North Preston - John and Isabella (1) - Robert and Jane

This is the first post of a series that will look at the lines that came out of the North Preston region, an area that includes Fulwood, Woodplumpton, Fernyhalgh, Broughton, Cottam, Haighton Green, Goosnargh, and Whittingham. If you add up all of the Hubbersteys in the 1901 census, a large percentage can trace their line to these areas.

The first line we will look at starts with John Hubberstey and Isabella Waiton and their son Robert and his wife Jane Trelfall.

Although clearly Hubbersteys, the spelling used by this line in the various censuses varies widely (although at least some of this variation may be due to transcription problems). In the 1841 census it was Hubbarity, in the 1851 census Hubbaritey, in the 1861 census Hubberdey and by the 1901 census some used Hubberstey, others Hubbersty. Altogether, this line looks to account for 11 of the 141 Hubbersteys in the 1901 census.

Both Robert and Jane appear to have been born around 1787-1788, and both lived well into their 70's. They lived on a farm in Sharoe Green Lane (near what looks to now be a golf course), Broughton (Fulwood?). Robert listed his birthplace as Woodplumpton and Jane as Liverpool (?). Their 6 children were born at Broughton (Thomas, William, Agnes, Edwin, Elizabeth and John).

There is a christening listing for a Robert Hubberstey on Nov 18, 1787 at St. Mary Newhouse Roman Catholic Church (pic. left). This church is very very close to Woodplumpton. The listing shows the father as Joannes Hubberstey and the mother as Isabella Waiton. There are two other children listed for these parents at the same church (Elizabeth b.1792, and Maria b. 1789).

To complicate matters a bit there are three more children listed just a bit later being the children of Joannes Hubberstey and Isabella Weaton (William b. 1794, Isabella b. 1799, and Thomas 1803) at St. Mary's church in Fernyhalgh. This church is literally just down the road from St. Mary Newhouse, although these days you would have to cross over the M6 first. If these are the same parents (Weaton vs. Waiton, with Waiton being a very rare surname in Lancashire) then we can combine two of the lines from the 1901 census data (post here). I will follow this line in the next post.

As a side note, the spellings of surnames can vary between churches. The most extreme example of course was the Brindle church where the priest insisted on recording Hubberstey as Huberche (trying to make it Latin?). This obviously made it a bit hard to find some of the records. So a variation between Weaton and Waiton is plausible at least, especially as the churches are different.

Getting back to Robert, the 1841 census has all of the children at home. By the 1851 census the daughters have married and only William and Thomas remain at home. Son John is living next door. So we have:

Elizabeth (b.1811): (for some reason Elizabeth's mother is listed as Elizabeth Trelfall, not Jane on the Christening record) Elizabeth married Richard Bradley in 1844 and lived next door to her parents. Her brother John also lived with them. By the 1851 census they had 4 children (Elizabeth, Edward, Jane, and William). Update: It looks like Robert Hubberstey may first have married an Elizabeth Trelfall, as I have found that his marriage to Jane Trelfall (sister?) did not happen until 1813.

Agnes (b. 1825) : Agnes married Henry Pearson in 1850. By 1901 she was 75, widowed and living with her brother Edwin on Fulwood Row.

Edwin (b. 1827): Edwin (Edvardus) married Ester Gardner. Then in 1893 he married Mary Jane Dobson. They were listed together on the 1901 census, along with his sister Agnes Pearson.

John (b:1819) John does not appear to have married. He lived first with his sister Elizabeth and then with his brother William. He died in 1896 at the age of 77.

Thomas (b. 1832): Thomas married Margaret Kelly, from Ramsey, Isle of Man, in 1865 and lived in West Derby. They do not appear to have had any children. Thomas died in 1893.

William (b. 1817): William married Margaret Hall from Goosnargh in 1859. They had 4 children (Jane, Mary, Robert and William). In the 1861 census they are listed as living at 11 Sharoe Green Lane, living with parents Robert and Jane and their first daughter Jane. They were also living next door to sister Elizabeth and her family (with husband Richard Bradley).

In the 1881 census they were still living at Sharoe Green Lane. William died in 1882 at the age of 65. By 1901, Margaret was living with her children Mary, Jane and William, all apparently unmarried, at The Grange, Broughton.

Son Robert (b.1866) married Catherine (b.1866) in 1890. In the 1891 census he was listed as a school teacher in Skipton, Yorkshire. By the 1901 census Catherine is listed as a widow with 4 children (Margaret b.1892, Agnes b.1893, Mary b.1895, and Winifred b. 1898).

In summary, by the 1901 census, the 11 members of this line listed were Catherine (wife of Robert) and her 4 daughters, Margaret (wife of William) and three of her children, Edwin his wife Mary Jane as well as his sister Agnes (though listed as Pearson).

In 1901 (post census) it appears that William married Jane Moon and that they had at least 4 children.