Wednesday 25 May 2016

Joseph HALSTEAD (1796-1840)

I started going through the memorial inscriptions for Colne Parish Church that I had photographed about three years ago whilst attend Halsted Sunday I came across the following for Betty HALSTEAD, wife of John HALSTEAD who departed this life on 22 October 1803

Afflictions sore I often bore
Physicians were in vain
Till God did please by death to seize
And ease me from my pain

Then I stumbled on the entries that I had copied from Colne Cemetery monumental inscriptions and suddenly realised that when I copied the first page that I had also copied an important Halstead entry. I had copied the page because it contained the key to the meanings of what each stone was.

The inscription on headstone A1 reads:-
"Here lieth all that is mortal of Martha, wife of John HALSTEAD of Colne, departed this life December 18th, 1829 aged 60 years.
Also JOSEPH their son, who was barbarously murdered in the 44th year of his age while engaged in his duty as a Special Constable during the Riot which took place in this Town on the Evening of 10th August 1840, lraving four orphan children to lament their loss.
Above John HALSTEAD d. April 5th 1848."

Why was this entry so significant? because I had come across reports and writing of the murder of Joseph in many places over the years but had not been able to tie it to one specific person as none mentioned any of the family details and certainly not his age! as his father lived after the 1841 census it was possible to find him and now I have been able to add the rest of the family!

The trouble was that none of the reports every listed any details of his family! With the Bristish Newspaper Arcihve I found entries in over newspapers across the whole of the United Kingdom but they all seeemed to concentrate on the roits in Colne and the murder of Joseph HALSTEAD. The only piece of information that they had was that he was a Cotton Manufacturer - not even his age was given! So the gravestone was the key to unlocking the mysterious Joseph HALSTEAD.

As it turns out I actually did have Jospeh HALSTEAD in the database but only because his son Henry Smith HALSTEAD had travelled to the USA in the early 1850's, married there and had a family. As well as Henry, his sister Louisa HALSTEAD and his mother Harriet HALSTEAD went too.

Regards
John Hanson - email; Halstead@one-name.org

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Betty HALSTEAD (1796-1843) and Newspapers

Firstly my apologies for no posts in the past few months.

My mother went into hospital towards the end of January 2016 and sadly passed away on the 1st February five weeks short of her 90th birthday. It seems strange looking back in hindsight (but it is a wonderful thing) but a couple of years ago she had been looking forward to it and talked about the celebration we were planning but as time went on she seemed less and less interested. So after many visits to the house to sort out things and having finally agreed the sale of the house (one that she had lived in since 1950) we are now getting back to normal. Mind the wife now has her second hip replacement set for the beginning of June.

Mind just because nothing has been posted it doesn't mean that I have been idle. The travelling and time spent there has meant that I could sort out some of those items that have been on the back burner for a while:-

Sort out the wills that I have aquired copies of - mind the details of them all still need to be added to the database

I have updated the database with the details of all the marriages I have collected in the past couple of years, either in person or from Ancestry or Findmypast.

I have made extensive use of the British Newspaper Archive over this time to add to the records. I have written many times of the benefits of newspapers and in many instances have learnt more than you could from the death certificate.
A case in point with newspapers was that of Betty HALSTEAD (1796-1843) who married Abraham WHITEHEAD in 1819 and he died in 1838. Betty then married John ROSCOE in 20 March 1842 but sadly died on 16 January 1843. I was sent a copy of her death certificate by Brian Schofield which simply says that she died from "Injuries from a Cart Wheel passing over her left leg". Mind she was buried only 3 days later but the Coroner didn't register the death till the May!
However the report in the Preston Chronicle on the 21 January 1843 tells us a lot more
"FATAL ACCIDENTOn Monday last, died Betty Roscoe, the wife of Mr.John Rosee, farmer, of Hanging Bank, Greenacres. The deceased was, crossing the main road from the Friendship Inn, Oldham Lane, to Regent Street, about six o'clock on Monday evening week, when a horse, drawing a load of hay, coming rapidly upon her, she was thrown down, end a wheel of the cart passed over her knees. She was shockingly crushed. She was forty-eight yeaas of age, and was the daugbter of Mr. Halstead, formerly publican of the Friendship Inn. The deceased is the fourth person who has been killed at the same spot, within a few years, by being run over by cariages"

If you have written to me and not yet had a reply - give me a gentle reminder, but I will get back to you!

The website was last updated on the 19th May

Regards
John Hanson - email: halstead@one-name.org