An Evident Link of Branch a from Near Sheffield Back to the Main Plant Homeland by Dr John S Plant, June 2019
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An evident link of Branch A from near Sheffield back to the Main Plant Homeland by Dr John S Plant, June 2019. Abstract. It is clear that some of the Duckmanton Plants in north-east Derbyshire settled in and around nearby Sheffield. Their descendants form the basis of Branch A of the Main Plant Family, as identified by Y-DNA testing. This branch A groups together several Plants whose earliest known ancestries are apparently all around the southern tip of Yorkshire and to Sheffield’s south east in Derbyshire. The earliest identified individual is a William Plant of Duckmanton whom, for convenience, I denote Wm(0). However, we are missing a suitable baptism around 1700 for him. Indeed, the surviving evidence indicates that this baptism must have been 30 miles or more away. One possibility is around 35 miles further north into Yorkshire, where there is a relatively well defined Plant family; but, as I shall outline, this presents us with a couple of problems. With more promise, the main homeland of the Plants is over the county boundary to the west of Derbyshire, around 30 miles to the west from Duckmanton; there are a couple or more suitable baptisms there. In this main Plant homeland however, the problem is one of many similarly named Plants; it seems essentially impossible, with few exceptions, to identify the genealogies of the several Plant families there. Some earlier considerations for this baptismal link In 1997, I considered some possible baptisms for a William Plant of Duckmanton – Wm(0) - who we now have as the earliest identified Plant in Branch A. I gave further details in ‘Chapter 15’, which in fact rather than a chapter, was one of a series of articles that I have since made available at http://plant.one-name.net/articles/articles.html I have more recently extended Figure 15.5 of Chapter 15, to produce the descent tree shown overleaf. This indicates a possible link to Wm(0) as shown near its top right of the Figure. (There are in fact a number of different dates for the baptism of this William near Leeds but they all seem to be transcription errors of 5 Nov 1695). The problem is then: there is a burial date of 1775 for the William near Leeds, further north in Yorkshire and we already have a burial date of 1769 for Wm(0) at Duckmanton. (There is also in fact a 1759 burial for a William Plant at Rotherham). Hence, the single baptism for a William Plant near Leeds does not account for the different burials. Perhaps the situation near Leeds might have some hidden complexity that might explain this difficulty. Indeed, in the same Figure, we have two burial dates for for the name Mark Plant with only one suitable known baptism throughout a very wide region. The only suitable baptism in the region for a Mark Plant is in 1703 whereas there are two burials for the this name within 5 miles of the baptism, in 1712 and 1716. Nonetheless, this clearly throws up some doubt about a link of Wm(0) to this more northerly Plant family near Leeds. Moreover, there are some clues that favour a link elsewhere, to the west of Duckmanton in the main Plant homeland around north Staffordshire instead. Clue 1: Some Sheffield area Plant apprenticeship records The Hallamshire Company of Cutlers controlled trade over a wide region extending through north Derbyshire and elsewhere. The Master Cutler was appointed in charge for a year; he was based in their Cutlers’ Hall in Sheffield. I gave some further details in Section 14.1.2 of ‘Chapter 14’ at http://plant.one-name.net/articles/articles.html which in particular lists two apprenticeship records, for two early Plants near Sheffield: Robert Plant, son of William of Duckmanton, brickmaker; to sicklesmith William Staniforth of Hackenthorpe, 1741. James Plant, son of William of Branside, Prestbury, carpenter; to (I) scissorsmith John Hollingworth of Coalpit Lane, 1768; to (II) scissorsmith Benjamin Oaks, 1772. The first refers unambiguously to ‘William of Duckmanton’ whose 1768 will is listed at http://plant.one-name.org/plant-wills.html – this apprenticeship record tells us that this William’s son Robert was apprenticed (form other records, aged 14) at Hackenthorpe, which is just 5 miles south-east of central Sheffield. From other records we have that this William of Duckmanton – Wm(0) - was a yeoman farmer and a brickmaker in NE Derbyshire. The second apprenticed Plant record refers to Coalpit Lane, which was at the southern edge of the then small town of Sheffield itself. It would seem that this reference to a Plant at Coalpit Lane might relate to another son of William of Duckmanton, known also to have been there. Specifically William’s son Benjamin Plant of Sheffield Moor was a bellows maker who is known to have been in Sheffield by 1766 (as described in Chapter 12 of the aforementioned series of articles) and to have been at Coalpit Lane, at the southern edge of the small town, at least by 1774 (Chapter 13) where he collected rent for nineteen properties around ‘Late Plant Yard’ at the head of Sheffield Moor before residing at the subsequent site of ‘Plants Yard’ with his brother John Plant at the Moor’s foot in a separate small settlement called Little Sheffield. In 1766, he had married into a family which provided three Master Cutlers – 1790, 1798, 1816. For example, in a newspaper called the Sheffield Register dated Fri 23rd Nov 1793, it was announced that Benjamin Plant of Sheffield ‘Gent’ had held a certificate for shooting game from the 23rd Sept to 2nd Nov. This apparent connection at Coalpit Lane between two brothers, both seemingly from the Duckmanton Plant family, seems to identify ‘William Plant of Duckmanton with, in the second apprenticeship record, William Plant of ‘Branside, Prestbury’. This indicates a 30- mile link across from Sheffield to Brand Side at the far side of Derbyshire near the Main Plant Homeland. It is possible that the situation is somehow more complex, especially given that these Williams had two different stated occupations – brickmaker and carpenter. This is not a major hurdle however, he could have been both, and so we can reasonably surmise that Wm(0) could have been baptised in the area around Bran[d]side. The precise location of Brandside with this baptismal possibility is discussed further below. Debatable Clue 2a: Some north Staffordshire Plant wills The following map shows part of the moorlands associated with the main Plant homeland. The above is extracted from an 1846 map and it covers a distance of about 6 miles from top to bottom. Brand Side is at the extreme right edge of the map, just below Fair Thor[ns], which is just below Dale-H[ead] near to the top right corner of this map. Buxton is off this map further to the east (right) from here whereas Leek town is off down (south) beyond the bottom left. The precise location of Brand Side differs somewhat on early maps. It seems that the word Bran(d/t) has been applied severally to some particular landscape feature in this hilly region. Place names initially often had a very early origin, when different words were used to describe subtle differences in landscape features which were apparent to pedestrian locals who at that time rarely travelled far. On this relatively modern 1846 map, Brand Head is around 2 miles to the south (down) from Brand Side. There is also a Brantcolt which is just half a mile to the north of Stony Cliff. Stony Cliff (a longtime known haunt of Plants) is at the bottom edge of the above map near the centre. In the aforementioned list of wills, there are some Plants of possible relevance. There is for example a 1713 will for a yeoman farmer William Plant of Stoneycliffe. A 1696 will for a husbandman John Plant of Stoneycliffe is apparently for this William’s brother and together these two wills have overlapping information which reveals further brothers: Richard, Robert and Thomas. There are a few different Williams in this family including a William Plant junior who was the sole executor of the 1696 will. Both a William of Carsual and a William of Stoneycliffe are mentioned in 1713. Moreover, in a further generation, there are at least two more Williams, one of whom is known to have been in his minority in 1713. After various bequethals, the residue of 1713 will went to William of Carsual who was the executor of this will with an inventory totally £132-2-6. Carswell is an early spelling for Creswell and, interestingly, there is a parish of Elmton with Creswell in north-east Derbyshire; this Creswell is just 5 miles from Duckmanton, though it is around 30 miles from Stony Cliff. That could perhaps explain how a William Plant appeared “seemingly from nowhere” in 1725 at Ault Hucknall then Duckmanton, with the wherewithal to become landed. Another and more usual interpretation of Carsual in these north Staffordshire Moorslands however is Caverswall which is around 14 miles south from Stony Cliff. Such a distance is not unreasonable at that time. For example, it is recorded that on 30 Aug 1718 that Rebekah Plant of Gawsworth married Thomas Thornbury of Cheadle in Staffordshire and these places are around 22 miles apart. There was, for example, a William Plant baptised at Leek on 14 April 1706 to William and Elizabeth though, if his father were the one baptised in 1669 and who married Elizabeth Haggetts (age 32) on 1 Dec 1706 at Carswell, that would suggest that this 1706 baptism was for a William who was illegitimate.