Leeds in the 1870s

[dogduke]

Hi Dakota again,Lovely story,well researched and presented,probably make a good book or movie.What puzzles me is the economics of making such a journey in the 19th.centuary and then being able to make a round trip back to England,how did they learn of the opportunities and how did they finance it?This area-Burmantofts is still referred to as a 'Deprived Inner City Area and was probably more deprived in those days.My history is not fantastic but it was some years after the Irish potato famine which resulted in millions(?)fleeing to America.Henry and Sarah's departure seems well planned.Many years later after WW2 we had assisted passage to Australia(it cost £10) and I think they were referred to as 'the ten pound poms'Still a few chaptures to write ?

[Dakota]

Actually, I have written a first chapter which I sent to my Aunt for her birthday and she loved it. I had assembled names and dates and places, but it was all pretty meaningless, so I did some initial research and put it together in a story for her, but while doing it realized that there was so much that I just didn't know and that's when I found you all. Now I can fill in some holes and determine whether some of my guesses were right or wrong.I've got to go back to my tree on Ancestry.com to pull out what information I have on Henry and Sarah and their parents, which I will do and write down and then come back here and add it. Sarah -aka Grandma Wells - has always been such a mythical person to my generation of the family - we hear the tidbits, but this is really putting her together as a person for us and it turns out she was a very remarkable woman. So, I'll go get my information and be back with the information that I have.Thanks

[Steve Jones]

wasn't Dakota Territory where gold was found in 1876? I seem to remember from my old Wild West interests before getting into Paganism, that it was because of miners illegally panning for it on Sioux territory in the Black Hills that led to the Custer massacre in 1876, when he was part of the military expedition sent out to help protect the miners from the naturally peeved natives!Incidentally,I found the idea of a Yorkshireman finding it too cold quite funny<LOL>, of course he was a soft townie<LOL>!    

[Dakota]

I'm sure Henry didn't find the winters in SD much better....... but as you said, being a townie, he was probably a bit of a wienie. He'll probably get me for that in the after life as rumor has it he was quite crabby.Yes, gold was found in the Black Hills in 1876 and all bets were off regarding the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In 1868 General William Tecumseh Sherman brokered the treaty that set aside the Black Hills for the exclusive use of the Plains Indians, but of course that was before folks figured out that there was gold in them thare hills. As was the pattern since Capt Smith and crew landed at Jamestown in 1607, promises were made to the Native Americans but the Native Americans never got to the fine print where it said that there were expiration dates on those promises and as soon as folks decided that the Indian Territories looked appealing, off they went in the covered wagons. George Armstrong Custer was not a well liked kind of guy by his fellow officers and soldiers and didn't listen to his scouts warnings and went charging in looking for glory. It's just unfortunate his stupidity and ego got the other soliders and Native American's killed in the battle at the Little Big Horn. He wasn't much of a loss to the gene pool but the others were..........Anyway, I'll do another message with the information about Henry and Sarah as this one is getting long.

[Dakota]

Henry Wells was born to Betty Tetley and William Wells on December 16, 1846 on Wakefield Road in Bowling (I doubt he was really born "on the road", it's more likely he was born in a house that was located on Wakefield Road). I do have a copy of the Entry of Registry that shows that William Wells was a warp dresser at the time.Sarah was born to David Coultas, Collier, and Ann Austing on February 23, 1869. Her parents live in a house on Old Lane in Bowling. Henry and Sarah married on April 17, 1865 in the Parish Church in Bradford. I have a copy of the Entry of Registry for that also. An interesting note is that on that same date in the US Mary Surratt was arrested as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.On the Entry for the marriage, Sarah's age is shown as 18, but she was actually just 16 - not certain if she was just taking a wild guess as she couldn't write and might not have been able to do the math as to what her age was, or if she was trying to seem a little more mature.Henry started working the mines as a hurrier when he was 9 and sometime between age 16 and 18 graduated to being a coal miner. At the time she married, Sarah was a weaver. In the 1861 census, she was shown as being a Nurse at Home.Family lore had it that Sarah's mother, Ann Austing was actually Lady Ann and disapproved of Sarah marrying down. I've got a copy of the Entry of Registry for David and Ann's marriage and Ann's father is shown as Thomas Austing and his occupation is that of a Delver. Since Ann's mark is on the Entry, it's clear she couldn't write and I doubt that she was a Lady, although she apparently did give herself airs. It's possible that she didn't like Sarah marrying as she wanted Sarah's help at home with the other 9 children. Sarah's mother Ann died on July 8, 1871 in Cutler Heights, Tong and the cause of death on the Entry is shown as General Decline - Two Years - Certified. Six weeks later Henry and Sarah's son Ernest died in Leeds. Had to be a tough summer for Sarah.David Coultas remarried to a woman named Elizabeth Arnold in September of 1872 at which point he was able to change his profession from iron stone miner to being a grocer. David died on August 14, 1893 at 45 Raton (?) street in Bradford. It's hard to read the writing on the Entry of Registry for the address.Back to Henry's parents, William Wells and Betty Tetley. At some point, William became a grocer before he died in June of 1872. The 1871 census has Henry and Sarah and kids living with Betty Tetley Wells as lodger's and Betty's occupation is shown as grocer - am assuming that she took over when William died. Betty died in 1872 - I'll have to go back and confirm that date and I have wondered, since that's around the time that David Coultas remarried, if David's new wife brought some spare change to the marriage and they bought or just took over the grocery business that William and Betty Wells had when Betty died? Don't know how I'd find that out, it's just an interesting coincidence of time.One thing I'm also trying to track down is whether or not there is a connection with Betty Tetley and the Tetley's that establed Tetley Tea or Tetley Ale. She was born in the Bradford area in 1812 and would be of the same generation as the Tetley Tea brothers. I've found some poll tax records that I ordered and have just gotten that I'm going to spend some more time with to try and figure out who lived where and who was whose parent or child to see who lived where. I can use the census back to 1841, but before that time period I've struggled to figure out a way to peek back and am hoping that the poll tax records will be a way to figure out who belonged to which family as some of the names are very common. So anything or any ideas folks have to add that I can use to keep searching or a direction to point me in, I'm all ears. Well, not really, I only have two, but you all know what I mean.......

[Dakota]

Okay, I'm going to try and add some photos. I did one of Henry and he ended up back at my original message so will give this another try.

[Dakota]

Here is one of Sarah that was nicely fixed up by Niksmum

[Dakota]

and this is where most of the sod went - there's also a side yard and some in the back, but this is the majority of the where the sod went.

[Dakota]

tried to do the sod picture, but it's too big so will have to figure out how to shrink it down, so in the mean time here is another picture of Henry and Sarah in their later years.

[Dakota]

But clearly those last two didn't work either, so will have to keep working at it.