THE THISTLETHWAITE FAMILY. A STUDY IN GENEALOGY BY BERNARD THISTLETHWAITE. VOL. I. PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION BY HEADLEY BROTHERS, BISHOPSGATE, LONDON, E.C. HEADLEY BROTHERS, PRINTERS, B~HOPSG.\TE, E.C.; AND ASHFORD, KKNT. THE THISTLETHWAITE FAMILY. TO MY KINSFOLK, THE DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM AND ALICE THISTLETHWAITE OF HARBORGILL, I DEDICATE THIS ACCOUNT OF OURSELVES. But you are /o"pe/y Leaves, u·here we May read how soon things have Their end, though ne' r so brave : And after they have shown their 1pride, Like you a while : they glide Into the Grai1e. ROBERT HERRICK, I 591-1674. Earth yields the milk, but all her mind 1s voU'ed to thresh far stouter stock. Her passion far old giantk,ind, That scaled the mount, upburled the roe~, De--Polves on them who read arigbt Her meaning and devoutly serve. GEORGE MEREDITH, 182.8-1909. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE • • Xlll . KEY CHARTS • XX:111. THE C01\1MON ANCESTORS • XXV. PART ONE. Including branches of the following families :-Binns, Alderson~ Hogarth, Carter, Salthouse, l\!Iason, Baynes, Bradley, etc. - - - - i: PART TWO. Including branches of the following families :-Guy, Lund, Walton, Brown, Wetherald, Harris, Hustler, Foster, Thompson, Jefferys, Cudworth, Webster, etc. • - • 53 PART THREE. Including branches of the follo\ving families :-Fothergill, Watson, McGillivray, Clendenan, etc. 141 PART FOUR. Including branches of the follo\ving families :-Carter, West, Taylor, etc. ... - r75 PART FIVE. Including a branch of the Morland family 189 ix. x. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. PAGE PART SIX. Including branches of the following families :-Anderson, Middlebrook, etc. 193 PART SEVEN. Including br~nches of the following families :-Harrison, Smurth,vaite, etc. 221 PART EIGHT. Including branches of the following families :-Cutforth, Tennant, Taylor, Hadfield, ~loss, Fry, Johnson, Jesper, Birdsall, vVebster, Rowntree, Brook, etc. 247 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 319 INTERMARRIAGE CHARTS. PAGE ... I.-THISTLEmWAITE-BURTON - to face :> ll.-THISTLETHWAITE-HARRISON-BOTHAM " 7 JTI.-THISTLETHWAITE-HUNTER I. ', r8 IV.-THISTLETHWAITE-HUNTER IJ. 26 '' V.-THISTLETHWAITE-WETHERALD-GRAHAM . ,, 88 Vl.-THISTLETHWAITE-CARTER-CAPSTICK 186 '' VII.-THISTLETHWAITE-HARTAS ,, 200 VIII .-THISTLETHWAITE-COATES-PEASE - '' 242 IX.-THISTLETHWAITE-WETHERALD • ', 289 PREFACE. OBSESSED by the Conventions, I almost penned a conventional preface. But the spirit of perversity, which has descended upon me from so many Quaker ancestors, reasserted itself with customary unwisdom on this occasion also, and I intend to write as I wish rather than by precedent. One is familiar with the attitude of the tradesman to whom profit­ making is the cause for disposing of his wares ; and with that of the benevolent lady who conversely, in the tracts which she distributes, studies her own inclinations rather than those of the recipients. While I have no wish to depreciate my Nietzschean convictions by the suggestion that I am ever likely to distribute tracts, I would in this case ally my attitude with that of the benevolent lady. I therefore make no apology for the existence of this volume. I am very well aware that it is not in any sense perfect. One never contem­ plates the production of a family history which shall approach at all nearly to perfection, and the compilation of this work has seen many quarrels unexpected between desirability and practicability, to the over­ throw of the former. But if there were no excuse for family histories other than the vast influence which a knowledge of their heredity should have over the individual lives of all who dwell in this our world, I should still issue this book, knowing myself well justified. That statements intentional and errors unintentional will produce dislike, is probable. My aim throughout has been to write truth. In this respect with regret, many omissions have been made in view of a somewhat wide circulation; for instance, insanity is not mentioned, although not every descendant has escaped unscathed. But there xiii. XIV. The Thistlethwaite Family. remain a fe,v matters which I could not omit ,vithout implying a serious untruth. V eritas prcevalebit. The actual words of my correspondents have frequently been employed, as a paraphrase may so easily convey a different meaning. I have continuously sought to outroot ambiguity. It is needless to add that the consideration of literary style has been shunned as leading to this. In proof, the manuscript from which the printers have produced this book is my first draft, built up from letters, charts, and note-books. I have attempted to record within this volume every descendant of William Thistlethwaite, of Harborgill*, by his wife Alice Mason, whom he married in 1705. I have traced considerably more than 18oot of these blood-descendants by name, and know that there must be several hundreds ,vhom I have not yet discovered. Of each I have tried to obtain the place, day, month, and year, of birth, of marriage, and of death. The occupa­ tion of males and certain other matters are included when obtainable, but for obvious reasons little attempt has been made to describe personal characteristics, although ,vith regret. The length of each description is not to be taken as an indication of the relative importance of the person described. It is chiefly attributable to the relative accessibility of particulars. I shall be glad to include in my second volume any interesting facts herein omitted through ignorance. I entrust this history to its subscribers with the definite under­ standing that no one uses for advertisement purposes, or for annoying those who may be distantly akin, the names and addresses given here. Let me appeal to the honour of my kinsfolk in this matter. For myself, I make it a rule never to write a second time to a person until he has answered my first letter. * The name is now spelled "Harbergill." I know nothing of its etymology, but I have preferred to use the spelling " Harborgill," which was probably the most common form until recent years. t Although the actual numbering only reaches r79r, many previously unknown descendants have been added as this book was going through the press, and have been numbered alphabetically, e.g., (20¥), (204b), etc. I estimate that over 4,000 different persons are mentioned in this book altogether. Preface. xv. In most cases I have indicated those educated at Bootham and the Mount Schools, York, at Leighton Park, Reading, and at Polam Hall, Darlington. So many descendants have imbibed for more or less lengthy periods the spirit of those great ones which hovers between the cupolas of Ackworth School, that practicability-wrecker of so many wishes-has silenced the name herein. Avoidance of the conceits of genealogy has been striven for. We are certainly an "old" family: I imagine that all families must be so of necessity unless their critics admit a recent spontaneous generation. But if" an old family" signifies by convention a family which amassed wealth previous to the last three generations, then I protest that we are still in the fretal stage. I have not yet proved the right of our male line to use the crest and coat of arms registered to the Thistleth,vayte Family of Southwick Park, Hampshire ; and in fact think the possibility of doing so remote. We are egregiously middle-class. It is true that during the sixteenth century-so long ago that we may call it, in mixed but conforming metaphor, the zenith of a previous incarnation-our Thistlethwayte forebears had considerable transactions in real estate situated in Dent and Sedbergh. Of their land, their charities, and their progeny,-I hope to write in the not distant future.* The History of Pedigree-making would form an interesting socio­ logical study. Those with decades more experience have repeatedly expressed to me a complete incapacity to understand my reasons for tracing any but direct male descent-" for when a woman changes her name, she and her descendants no longer form part of her father's family, * It is my intention to issue a second volume of the Thistlethwaite Family History in the course of a year of two. This will include (a) The Wensleydale Thistlethwaite descendants, introducing branches of the Crosfield, Wallis, Fothergill, Cadbury, etc., families, and certain Seventeenth Century Quaker Sufferings, (b) A full account of the ancestors and remote relatives of the Dent Dale, Wensleydale, and Hampshire families, back to the time of Henry VII., (c) Incidental, but consider­ able and interesting, particulars which I have accumulated, concerning allied families, such as those of Fothergill, Harrison, Capstick, Hunter, Mason, etc., (d) Photoyraphs and further descriptions of Harborgill, Hudshouse, Carr End, Spicegill, Eugalas, and other family houses, {e) Corrections and additions to this First Volume, {/) An Essay on Heredity and Eugenics, {g) a complete index to both volumes. (I shall be glad of corrections, additions, and suggestions.) XVI. The Thistlethwaite Family. but belong to the pedigree of her husband." Pedigrees were formerly made to show descent of land and titles, which usually passed to the heir male. And in truth the entail of land was an excellent method for preserving the small land-owner, and thus retaining the interest of the middle class in rural matters; in our day an unwise wish for impar­ tiality to offspring causes a division of real estate only possible by con version. But the vast science of physical and mental heredity has now aroused us with its enormous importance, and without our pedigree ,ve cannot understand either ourselves or our children. This is the reason why a family without land or title should possess its family history, and this is the reason for tracing descent through women equally with men. Indeed if my conservative friends had buried themselves a little deeper in the past, they would have discovered sometime in the existence of every race the custom of Mother-right, that of tracing descent only through female lines.