 (dro index search)
1809 baptism Hartlepool
1816 burial Hartlepool, age 6
Child: John Davison 1811 (dro transcript) - he is the John Hughes I see on the
1841 census.
St Hilda's Hartlepool 19 Jan 1812 John Davison, born 5 Nov 1811, 1st son
of William Davison (fisherman) by his wife Sarah Chapman (daughter of
John Chapman, Bread-baker & Mary Copse)
Child: Sarah Davison 1814 (dro transcript)
St Hilda's Hartlepool 8 May 1814 Sarah Davison, posthumous daughter of
William Davison (fisherman, drowned) & Sarah Chapman (a widow)
William Davison died 1813 (dro transcript) - Sarah's first husband, when she was about a month pregnant with Elizabeth. In 1814, both John and Robert Davison, William's brothers, were drowned and buried at St Hilda's Hartlepool.
Burial St. Hilda's Hartlepool 6 Sep 1813 William Davison, of Hartlepool,
age 29, drowned
Sarah Davison married 1816 William Hughes (dro transcript)
St. Hilda's Hartlepool, 22 Dec 1816 William Heughs (bread-baker) married
Sarah Davison; Witnesses: Michael Chapman, John Mowbray, John Fletcher
Child: Ann Hughes 1817 (dro index search) - her half-sister Ann Davison had died
the previous year.
1817 baptism Hartlepool Sarah Heughs
Child: William Hughes 1819 (dro index search)
1819 baptism Hartlepool William Heughs
Child: Jane Hughes 1821 (dro transcript) - my 3xgreat grandmother
St. Hilda's Hartlepool, 18 Mar 1821 Jane Heughs, daughter of William
Heughs (bread baker) & Sarah Davison
Child: Chapman Hughes 1823 (dro transcript)
St. Hilda's Hartlepool, 10 Oct 1824 Chapman Heughes, child of William
Heughes (bread baker) & Sarah Davison-Chapman
Child: Mary Davison Hughes 1824 (dro index search) - her half-sister Mary Davison
had died two years previously.
1824 baptism Hartlepool Mary Davison Heughes
Child: Elizabeth Hughes 1826 (dro transcript)
St. Thomas' Stockton on Tees 1 Jan 1827 Elizabeth Hughes, of Unicorn
Yard 6th [sic] daughter of William (bread-baker) & Sarah Hughes
Child: Hannah Eliza Hughes 1828 (dro transcript)
St Thomas' Stockton on Tees 31 Aug 1828 Hannah Eliza Hughes, of
Unicorn Yard, 5th daughter of William (bread baker) & Sarah Hughes.
Child: George Hughes 1831-1831 (familysearch.org)
baptism 21 Aug 1831 St. Thomas' Stockton on Tees
burial 9 Oct 1831 St. Thomas' Stockton on Tees age 2 [probably months]
Child: Arabella Hughes 1834 (computed from census ages)
Sarah Hughes died 1850 - alive in 1841, but William is a widower in 1851. In that decade, there are only two BMD Death Index entries for Sarah Hughes in Stockton registration district. Both of them in the last half of 1850.
William Hughes married 1851 Isabella Allen, widow, daughter of John Bell
BMD Marriage Index Jun1851 Stockton 24 267
GRO Marriage Certificate
23 Apr 1851, at the Parish Church in Stockton on Tees by License
Groom: William Hughes Full Age Widower Grocer
father: Ellis Hughes Canvas Weaver
Bride: Isabella Allen Full Age Widower
father: John Bell Coal Owner
Signed: Wm Hughes and Isabella Allen
Witnesses: William Sugget and Henry May
Isabella Hughes died 1854, presumably since this is the only Isabella Hughes to die between 1851 and 1860, the date of William's next marriage.
BMD Death Index Sep 1854 Stockton 10a 16
William Hughes married 1860 Isabella Gordon, spinster, daughter of James Gordon
BMD Marriage Index Jun 1860 Stockton 10a 61
GRO Marriage Certificate
3 Apr 1860 at the Parish Church in Middlesbro' by License
Groom: William Hughes Full Age Widower Grocer
father: Ellice Hughes Manufacturer
Bride: Isabella Gordon Full Age Spinster
father: James Gordon Pitman
Signed: William Hughes his X mark and Isabella Gordon her X mark
Witnesses: Wm Sterzel and Mary Ann Easter her X mark
Interestingly, William makes his mark here, whereas he had signed in 1851. This was nearly nine years later, so perhaps his eyesight or the steadiness of his hand prevented him from signing. However, he does sign for his daughter's birth certificate in 1865, so perhaps he didn't want to upstage his wife..
Child: Amelia Hughes 1861
BMD Birth Index Sep 1861 Stockton 10a 36
Baptized 22 Aug 1861 Middlesbrough parents William and Isabella
(familysearch.org)
Child: Henrietta Hughes 1865
BMD Birth Index Dec 1865 Stockton 10a 102
GRO Birth Certificate
Ninth November 1865 Mandale Lane Thornaby
Henrietta Girl
William Hughes
Isabella Hughes formerly Gordon
Retired Grocer
Signed: Wm Hughes Father Mandale Lane Thornaby
Sixth December 1865
William Hughes died 1870, presumably, since in the following index record we have correct age and place. By 1871 Isabella is a widow.
BMD Death Index Sep 1870 Stockton 10a 659 age:73
1871 Census at Bon Lea Terrace, Thornaby, Yorkshire
Isabella Hughes Head W 35 Retired Grocer's Widow Durham, Crowtree nr. Durham
Amelia do Daur 9 Scholar Yorkshire, Middlesbro
Henrietta do Daur 5 do do Thornaby
Isabella Hughes died 1880.
BMD Death Index Mar1880 Middlesbrough 9d 405 age:45
While not all of these 15 children of William Hughes and Sarah Chapman survived to have children of their own, there must be scores of cousins descended from these two.
Next up, more on the origins of John Beresford, my step-father's great grandfather.
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