The Braithwaite Genealogy Page

Part of the Jackson Family History

Updated 8 August 2008

Researching the Braithwaite family has proved interesting in that there seems to be quite a few people researching the same 'branches' as me.  Cousins and second cousins who have close connections with West Melton. 

My mother was Mary Alice Irene Hickling who was born in Rawmarsh, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, in 1902 (the Hickling Family website can be accessed by following the above link); she married my father, Albert Braithwaite, who was born  in West Melton, Rotherham on 27 June 1896 at 26 Winterwell Road.  They were introduced to each other by Great Aunt Emma Gash who had moved to 69 Winterwell Road when she married Herbert Simms. (Please see the Gash Family website (above) for further information.)

52 Kilnhurst Road was the home of Willie and Mary Hickling's, Irene's parents; Edith M Gash was my Mother's cousin and Norman Hickling was her brother.

Clicking on a photograph will give a larger, clearer image, press your 'BACK' button to return here.

Picture 1 was taken outside 52 Kilnhurst Road, Rawmarsh, the home of Mary and Willie Hickling

Picture 2 - identifying the guests in picture 1 (see paragraph below)

Picture 3 was kindly sent to me by my newly found distant cousin Susan Principe who lives on Vancouver Island in Canada.

We can't identify everyone on the wedding group, so if anyone can fill in the blanks or know that we have wrongly identified someone, please use the email address at the bottom of the page.

Key to Picture 1:

I knew my father's father was called Josiah Braithwaite and that he had married Hannah Cupit.  Dad had told me that Hannah's mother, Annice Cupit, had been raped whilst working as housekeeper for a schoolmaster in Dronfield.  The Schoolmaster had paid her a sum of money to leave Dronfield.  I have not found anything yet to substantiate this. 

Dad went on to tell me about David McPhaden - he said that David was a collier who had come to board with them in Winterwell Road at West Melton.  Dad said that he spoke with a local accent, so did not originate from Scotland or Ireland.  He had been lodging at Great Houghton, near Barnsley working at Houghton Main, then at Wath Main Colliery.  He then said that David had then changed his name for some reason to David Johnson - Dad said he did not know of any reason why this had happened.

David, Dad said, had become 'friendly' with his Mother, and when Josiah died, they eventually married in 1918.  His Mother, Dad emphasised, had been unhappy because Josiah was unfaithful and that David had comforted her.

At first, I could not  find a record of Hannah's marriage to David.  My cousin, Doris thinks that they did not go through a marriage ceremony.  When the BMD index records became available on Ancestry.co.uk, I was able to locate my Grandmother Braithwaite's second marriage to David.

I knew that Josiah and Hannah had 11 children - Jim, Beattie, Annie, Billy, George, Harry, Edith, Albert, Gertie, Lucy and Effie.  My Father maintained that some of these children were David's.    However, his sister Lucy disputed this - she said they were all Josiah's children. 

My Great Aunt Emma, who had lived in Winterwell Road and introduced my Mother and Father, was the source of Dad's story.  Other members of the family believed that only Lucy was David's child.

This was all I knew when I started to research the Braithwaite family tree.  I began by looking in the 1881 Census at Family Search and I found Josiah living with his brother Thomas in Brampton Bierlow (West Melton) -

1881 Census - Living at New Street, Brampton Bierlow, Yorkshire

* My Grandfather

Thomas Braithwaite had married Sarah Marsh registered in Wortley, in the December quarter of 1873 V9c page 366.  Soon after the 1881 Census, Josiah Braithwaite married Hannah Cupit.

Josiah Braithwaite = Hannah Cupit

My Grandparents

Their Marriage Certificate shows -

Hannah's picture is on Photo Gallery 2.    The witnesses were Thomas, Josiah's brother and Ann Marsh may have been the sister of Thomas's wife.

William Cupit = Annis Skevington

My Great Grandparents

After purchasing Josiah and Hannah's marriage certificate, I was then able to locate Hannah's Mother and Father's marriage on the BMD website and obtain their marriage certificate detailing -

for further information regarding the Cupit/Skevington connection please visit their page.

Josiah's birth certificate was the next to be obtained -

This contained a name which I had never heard connected with our family before - a Micklethwaite! I then searched the BMD website for Robert and Harriet's wedding and promptly sent off for the copy of the certificate.

Robert Braithwaite = Harriet Micklethwaite

My Great Grandparents

Robert and Harriet's wedding certificate revealed -

Robert and Harriet Braithwaite (nee Micklethwaite) lived in Green Moor, Hunshelf after they were married. Searching the 1841 Census for Witness, Mary Blackwell, I have found a 'Blackwell' family on the entry above the Micklethwaite family living in Greenmoor, the entry being headed by Francis Blackwell, 'Inn Keeper' - and there is a Mary Blackwell, but her age is shown as 7 years (she would have been 15 in 1849).  There was a Joshua Illingworth, age 13 living at Crane Moor. 

Alongside Harriet's father's name, it should state "deceased" as Benjamin died in 1848; unfortunately, I do not know if Cristopher was alive at this time.  I have obtained a death certificate for a Christopher Braithwaite, Farmer who died in 1844 whilst living at New George Street, Sheffield but I can't be certain whether this is Robert's father until I obtain more information - details found on this certificate and another possible candidate can be seen here

My research to find Cristopher and Robert Braithwaites' early life appears further down this page.

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Wanting to find out more about the Micklethwaite family, I typed "Micklethwaite" into the Google Search engine and eventually came across the Rootsweb Worldconnect Geology Project -

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com:80/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?includedb=bolsterstoneorig I then keyed in Harriet Micklethwaite into the search and found her almost straight away and also I found the Bolsterstone web site - http://www.bolsterstone.de

On this site I found information about two other people who were researching the Micklethwaite family.  One was a descendant of my father's sister Beatrice Braithwaite who married Charles Chapman.  Beatrice and Charles were Carl Chapman's grandparents.  Although Carl Chapman provided an email address, he has not responded to any of my efforts to contact him.  I have also found  Carl Chapman on a site connected to Nottinghamshire where he is researching the Cupit/Skevington branch of the family tree.  This time I found an address and posted a letter, containing my postal and email address.  However to date he has not responded.  I really did want to contact him because he has published his version of our family on the web and has mistakes regarding several of the families of the children of Josiah and Hannah and in particular he has quoted wrong information about my father, Albert Braithwaite.

I also contacted Connie Goldring who is also researching the Micklethwaites and Connie has been extremely helpful. 

Thanks to Connie, I now have quite considerable information on the Micklethwaite ancestors and on Benjamin Micklethwaite especially.  This information, can be found on the Micklethwaite Family page.

Included in the World Connect Project information was the birthplace of Robert Braithwaite, given as Hartwith, Yorkshire.  Looking on the Internet for Hartwith, I found a website with a link to Hartwith.  This looks like a page to bookmark as they have formed a Hartwith Heritage Group - details of this are shown below. 

I contacted the Hartwith Heritage Group and in their reply they included their website address -  http://www.hartwith.org.uk/ they also enquired about my interest in the area and offered their help. 

Incidentally I went on a residential holiday with Rawmarsh Haugh Road Secondary Modern School to Bewerley Park Camp School at Pateley Bridge when I was 12 in 1952.  The picture on the right is a copy of the post card showing the Camp School - this is taken from my booklet which was produced during my stay there.  The centre is quite close to where the Robert Braithwaite was born.  The School is still an active Outdoor Centre, their website can be accessed here - http://northyorks.outdoored.co.uk/bewerleypark/ unfortunately there is nothing now mentioned regarding the history of the school, but I did manage to obtain a booklet which contained photographs of courses held before the 1970's.  I have included some information about my experience at Bewerley Park on my School Days page.

Robert and Harriet Braithwaite's children were:

*My Grandfather

Looking through Penistone fiches at Barnsley Archives, I found the birth of Robert and Harriet's first child

The above baptism record shows Robert Braithwaite's occupation as Farmer, whereas on his marriage certificate it states "Farmer's man", but by 1851 he was described as "Labourer at Quarry" -

1851 Census

The Braithwaits (no 'e') shown as living at Wellhouse, Hunshelf -

See photographs below for picture of Wellhouse Farm and cottages on Hunshelf Bank.  Click here for a map showing this area - scroll down for the actual map and the option of a much older map. 

There were four families on the 1851 Census with the address Well House and on the next page was Joshua Illingworth - this was the name of the male witness at Robert and Harriet's' wedding.  Joshua was unmarried, born Thurgoland and living at Burton under Edge which is quite close to Well House on Hunshelf Bank, as can be seen on the above mentioned map; Joshua's occupation was 'Quarry labourer' and he was living with his brother William, who was also a labourer at the quarry.  Both brothers were probably workmates of Robert Braithwaite.  At this time there were several quarries being worked in the area.

1861 Census

The Brethwkaite's (another unique Ancestry.co.uk spelling!) shown as living in Greenmoor, Hunshelf -

Note Harwthwith = Hartwith                                                                         *My Grandfather

Robert and Harriet's sons, Joseph and Benjamin, died between these Census dates. 

Another Micklethwaite researcher, Andrew Shaw has found Joseph's burial in Bolsterstone St Mary's Churchyard, the date of burial was  10 Jan 1863, the place of death noted as Horner House - Joseph would have been 5 years old.  I have found the death of Benjamin in the FreeBMD lists, the death being registered at Wortley, during the March Quarter of 1865. 

1871 Census

The Braithwaites shown as living in Haywoods - close to Stocksbridge, just down the hill from Hunshelf

*My Grandfather

Jane Braithwaite married in 1873, a marriage being registered at Wortley in September, but to date I have only been able to speculate regarding a spouse for Jane.  I think she married Joe Bancroft a shoe maker.

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On a visit to Sheffield Archives, I found some original manuscripts of Joseph Kenworthy, the Stocksbridge historian  and included in one of his booklets was -

I wonder if they used the service?!  Joseph and Benjamin Braithwaite had died before this scheme was in place.

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The following photographs of Hunshelf and Green Moor were taken on a dull day in March 2005:

The above photos are of the Hunshelf area as it is today; where the Micklethwaite and Braithwaite Families lived and worked.

Photo No.1 shows Wellhouse Farm - Robert and Harriet Braithwaite were living at Wellhouse at the time of the 1851 Census.  This area is known as Hunshelf Bank.

Photo No.2 is taken from the drive of Wellhouse Cottage - showing Deepcar/Stocksbridge in the background.   Wellhouse Farm is just up the hill from Wellhouse Cottage - after talking to Phyllis Crossland, author of 'Echoing Hills' and 'Years of Grace', I believe that the Braithwaite family probably lived within the cluster of buildings around Wellhouse Cottage; these are clearly shown on the Alan Godfrey Old Ordnance Survey Map of Stocksbridge for the year 1903.  This was also where Benjamin Micklethwaite's second school was situated, his first school being just up the road at Burton under Edge.  Wellhouse in earlier times was called 'Gin House'.

Photo No.3 & 4 - Wellhouse Cottages; picture number 4, clearly shows Wellhouse Farmhouse in the top left corner of the photograph.

Photo No.5 - the stocks are still available in Hunshelf, not in their original position but moved to a prime spot on the main road near the pub.

Photo No.6 - this photograph shows a stone plaque which is in the wall in front of the old school at Greenmoor.  "This SCHOOL was BUILT BY SUBSCRIPTION 1836" is engraved on the stone.  That school was where my 2 x Great Grandfather Benjamin Micklethwaite lived and taught.  Read Benjamin's story   The Braithwaite children may have gone up the hill to this school or down the hill to Stocksbridge.

Photo No.7 and 8 shows two views of what was the second school building erected in 1879 but is now a residential property, I think divided into several dwellings.

Photo No.9 and 10 Above left are two photographs of The Rock at Greenmoor.  Connie Goldring remembers going to a pub at Hunshelf with her husband and her in-laws, and one saying that one of the relatives was the publican at some time.  The Rock is an old pub and presumably the Braithwaite or the Micklethwaite family could well have had a pint or two in there.  We visited The Rock in 2006, but unfortunately it was closed and did look unoccupied - not very good when you're hungry and thirsty!

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Below is the 1881 Census Entry for Robert and Harriet Braithwaite (but note the spelling)

Living at Fanshaw Road, Dronfield, Derbyshire - Dronfield is about seven miles from Hunshelf:

The above entry is Josiah's mother and father, my Great Grandparents; the spellings are different, but nevertheless this is the family in 1881.  Looking at the original census return though, I believe the age of Robert to be 57 as according to Carl Chapman's research, he was born about 1824 in Hartwith, the son of Cristopher Braithwaite - my Great, Great Grandfather.  It is hard to read with the digits 5 and 7 placed so close together.

Also living in Dronfield on Post Office Lane were Robert and Harriets' eldest son John.  John had married Annie Silverwood, the marriage shown on BMD as being in the Dec quarter of 1873.   Their 1881 Census entry shows:

I think the following entry is Robert and Harriet's daughter Jane married to Joe Bancroft and living in Green Lane, Dronfield:

I have been unable to trace Robert and Harriet after the 1881 Census and was working out how I could access the Dronfield Parish Registers to see if they had died, when I thought I'd check FREEBMD once more.  It does say on this site that updates are occurring all the time and this week (July 2005), I found both Robert and Harriet had died, not in South Yorkshire or Derbyshire but in Cumberland!  So I promptly sent for their Death Certificates and repeat this information here: