The Cupit/Skevington Genealogy Page

Part of the Jackson Family History

Alternative web address: www.hilarymaryjackson.co.uk/Cupit.htm

Updated 1 February 2009

Joseph Cupit = Hannah (Francis/Fanny) Shaw

My Great Great Grandparents

Once again I have to thank another researcher for information - Jeff Cupit is a descendant of Joseph Cupit and emailed me after having seen my website.  He has provided me with new information as well as confirming details I already had. 

The record from the Parish Registers showing Joseph and Fanny Shaw's marriage -

* The names of the above witnesses were difficult to decipher and may be incorrect

Joseph and Francis Cupit's children were:

*My Great Grandfather     **Jeff's Great Great Grandfather

Joseph was born about 1797 - Joseph and Francis were married as shown above, on 20 September 1821 at Alfreton, Derbyshire and lived at Ironville when my Great Grandfather, William was born - some Census entries for William, however state born Codnor.  However the 1841 Census shows them living at Kirkby in Ashfield, Notts:-

1841 Census - The Cupit family on Portland Row in Selston,

Kirkby in Ashfield, Notts

* Joseph's wife named as Hannah

I found a website with a timeline showing that in:

Please visit http://www.jacksdale.org.uk/ for further information on Jacksdale, Westwood and neighbouring Nottinghamshire villages, including Selston and Ironville. 

The picture of Portland Row, shown on the left, can be found on "Picture the Past" - this website contains some wonderful pictures from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.  Another website has two photographs of Portland Row - this website gives details of a former resident of Portland Row who fought tirelessly for the community.

According to the Librarian at Selston Library, Portland Row was situated "just inside" Selston so close was the boundary that the front doors were probably in Selston, Derbyshire and the back doors in Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire!  In Selston Library I found a book produced by the WEA (Workers Education Association) and written by Ronald W. Storer of 19 Commonside, Selston - "Selston - Portland Road" covering the history of Portland Road with lots of information about Portland Row. The Librarian suggested I contact my own library and request the book as they had several copies made available for outside library loans.  I followed his suggestion and the book subsequently arrived for me to read it throughly.

According to the book the 45 identical houses at Portland Row were built by the Butterley Company in 1823 and they were unique owing to being a row of houses, built in brick and with a roof of blue slates. Joined at one end there was an extra small dwelling, leaving a small space between the houses and the school. The book confirmed that Portland Row was a very long, continuous terrace of forty-seven houses and the overall length was 720 feet with no passages for access from the front to the rear of the houses.  Anyone wanting to go to the backs would have to go round either end. 

The cost quoted was £60 per house and were intended for miners working in the Portland Fields collieries. Each house had a living room, kitchen and pantry on the ground floor, with a flight of stone stairs leading to two bedrooms.  Each house had a very long garden at the read, 360 feet long and the occupants could grow or rear their own food.  Pigs could be reared but apparently the householders were forbidden to keep dogs as pets at some stage. 

The house floors were of stone in the living room, brick in the kitchen and lime mortar in the upstairs rooms. The window frames were made of cast-iron and consisted of twelve small lights.  In the living rooms a black leaded fireplace with oven and boiler was provided and brick-built coppers were installed in the kitchens.  Earth closets with an ash pit were in bricked built out-buildings with pan tiled roofs.

The book's author, repeated the opinion of the Selston Librarian, stating that "Although considered to be in Selston, the buildings were actually in Kirkby in Ashfield, but so close to our boundary, that when walking out of the front door, one stepped into Selston."

Thanks to Michael Spencer from the DERBYSGEN-L@rootsweb.com list - Michael posted the following information extracted from the pages of the Belper Board of Guardians Minute Books -

Michael explained that if they survive and if they were having difficulties they may appear in the Admission register for either Belper or Mansfield Union.  It  may be they needed outdoor relief, that is they were "supported " financially  or otherwise, but did not have to go into the Workhouse.  Once better they may not have had any dealings with the Guardians again.

Joseph and Fanny had another child, christened Fanny, on 18 February 1842, who unfortunately died a month later on 27 March. 

My Great Great Grandfather,  Joseph Cupit, died on 2 November 1842, and was buried at Kirkby in Ashfield on 4 November 1842, aged 45 years.   I have obtained a copy of Joseph's death certificate, details of which can be found further down the page. 

To progress further back in time, I need to establish the parents of Joseph.  Jeff Cupit sent me details of a Cupit researcher's website, Joyce Cupit, living in Denmark - this researcher has put together every mention of Cupit and variants found on the IGI:

http://www.cupit.dk/slaegt-uk.htm the closest is the following entry:

Joseph CUPIT, Chr 1797 NOTT
Fa: William CUPIT, Mo: Mary C053952 967787

There is doubt though as the entry states christened "1797 NOTT" and on the 1841 Census, Joseph is shown to be born out of county.

Also living on Portland Row in 1841 were Joseph and Fanny's daughter and son in law Samuel and Mary Jepson - they were married March quarter 1841 registered Basford vol 15 page 527, living with John and Rebecca Eggleshaw:-

Another family residing on Portland Row were the Skevington family:

*Annis married William Cupit in 1842 - my Great Grandparents.  Her parents, Thomas and Ann Skevington, my 2 x Great Grandparents. Their son, William later married Lucy Leivers; and James married Lizzie Ann Green.

There were other Skevington people on Portland Row in 1841, James Skevington, age 65, a Publican and William Skevington, age 24 - they were both born out of county.  Thomas Skevington's parents were James Skevington and Hannah Wright - I'm not sure yet, if this James found in 1841 is Thomas's father.

White's Directory of 1832 records a Thos Skevington, Victualler at Portland Colliery - this might be the Thomas Skevington shown above.

In 1841, Fanny's parents, Humphrey and Mary Shaw were also at Ironville, Alfreton on Foundry Row with 3 boarders:

The Jacksdale and Westwood community website timeline tells us that:

William Cupit = Annis Skevington

My Great Grandparents

Their wedding certificate:

William and Annis had 9 children -

 * My grandmother

Joseph Cupit's death occurred in 1842 - here are the details found on his certificate -

Joseph's burial appears in the Parish Records:

---o0o---

1851 Census

William and Annis were living at 5 Portland Row, in Selston, in Kirkby in Ashfield Parish - Annice is defined as 'Blind' in the "Whether Blind, or Deaf-and-Dumb" column:

The strange thing about this Census entry is that the enumerator has placed ditto marks on every entry, under the word "Miner" in the occupation column. 

The following entry shows the Head of household as Ann Skevington, a widow, age 60 living at Nos 25 and 26 Portland Row:

I'm not certain whether this is 'our' Skevington family  - widow of Thomas Skevington - parents of my Grandmother Annice.   In 1841 Ann Skevington's age is shown as 35 and if this is the family, Hannah and Sarah are showing in both of the above Census entries, albeit the ages don't match;  Lucy was 9 in 1841.

In the 1851 Census Humphrey and Mary Shaw were living in Ironville, Alfreton on King William Street* - this information and the following entry were kindly supplied to me by a member of the DERBYSGEN-L@rootsweb.com email list.  HO107/2145; Folio 482; Page 3 - I believe the entry includes my 3 x Great Grandparents Humphrey and Mary Shaw. 

http://www.jacksdale.org.uk/pages/HomeP/IVKingBillySreet.htm - photos of King William Street can be seen by clicking this weblink.

According to the IGI George Barker married Ruth Shaw on 1 June 1830 at Alfreton; and Israel Barker was christened on 9 November 1834, also at Alfreton.

*King William Street also mentioned in the timeline:

Here is Humphrey's daughter, my 2 x Great Grandmother, living with her 2nd husband, James Waterhouse in the Parish of Alfreton, at Ironville - on Library Terrace:

According to Jeff Cupit, Fanny, Joseph's widow later remarried in 1846 (4 years after Joseph's death) the record describes her as a widow, marrying James Waterhouse of Ironville at Alfreton.  Her father was named as Humphrey Shaw.  There is a record of this on the IGI showing Fanny Cupit's marriage to James Waterhouse on 25 May 1846 at Alfreton, Derby England.  I have sent for the Phillimore's transcriptions of  Derbyshire Parish Registers which Archive CD Books are promoting at the moment. 

Fanny's daughter Ann was living with William Cupit and his wife Hannah; Ann described as their niece, leads me to believe that William could be the brother of Joseph Cupit - they were living in High Street, Clay Cross, DBY:

In the disability column - every entry of this household had a tick alongside their details.

---o0o---

Humphrey Shaw = Mary Gordon

my Great Great Great Grandparents

Humphrey Shaw married Mary Gordon at St Mary's Church on 9 September 1798 - he was a coal miner; they had several children whilst living in Ilkeston:-

Looking through the microfilm of the Ilkeston registers, I have found the following entries starting with the marriage record of Humphrey and Mary:

In the Baptism records:

But the Burial records included

The IGI has details of 2 more children born to a Humphrey and Mary Shaw (not verified):

The IGI also shows a child, born to Eliza Shaw as being baptised on 7 April 1839 , Alfreton

I found Humphrey Shaw's death on Ancestry and purchased the death certificate:

Humphrey was buried at Ironville on 15 October 1854, age given though was 83?

---o0o---

Thomas Skevington = Ann Taylor

my Great Great Grandparents

Via Genes Connected, I was contacted by Raymond Abbott - Raymond's 2 x Great Grandmother was Sarah**, the 11th child of Thomas and Ann Skevington.  Annice* my Great Grandmother was their 1st child.  Raymond has confirmed that Thomas and Ann were the parents of the following children:-

Searching Selston Parish Registers, I found the following which might be the baptism of Annice's mother, Ann Taylor:

1786-1804 Vol 7 Register Book for the Parish of Selston

in the County of Nottingham

1803 - September - 26th Ann daughter of William Taylor and his wife

Later baptisms gave more information ie:

I think William and Ann Taylor may be my 3 x Great Grandparents, if so they are the parents of Ann Taylor who later married Thomas Skevington and the baptism shown above, dated 1803 could be Ann's baptism. According to Selston P.R's William and Ann Taylor also baptised the following children:

 And this entry is a copy of my Great Grandmother, Annice's baptism taken from the Selston Registers:

Page 50

Thomas Skevington was the son of James and Hannah Skevington (nee Wright) - I found the following entry in Selston P.R's for the year 1819:

Page 31

and entries in 1824 on page 54:

Raymond Abbott's research shows Thomas Skevington born 25 November 1798; died 5 Apr 1848* - marrying Ann Taylor born 1800; died 19 December 1852 at Poplar, London.  Their gravestone is in St Helen's Church Cemetery at Selston, Notts. 

The first two photographs of St Helen's Church, Selston, shown on the left were very kindly taken and forwarded to me by Janet Kirk who is a volunteer photographer for the Derbyshire GENUKI website. The 3rd picture is from the North East Midland Photographic Record "Picture the past" and shows Selston Church in 1905.  This website is well worth a visit, containing photographs from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

The 4th and 5th pictures were taken by me when I visited Selston on 3 May 2007 and found the grave of Thos and Ann Skevington in St Helen's Churchyard. The gravestone was very large and its position under the trees made it very hard to photograph, so I took two pictures - the details on Thomas's death vary from the information given on his death certificate where he was shown as age 51 and the date given as 4th April 1848 - on the grave it states 5th April 1848 aged 49. 

Searching Ilkeston registers, I found what I think was the baptism of Thomas Skevington although the date was unclear, I interpreted it as 7 November, but it was so difficult to read, it could have been 25th as Raymond Abbott's research showed:

*I found Thomas Skevington's death listed in Ancestry.co.uk and sent for the certificate; showing:-

and another death in 1850 - James Skevington, strangely again on 4th April - the signature of a coroner and the registration 30 June - 2 months after the death - there might be a report in a local newspaper:

I also obtained this certificate for Ann Skevington, shown in Raymond's research to have died in Poplar, London.  The record on the death certificate matches the date on the gravestone in Selston churchyard, but the name on the certificate does look a lot like 'Skerrington' -

1861 Census

My 3 x Great Grandmother, Mary Shaw, widowed in 1854 was still living in King William Street (No.10) with her daughter and son-in-law, George and Ruth Barker: 

*On Ancestry.co.uk George's birthplace has been transcribed as Colkirk, the enumerator's writing is very hard to decipher here, but Colkirk is in Norfolk not Derbyshire. I couldn't find Mary on the 1871 Census, so I looked for her in the death indices and after sending for one wrong entry, I found her death registered at Belper in 1861:

My Great grandparents, William and Annis were still living at Portland Row, Selston, Notts in 1861 -

Referring again to the timeline:

James and Fanny Waterhouse were still living at  Library Terrace, No. 5 with a visitor and an assortment of lodgers:

I couldn't find Fanny nor her 2nd husband, James in the 1871 Census, but found their deaths on Free BMD.  My 2 x Great Grandmother  Fanny Waterhouse, formerly Cupit nee Shaw, died in 1862:

and her husband, James Waterhouse in 1866:

There was a family named Shaw - James and Sarah Shaw, living next door to Fanny and James Waterhouse, shown in the 1861 Census living at No.6 Library Terrace

---o0o---

Hannah Cupit was my Grandmother and daughter of William and Annice.  Hannah's birth certificate shows she was born shortly after the 1861 Census:

By the 1871 Census, Annice and William Cupit had moved from Kirkby in Ashfield to (I think) Hunshelf.  I have found the family in the Sheffield 1871 Census Index, but my time at the microfiche machine ran out.  More information after my next visit . . .

1871 Census

The family had not moved to Hunshelf, but the Civil Parish of Attercliffe cum Darnall in Sheffield at 64 Brittania Road - there is still a Brittania Road at Darnall in the Sheffield A-Z.

1881 Census

Jeff Cupit had found my website and filled in some gaps for me, one of which was the whereabouts of Annis in 1881 - Jeff informed me she was recently widowed and that she was living with her married sister, Lucy Dean (nee Skevington) and she was transcribed as "Annie Cupit" rather than Annis.

Annis, recently widowed was living with her married sister, Lucy Dean (nee Skevington) -

* Kirkby in Ashfield

On the same schedule, the entry above showed another Skevington family, James and Emma, their address shown as "Engine hollow"!?

The details of my Great Grandfather's death are shown here:

William Smith, brother in law, present at death - William Smith had married Eliza Cupit (Eliza was Joseph and Fanny Cupit's daughter)  after the 1851 Census where Eliza had been living with her mother Fanny and her 2nd husband James Waterhouse in Ironville; in the 1861 Census William and Eliza were married and living in Selston at "Bottom Mexbro" -

in the 1871 Census they were living on the same street as Eliza's brother, William and his wife, Annice Cupit  - residing at 74 Brittania Road, Attercliffe cum Darnall with their two daughters. 

in 1881their address  was 34 Brittania Road -

By 1891, The Smith family had moved from Attercliffe to Newstead in Nottinghamshire in Colliery House No. 97:

1901 Census has a William and Eliza Smith living in a part of Nottingham (identified by Ancestry.co.uk as Bulwell) at 125 Northgate and William had left the pit:

---o0o---

I have been unable to trace my Grandmother, Hannah Cupit as yet in the 1881 Census, but she may have been in Yorkshire in the Bolsterstone,  Hunshelf or Brampton locality as she married Josiah Braithwaite in 1881 in Brampton Parish Church - Marriage Certificate details shown on the Braithwaite page and which also shows the whereabouts of Hannah and Annice after 1881.

The 1881 Census includes William's brother Joseph living at 22 Victoria Street, Alfreton (their name though was spelt using the double 't' -

The Jacksdale and Westwood Community website timeline informs us that:

---o0o---

My Grandparents, William and Annice Cupit were living in Attercliffe, Sheffield when William died in 1877, I have tried to discover what happened to the rest of the family at the time of the 1881 Census.  As shown above, Annice had moved to Derbyshire and was living with her sister, Lucy Dean, but none of her children were present -

Lucy - born abt 1849:

Tragically, I found a Lucy Cupit in 1871 in the Nottingham District Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Snenton:

and in 1881 Lucy was still in residence in the District Lunatic Asylum for the County of Nottingham, Snenton, Notts:

I couldn't find Lucy at first in the 1891 Census, but found her by trawling through the Snenton Asylum list - no full names were used in this Census, only the inmate's initials:

Similarly in 1901, the inmates were identified by their initials and the institution now called the District County Asylum, in North East Nottingham:

It has proved impossible at the moment to find her in the 1911 Census, I have had one transcript attempt but its too costly to attempt another whilst they are charging so much.

---o0o---

Ann - born 1851

Ann appears in the 1851 and 1861 Cenus records, but was not with the family in the 1871 Census when they had moved to Attercliffe, Yorkshire.  I found a marriage for an Ann Cupit, registered in Sheffield in December 1870, the possible marriages were Edward Booker or Benjamin Slater.  I then searched the 1871 for Ann and I believe this is her, living in Attercliffe and Darnall at 2 Cleaveland Place:

Annie and Benjamin had moved to Dronfield by 1881 and Benjamin was working in the steelworks - their address is given as Holmley Lane -

Updated 1 February 2009