Leeds Mystery

[Hannam-Girl]

Hi there! I have a bit of a mystery on my hands that I just can't solve, so please, if anybody can throw some light on this please help, all attempts so far failed.Thomas Hannam & Mary Simpson married at Saint Peter, leeds on 1.12.1832 (just before it was rebuilt!), their son William was born at the Bank, Leeds on 4.10.1833 (before registration!), baptised at Saint Peter on 29.10.1833. Thomas was a miner (no mines in Leeds, so must come from somewhere else!), supposedly age 29 in 1841, so hopefully born about 1810/2 (if he told the truth).Mary only appears once in a census in 1841 and declares her age as 30, Thomas never appears in a census because he had left the country before it was taken.I suspect the father of Mary was Anthony Simpson, of the Bank, Leeds, who had a daughter Mary born 10.3.1806, baptised at Saint Peter on 5.6.1808.Can anybody tell me where Thomas came from???They appear in around 1837/8 in Rotherhithe, London where Thomas worked on the Brunel tunnel and where on 14.1.1838 at Saint Mary another son, John, is christened.I can find nobody who would like to "claim" this family as a branch of theirs or who knows where they came from. Any ideas??????Thanks for even the smallest bit of help!

[grumpytramp]

Hannam-Girl wrote: Thomas was a miner (no mines in Leeds, so must come from somewhere else!), supposedly age 29 in 1841, so hopefully born about 1810/2 (if he told the truth). There are no shortage of skilled genealogists lurking about here that I am sure will be bursting to help, but on this point be assured in the 1830-40's there was a thriving coal and ironstone mining industry throughout the area. In the area about Bank at that time there were active collieries through out the Burmatofts area (Rock Colliery and various other pits working the the Better Bed) and then to the south and east the likes of Neville Hill Colliery, Osmondthorpe Colliery, Waterloo Main Colliery etc (these were often operating a series of pits under the banner of a single colliery)

[Steve Jones]

a quick search on Thomas Hannam on ancestry ,gives lots of results for Hannam 's from Somerset, particularly Bedminster. Probably a Somerset name if you didn't already know that.

[cnosni]

Hannam-Girl wrote: Hi there! I have a bit of a mystery on my hands that I just can't solve, so please, if anybody can throw some light on this please help, all attempts so far failed.Thomas Hannam & Mary Simpson married at Saint Peter, leeds on 1.12.1832 (just before it was rebuilt!), their son William was born at the Bank, Leeds on 4.10.1833 (before registration!), baptised at Saint Peter on 29.10.1833. Thomas was a miner (no mines in Leeds, so must come from somewhere else!), supposedly age 29 in 1841, so hopefully born about 1810/2 (if he told the truth).Mary only appears once in a census in 1841 and declares her age as 30, Thomas never appears in a census because he had left the country before it was taken.I suspect the father of Mary was Anthony Simpson, of the Bank, Leeds, who had a daughter Mary born 10.3.1806, baptised at Saint Peter on 5.6.1808.Can anybody tell me where Thomas came from???They appear in around 1837/8 in Rotherhithe, London where Thomas worked on the Brunel tunnel and where on 14.1.1838 at Saint Mary another son, John, is christened.I can find nobody who would like to "claim" this family as a branch of theirs or who knows where they came from. Any ideas??????Thanks for even the smallest bit of help! Hello Hannam girlWhere was Thomas and his family during the 1841 census?

[Hannam-Girl]

Wow and thank you for all those people that read my message and especially those who got their thinking caps on!!!!!!See, I didn't know (and how could I) that there were mines around "the bank" in Leeds, so this means, Thomas and his family could come from around there!I had a bit of a clue, (or shall we call it a tease?) because the witnesses to their marriage were Richard Leland (who I assume is the son of John Leland and Jane Hannam from Pateley Bridge!) and Charles Young from Bramham North, however neither of these clues got me anywhere. I couldn't trace the possibility of Jane Hannam being a relative either.By the way, I did look into the possibility of Thomas belonging to the Somerset Hannam's, but that didn't look very likely.There is a gap in the story of Thomas Hannam between the birth of their son (William) in Leeds in 1833 and their appearance in Rotherhithe, London in January 1838 when the second son (John) is born. Somewhere in the middle, they had a daughter (Sarah Ann), born about 1836 who I can't find anywhere either. As I said, Thomas was a foreman on the construction of the Brunel tunnel between at least 1838 to 1841, they lived at 4 Eaves Place, Adam street in Rotherhithe. On 27.4.1841 Thomas boards a ship (the Whitby) and departs for New Zealand before the taking of the 1841 census. Mary and her two children William & Sarah (John had died) stay behind and appear in the census at Rotherhithe. They board a ship (the Lloyds) on 11.9.1841 and also go to NZ.I have checked the records of the NZ Company who handled the emmigration and also the records of Saint Mary, Rotherhithe as well as contacted the Brunel Museum, but they don't have any staff records from that time. I don't know where to look now! There is no problem following them in NZ, but their movements in the UK is a mystery to me. Neither Thomas' nor Mary's death certificates are any help, the only thing they showed is, Thomas was born in 1800 and Mary in about 1807 in Yorkshire which confused even more!

[TenDaysaLoiner]

The IGI gives you several likely candidates. I found a number of baptisms for Thomas Hannams. Bear in mind they often baptised young children, not infants, so the dates are baptism not birth dates unless you get it from a Dade entry in a parish register.I found several Yorkshire Thomas Hannams around 1810, but this one - a bit later - looks to be your man (or a cousin?)1819 (bear in mind he could be 9 when baptised - working class parents often had their kids baptised in a job lot, when they got religion, or a subsequent baby was ill and needed baptising in acse of the worst...) is the most likely target is the one baptised:29.11.1819 Pateley BridgeParents: Thomas and Mary Hannam.This is where it gets problematic. Thos and Mary married 16.1.1816. (Which means these may well be cousins not your direct line, given the fact your Thomas is supposed to be born around 1809) IGI has her as 'Pally' which will be a mis-reading of 'Polly' no doubt. Polly was the usual nickname for Mary at that date. Her full name was Polly Bentley.Illegitimacy was very common at these dates. But so were second marriages.The mst likely christening there for Thomas Sr was the one baptised 21.8.1796. HIS parents are Humfrey and Hannah Hannam. It's likely he's the Humphrey Hannam who married Hannah Wigglesworth in Fewston, 17.7. 1786. You can check out Pateley bridge, and Fewston on Genuki website. Yorkshire has brilliant coverage.There are a couple before and after these dates, too.If he's a non conformist, it would be harder to find him pre 1837.And many working class children simply went unbaptised, so there are no birth records. So none of the TH's I found might be your's.The date is bang on for a Dade (a special, more complete form of baptism entry which is only found in Yorkshire at the end of the 18thC/start of 19thC). So if you could get to your nearest LDS Centre, they may well have microfilm of the Pateley Bridge records. These give you parents, parents' descent (so you get grandparents' names) and even occupations. Yorkshire was almost the only part of the UK to trial this extensively.You can pretty well disregard the ages on the 1841 census as that is the first and last British census where they rounded the ages up or down. Some enumerators give accurate ages, others round and you never know in which direction! 1851 Census onwards give birthplaces, so it's frustrating to only have someone on the 1841 - happens to us all though!                    

[TenDaysaLoiner]

ETA:When I saw 'Leland', bells were ringing. I've just joined the dots.This may be nothing but might be worth you checking out.One of the most interesting characters in the story of the Brontes, is Branwell's close friend, Halifax sculptor Joseph Bentley Leyland.Leyland's parents were Robert Leyland and Susan Bentley.Susan is around the same generation as this Polly Bentley would be. And I have found a Susan and a Mary Bentley, daughters of Joshua & Hannah Bentley, Halifax, around the right time...And I have found your Richard Leland on the 1841 census - as a potter.Just a thought but structural engineering isn't a million miles from potting and sculpting. Leyland's sculptures were famously monumental and huge (the most famous one, is now lost).Also, Mary Taylor, in Charlotte Bronte's immediate circle, emigrated to NZ around the 1840s. So it wasn't unheard of in these circles...    

[cnosni]

I think i have a a worthwhile candidate with a Pateley Bridge connection,at roughly the right time.Thomas Hannam baptised Thornthwaite 14/05/1809,son of a William and Ann Hannam.Thornthwaite is less than half a mornings's walk from Pateley Bridge.Probable marriage at Pateley Bridge 02/11/1807 of William Hannam and Nancy Joy.One baptism at Pateley Bridge for William and Nancy,in December 1807 (shotgun wedding) and then Thomas.Note the name of Thomas and Mary Simpson's first son,baptised Leeds 1833,William.

[grumpytramp]

Hannam-Girl wrote: Hi there! Thomas was a miner (no mines in Leeds, so must come from somewhere else!), supposedly age 29 in 1841, so hopefully born about 1810/2 (if he told the truth).{snip}Can anybody tell me where Thomas came from??? An educated guess ........ clearly there are family connections with Nidderdale and Pateley Bridge. Now this rang bells as I have traced family to this neck of the woods and gotten utterly confused. This area was a real hot bed of the lead mining industry throughout the 18th and 19th century through the various fluctuations in demand and was spread throught the Nidd, Darley and Washburn valleys. The nature of Dales lead mining at this time is a slightly more 'pastorial' type of industry and employment. The workings were generally on a relatively small scale and miners suplemented their wages (which was mostly contract work) with basic subsistence farming. This resulted in Dales mining communities being more scattered than would be expected So a quick check of Thomas Hannam born around 1810 at the Family Search website led me to parish records for the parish of Hampsthwaite which is situated in the Darley Valley just 3-4 miles south of Pateley Bridge. Here you will find an excellent resource at:http://www.calverley.info/hampsthwaite.htmChecking the baptism records in the church records section shows:14th April 1809 the baptism of Thomas Hannam son of William and Ann Hannam, resident at Redlish in the parish which is here:http://preview.tinyurl.com/2ujpfpfIt is perhaps no coincidence that Greenhow Hill to the immediate north west was the centre of lead mining activity in the area (excellent publication regarding these mines available here http://www.nmrs.org.uk/publications/60.html )There are a lot of reference to Hannam here which I will leave you to enjoy following.I would also direct you to the Greenhow website at:http://www.sowerby-bridge.org.uk/greenh ... .htmlwhich has loads of interesting stuff about the area and what appears to be a really useful geneaological resource here with their Greenhow Family Tree Project (invitation only but has 54 Hamman references ):http://www.sowerby-bridge.org.uk/greenh ... ily.htmlOh aye, if this is the wrong Thomas at least there is some good reading!

[grumpytramp]

cnosni wrote: Thomas Hannam baptised Thornthwaite 14/05/1809,son of a William and Ann Hannam. Snap