The Family Tree

We have been researching my family tree (the Jacksons) on and off for some years now and apart from discovering some interesting facts about my ancestors, I have also found some relatives that I never knew existed!  So I must give some credit to my new found cousins, Linden Stafford, Philip Jackson, Paul Jackson and Tony Jackson, who have all added their pieces to the jig-saw and especially to Linden who wrote the excellent piece on the surgeon, William Jackson and also to her late uncle Eric Raven Jackson who did  a lot of the research for the article.

I have now traced the Jackson line back to my GGGGG-grandfather, Abraham Jackson a farmer living in Bolsterstone to the North of Sheffield. He was born around the turn of the century and in 1723 he married local girl Sarah Ellison.  They had two children, Ann in 1725 and Benjamin in 1727. The next two generations, Benjamin and his son another Abraham, continued to farm in the Bolsterstone/Bradfield area for another 150 years and it was my GG-grandfather, William Jackson who broke the mould and became a surgeon in Sheffield. My great grandfather, Frederick Valentine and another couple of generations, stayed in Sheffield, but the Jackson clan has also spread far and wide over the UK and also into Australia and Canada..  I've tried to follow the male line back, but it's impossible not to get side-tracked.  So far there are at least 150 names on the family tree and there are more still being investigated!

Other branches have grown from the original tree and I've now started to look at the Roe family as well as Bellaers, Palmer and Hague.

The Roe family were silversmiths, who I have traced back to Nottingham at the beginning of the 19th century.  The family eventually moved to Sheffield, which had a thriving community of self-employed tradesmen or 'Little Mesters', as they were known.  Several generations worked in this way, although not all the sons followed their fathers into the trade.

Bellaers is an unusual name, particularly using this spelling. It has often been mis-spelled Bellairs and as time has gone on, this has become the more common form.  The majority of Bellaers come from Rutland, Leicestershire and South Lincolnshire and many appear to have been wealthy landowners. 

The Hague family were miners, several generations living and working in the South Yorkshire coalfields around Wentworth.  My grandfather was the last to go down the mines, and later generations have all gone very different ways.

The Palmers were Edge Tool Makers in Staffordshire at the start of the 19th century and they too moved to Sheffield, famous for making scythes, knives and tools.  Successive generations worked in the trade, until modernisation and cheap imports slowly eroded the industry.

If any of this sounds of interest, use the buttons to find out more or contact me if you have anything to add.

 

Links

www.familysearch.org   - this is the website for the Latter Day Saints IGI records

www.bolsterstone.de     - the website of the Bolsterstone Genealogy Project an excellent site for this area.  The lady (Jane Lachs) who runs it as a hobby is systematically transcribing baptism, marriage and burial records as well as masses of other information!  A major task!

www.genuki.org.uk        -lots of information on the parishes and churches as well as the location of records.

www.gencem.org          - all about the Sheffield General Cemetery plus an interesting timeline with       information about historic events in Sheffield.