Skidmore Miners of Amblecote, Staffordshire 1760-1910 Linda Moffatt 2013
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Skidmore Miners of Amblecote, Staffordshire 1760-1910 Linda Moffatt 2013 SKIDMORE MINERS OF AMBLECOTE, STAFFORDSHIRE 1760-1910 Minor amendments were last made to by Linda Moffatt © 2013 this account by Linda Moffatt on 10 June 2015. This was originally part of the book Skidmore Families of the Black Country and Birmingham 1600-1900 by Linda Moffatt, published in 2004. For an Introduction to this branch of the family and an account of the first five generations of this branch, see 'Skidmore Families Of The Black Country, the first five generations' on the website www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com This account begins at Generation 6, denoted by superscript 6 next to the name of the head of household. To protect the privacy of living descendants: individuals born after 1911 - the year of the last British census to be released - are not included, nor are marriage details after 1911 unless with express permission of descendants. Please respect authors' contribution and state where you found this information if you quote it. The Skidmore families described here are descendants of Henry Skidmore [42]1,2, collier of Amblecote, Staffordshire. In the main, they remained in Amblecote into the mid-19th century. Henry's great-grandson Benjamin Skidmore [314] moved into Brierley Hill, where his descendants were iron workers in the area of Level Street. [For the Wesleyan Skidmores of Stamford House, see 'Skidmores of Stamford House, Amblecote']. 6 83. BENJAMIN SKIDMORE, the son of Henry [42] and Esther Catherine (Bolus) Skidmore, was baptised on 8 March 1761 at St Mary's, Oldswinford and very probably raised in Amblecote. He married Elizabeth Aston on 26 December 1781 at St Mary's, Kingswinford. A witness was Thomas Taylor. Elizabeth is thought to have been baptised on 10 May 1761 at St Mary's, Oldswinford, the daughter of Cornelius and Mary Asson. Benjamin and Elizabeth spent their married life in Oldswinford parish, almost certainly in Amblecote. Benjamin died on Christmas Day in 1816 aged 55 and was buried 4 days later. Elizabeth died on 4 September 1829 at the Hamlet (thought to refer to Amblecote) aged 67 and was buried on 8 September. A stone to their memory exists in Oldswinford churchyard. Also recorded on the stone are their children Esther, Mary, Ann, Elizabeth and her husband Moses Price, Sarah and Margaret. The children of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Aston) Skidmore, baptised at St Mary's, Oldswinford, i. Esther, baptised 22 December 1782. She married John Cooper on 18 May 1807 at Halesowen. The marriage was witnessed by Benjamin Robinson and Elizabeth Skidmore. One son Benjamin Cooper is known to have been baptised in Oldswinford in 1812. Esther Cooper died in December 1821 aged 39. ii. Mary, baptised 22 November 1785. She seems to have been the second wife of Solomon Pearson, a yeoman of Amblecote, who married firstly her sister Ann. Mary and Solomon were married on 12 September 1808 at St Mary's, Oldswinford, the licence having been signed by Solomon Pearson and by Daniel Pearson, yeoman of Kingswinford. The witnesses were her brother-in-law John Cooper and Elizabeth Skidmore, probably her mother. Solomon and Mary Pearson had one child Ann before Mary’s death on 26 July 1811 aged 26. iii. Ann, baptised 23 September 1787. She appears to be the first wife of Solomon Pearson who 1 The code numbers of the heads of household found in my 2004 book are retained here. There are modifications to the numbering in Generation 9, but changes are indicated, allowing readers who have the book to cross-reference. 2 The male cousins of Henry [42] - sons of Henry [21] - gave rise to a line of glassmen and are described in Skidmore Glassmen of Brierley Hill, Bristol and Blaydon by Linda Moffatt at www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com. 1 Skidmore Miners of Amblecote, Staffordshire 1760-1910 Linda Moffatt 2013 later married her sister Mary. Ann and Solomon were married on 22 September 1806 at St John the Baptist, Halesowen, witnessed by her sister Mary Skidmore. Ann died only one year after her marriage, on 13 November 1807 aged 20. iv. Joseph, baptised 14 March 1790. Nothing further known. v. Elizabeth, baptised 21 August 1791. She married Moses Price, spade maker (probably baptised 20 July 1788 at St Mary's, Oldswinford, son of Moses and Mary (Taylor) Price), on 25 November 1810 at St Mary's, Kingswinford. The witnesses were Solomon and Mary Pearson, her sister and brother-in-law. Eight children of Moses and Elizabeth Price were baptised at St Mary's, Oldswinford between 1811 and 1831, though they moved from Stourbridge to Netherton around 18203. Moses died on 17 March 1835 aged 46 and Elizabeth died a year later on 19 August 1836 aged 45. vi. Sarah, baptised 16 June 1794. She married Isaac Robinson, a coal miner (born about 1794 in Oldswinford parish), on 4 July 1825 at St Giles, Rowley Regis, witnessed by Moses Price her brother-in-law, and by Richard Gaunt. They baptised four children at St Mary's, Oldswinford to 1838 and lived in Amblecote Bank in the hamlet of Amblecote. Sarah Robinson died on 3 December 1851 aged 57. (A stone exists in Oldswinford churchyard to the memory of their son Joseph Skidmore Robinson 1831-98 and his wife Margaret 1832-99). vii. Margaret, baptised 10 December 1797 and buried 22 August 1798 at St Mary's, Oldswinford, aged 1. viii. Margaret, baptised 21 July 1799. She died unmarried on 28 January 1824 aged 24 of the Hamlet. 6 84. JOSEPH SKIDMORE, the son of Henry [42] and Esther Catherine (Bolus) Skidmore, was baptised on 2 February 1766 at St Mary's, Oldswinford. He was a miner and probably spent his childhood in Amblecote. It seems he married twice and married sisters, both daughters of Benjamin and Ann (Gauden) Asson. His first wife Esther Aston (baptised on 22 December 1765 at St Mary's, Oldswinford) he married on 27 January 1788 at St Mary's, Kingswinford. John Foley and William Steward were the witnesses. A stone in Oldswinford churchyard records Esther's death at the age of only 27 on 9 December 1793. Also remembered are Joseph and children of both his marriages - Benjamin, Phoebe, Sarah, John, Richard and Samuel. Joseph married his second wife Ann Aston (baptised 3 June 1770) on 3 August 1795 at St Mary's, Oldswinford, the wedding witnessed by William Baker. Their daughter Ann Skidmore said in later censuses that she was born in Quarry Bank about 1813. Joseph died on 14 November 1818 aged 52 and Ann lived in Amblecote Bank, where she died over twenty years later, on 15 April 1840 aged 70. She could be the lady who occupied a house and garden (part of Plot 1082 in Fowler's survey of 18224) in Withymoor, south of Delph Road in Amblecote. Her will, dated 28 September 1839 and proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 20 May 1840, left a house each, all situated near to The Cross at The Lye in Oldswinford parish, to her daughters Esther the wife of Joseph Aston engineer, Elizabeth the wife of John Dudley, and Ann Skidmore and any future husband she may have. Her grandson Joseph Skidmore, 'son of my late daughter Phoebe Skidmore' received another house and also the public house known as The Cross. There are detailed instructions for the disposal of her household goods between her three daughters and her grandson Joseph. Elijah Aston, miner of Netherton, was her sole executor. The children of Joseph and Esther (Aston) Skidmore, baptised at St Mary's, Oldswinford, i. Benjamin, baptised 14 December 1788. He was a cordwainer and is perhaps the man who occupied a house in Brierley Hill (Plot 469a in Fowler's plan of 1822) on the north-west side of Church Street, at its junction with North Street. He owned the Cross Inn in Lye5 which in his will (made in February 1823 and proved two months later at Lichfield) he left in trust to his friend John Aston, miner of Amblecote, and Joseph Skidmore, miner of Tipton. Joseph Skidmore is almost certainly Joseph [111] who married Sarah Aston, probably another daughter of Benjamin and Ann (Gauden) Asson, and so Benjamin Skidmore's uncle by marriage. Benjamin and Ann Asson had a son John, born in 1767, who might be the other trustee. These trustees were to 3 Note that a different Moses Price, collier of Owen Street, Tipton, and his wife Elizabeth, had children baptised at Tipton between 1815 and 1819, and then at Dudley in 1822 and 1823. 4 Richardson, E., William Fowler’s Kingswinford. The Man, His Maps and the People and Places of 1822 and 1840, Black Country Society 1999. 5 A photograph of the Cross Inn, Lye dated about 1905 can be found in Britain in Old Photographs – Lye & Wollescote by Pat Dunn. 2 Skidmore Miners of Amblecote, Staffordshire 1760-1910 Linda Moffatt 2013 invest the rents, issues and profits until Benjamin's brothers Charles and Joseph reached the ages of 25 years, whereupon the Inn and investments were to pass to his said brothers. In the event of neither brother reaching the age of 25 (which, in fact, was the case) then the Inn was to pass to 'my own right heirs for ever' and 'the profits from investment unto my own next of kin'. The Cross Inn had been in the occupation of Hester Cox and at the time of the will was in the occupation of William Cox. 20th century documents concerning the Inn can be found at Worcestershire Record Office6 apparently amongst papers relating to the estate of Miss Margaret Westwood.