Children of Peter Fretwell
John was born on 21st October 1788 in North
Barr, Leeds, and baptised nearly one month later on 16th November 1788 at St
Peter's Church. As noted previously, he may have died in infancy, but on
reflection, taking account of the recording on the family tomb of the other
family members, it may be that John survived to adulthood, left home, and lost
touch with his family.
Mary was born about 18 months after her
brother John, on 11th March 1790, when her parents were living in St James's
Street, Leeds. She was baptised at St Peter's Church on 11th April of the same
year. Although the date and place are not known at this stage, Mary married a
John Robinson, a weaver, who came from Deighton or Sheep(b)ridge, near
Huddersfield. There is no record of any children born to the marriage. In fact
Mary died relatively young, at the age of 41 on 7th November 1831 and was buried
at St John's Church, Leeds three days later. From the burial certificate (which
incidentally records her age as 40) we learn that Mary and John lived in
Huddersfield, and that she was brought 'home' for her burial.
Almost two years after the birth of Mary, the
younger daughter of Peter and Elizabeth, Ann, was born on 5th February 1792. As
were her siblings, Ann was baptised at St Peter's. The christening took place on
26th February 1792. Ann never married, and from the address given on the burial
certificate, lived at the family home at St James's Street. From the inscription
on her mother's and grandmother's tomb, Ann died in her 30th year on 25th August
1823 and was buried on 28th August at St John's Church Leeds.
Children of William Fretwell
Mary was the first child of William Fretwell
and Mary Vause, born on 24th September 1797, two years after her parents'
wedding. They waited nearly another two years before having Mary baptised on
10th July, 1799, at St John's Parish Church Leeds, on the same day as her
brother William. Mary died a spinster, aged 32, in 28th July 1830 and was buried
in the Mill Hill Chapel Yard, Leeds, on August 1st, the service conducted by
Joseph Hutton. An inscription on a stone slab in the Chapel Yard shows that she
was laid to rest in the same grave as her niece Rhoda, and her younger sister
Sabina.
William, the elder son of William and Mary,
was born when his parents were living at Head Row, Leeds, on 13th April, 1799.
He was baptised in a double ceremony with his older sister, on 10th July 1799 at
St John's Parish Church. We have no information as to his education, or the
training he would have undertaken to befit him for future rôle as head of the
family business. He probably served his apprenticeship under the tutelage of his
mother and uncle. William was twice married, for the first time when he was 27
years old. This wife was Elizabeth Smith. We know that she was one year younger
than her husband, as she was born on 10th April 1801. But we have not
established where she was born. They married by licence in York, so it is
unlikely that this was her home parish. The wedding was held on 15th March 1827
at Christ Church and was conducted by Isaac Grayson. This marriage entry may
help with more of Elizabeth's background. There were three witnesses -Thomas
Smith, Thomas Smith Jnr, and Anne Smith. The first Thomas was likely her father
and the second Thomas probably a brother. We know, from her memorial
inscription, that she had a sister called Ann(e). Within a space of just over
five years, at intervals of eighteen months, Elizabeth produced four
children - three daughters and one son - of whom only one child, Elizabeth,
survived beyond infancy. Rhoda 1828, Elizabeth 1829, William Henry 1830,
Daughter (name not known) died at birth 1832. This was no mean feat for the
mother Elizabeth, who was known to be frail and consumptive. Like her, all four
children were sickly, and even the surviving daughter died young. Elizabeth
Fretwell died on May 19th, 1834, and was buried on 22nd May at the Mill Hill
Chapel, Leeds, by Joseph Hutton. Her memory is enshrined on a stone slab in the
Mill Hill Chapel Yard. The inscription is witness to what must have been a very
sad household, although Elizabeth was at least spared the ordeal of burying her
last born, son William Henry. Her sister Ann also died young, although the date
is illegible.
In just under two years after the death of
Elizabeth, William remarried. His new bride was Ann Jackson, who was to prove to
be made of far sterner stuff than her predecessor. Ann's family had originally
come from Ackworth, which is just south of Pontefract. Both her father and
grandfather were tanners. Her parents were Richard Jackson, described as Yeoman,
and Mary Cole, who had married in Ackworth on 29th June 1813. They had seven
children, of whom Ann was the third, and second daughter. At some point the
family moved to Selby, and from the family notes, this would have been after Ann
was born in 1816. The notes do not give the birth place of her younger
siblings - three sisters and another brother. As they grew up the children of
Richard and Mary dispersed. John, the oldest, went to America and died there at Uttica in 1785 at the age of 44. Ann's elder sister Elizabeth married Leeds
manufacturer George Davison and they went to live in Edinburgh. Mary, born just
over two years after Ann, married very late in life in 1870 to an E.B. Robinson,
and died in 1906 in Grantham, and the next born, Richard, emigrated to
Australia. Sarah, who was born in 1822 lived to age 71. She married Robert
Manners Mann, a surgeon of St. John's Manchester. The youngest child was the
only one to remain in the immediate Selby area. She married Thomas Standering
who was a ship-owner at Selby. She died six months before sister Sarah, at
Cawood near Selby at the age of 69. Not only do we know the date of Ann's birth,
we also know, from her meticulous notes the precise time she came into the
world. She was born at Ackworth at 'quarter past two at night' on 21st July
1816, and baptised in the same year on 8th September. But Richard Jackson would
not have given his daughter's hand in marriage as he had died on 3rd August
1833. However her mother was alive to celebrate the day, and in fact lived for a
further 33 years, dying on 9th December 1869.
At the respective ages of just short of 35,
and 20, William Fretwell and Ann Jackson were married, by Licence, at the Abbey
Church, Selby, on 21st April 1836, before the Reverend John L Watson, and
witnessed by Jno Wilson and Ann's sister, Elizabeth Jackson. From the time of her
wedding in 1836, Ann, as with so many wives of the time, was constantly in a
'delicate' state - not necessarily so, but perhaps a testament to her robust
constitution. Here is Ann's account, in her somewhat dispassionate and ever
precise style, of the births (and miscarriages). Our little boy was born on
Sunday June 11th 1837 at 10 minutes before 6 in the morning. He was named John
after his Father's Uncle. Vause our second son was born 1/4 before 8 o'clock
morning Monday Dec 10th 1838. Mary was born April 20th 1840 at 5 o'clock in the
morning. Monday Saturday May 22nd 1841 had a miscarriage. Sept 19th 1841 had a
second miscarriage. Sunday November 13th 1842 my Alice was born about 1 o'clock
morning. October 12th 1845 at 8 o'clock morning Edith Marion was born. Sunday
Sept 10th 1847 at 1/4 past 5 o'clock in the morning Fanny Emmeline was born -
Friday. Dec 5th 1849 had a miscarriage. William was born on the 6th November
1850 at 8 o'clock on Friday morning. Died Thursday Dec 26th about 1 o'clock.
Buried on the 28th at Brayton Church. Oct 28th 1851 at 1/2 past 3 o'clock pm was
delivered after a dangerous labour of a dead baby - a fine boy - Tuesday. Monday
August 15th 1853 Florence was born at 3 o'clock pm.
Whether from choice, or from duty, William, as
the eldest son, was destined to work in the family business, which as soon as he
was able after the death of his father in 1809, he joined with his mother in
partnership with his Uncle John, until the latter's retirement. Thus for the
first years of their married life William and Ann were in Leeds, living at
Upperhead Row in relative comfort and in the security of a flourishing family
business, and within the accepted terms of standards of middle class living.
However, it would seem the time in which William and Ann would have been able to
maintain their level of comforts was short-lived. The business, which by 1839
was operating from Colonial Wharf, Knostrop, is not listed in the White's 1854
Directory. Sometime before 1852, and, from a reference in the Will probably
before 1848, they had moved to another house in Leeds in Beech Grove. Ten years
later they had moved again, this time to Manchester where, in 1862, they are
found at 4 York Terrace, Whalley Range. In their later years William and Ann
lived at 7 Glebe Terrace, Headingley. Reading between the lines it is clear that
some major set-back must have befallen the business that had been built up over
two generations before being handed over to William. There is no mention in
Uncle John's Will of any bequest to his nephew William, such as the assets of
the family business. Was he out of favour? Perhaps so, but no-one else was to
receive anything from the business either. The clues are found
in the Will. John, in bequeathing to his great nephew, John, his watch and seal
and two silver spoons, refers to John's father as William Fretwell, late of
Leeds Grocer but now a commercial Traveller. Further evidence of a catastrophe
can be discerned from some notes in Ann's diary. Interspersed with accounts of
family comings and goings is a reference to William's business troubles.
Subsequent research has confirmed that the
business had been failing badly and William Fretwell, Colonial , colonial
merchant, was declared a bankrupt on Sept 10, 1841. The effect on William must have been devastating. He would
have been 42 in 1841, and no doubt planning for and contemplating a comfortable
retirement. Instead, he now had to find some other way of supporting his family
and, furthermore, providing for their futures. At this stage he had two sons to
educate and one daughter. In time, and despite the straitened
circumstances, he was to have four more daughters to marry off. From Principal
of a flourishing grocery business to Travelling Salesman for a London Hop
Merchant, to which he was reduced, was a humiliating come-down. Furthermore, he
had made no provision for such an eventuality. He was still making a living as a
Commercial Traveller twelve years later, and died suddenly 'on the job' while on
one of his sales trips. His was a lonely death, away from his family, in a hotel
in Lancaster, on 1st February 1872, in his 73rd year. William's body was brought
home and he was laid to rest Woodhouse Cemetery.
William's income as a travelling salesmen had
evidently been insufficient to support his by now large family because, when at
Beech Grove, Ann, with the encouragement and support of her son John, had
started a small kindergarten which she ran with the assistance of her daughter
Mary. When Ann and William moved to Manchester, she again opened a kindergarten,
which, on her son John's advice, she had purchased from his mother-in-law Frau
Ronge (ex Traun). This was not a happy arrangement as the Lime Grove school was
never going to be a goer. For how long Ann persevered before finally selling or
abandoning the kindergarten is not known. Despite the hardships of child
bearing, the failure of her husband's business, and her own work in the
kindergarten movement, Ann lived to a ripe old age. She died on the 12th of
April 1891 at Headingley, Leeds and was buried at Woodhouse Cemetery.
Frederick, third child and second son of William Fretwell and Mary Vause, is
something of an enigma, and a person whom I suspect, if we knew more about him,
would have had some interesting tales to recount. He was born on 7th April 1800
at Head Row, Leeds and baptised nearly 6 months later on 3rd August at St John's
Church. He was the last child of William and Mary to be baptised at an Anglican
Church. Henceforth, the parents took their children to be baptised at the Mill
Hill Chapel.
The 1841 census locates Frederick, aged 40, living
with his elderly mother Mary at Knostrop. Under occupation column, Frederick is
listed as a Shopkeeper, so it would be reasonable to suppose that he had joined
the family business. But with the business failing, Frederick would have been
thinking seriously about his future. There are no references in the family
papers or other sources to suggest that Frederick married and had a family of
his own and so he could probably plan for his future without deference to a wife
and children.
From
at least 1845 he was in the Merchant Navy, and served as a steward. The
evidence for his sea-faring career is provided by a battered and creased
Mariner's Ticket issued in the name of Frederick Fretwell. The Ticket
gives us the following description of Frederick. He was 5 foot 5 inches
tall, with dark brown hair, fresh complexion, and hazel eyes. He carried
no distinguishing marks. One intriguing matter is that the date of birth
on the Ticket is 1802-two years later than Frederick's actual date of
birth. I originally surmised that Frederick had left home as a young man,
trained for the sea, and had made the Merchant Marine his sole occupation.
But his Mariner's Register Ticket Number 26,458 is dated 24th May 1845. On
enquiring as to whether a sailor was issued with a new ticket each time he
was engaged by a ship's master, I was informed that a number was issued to
a seaman at the start of his career, and he kept the number until he left
the sea. So this begs the question. If Frederick only joined up in 1845,
when he would have been 40, how had he spent his earlier years? Had he
married and had children? If so, what happened to them when he became a
sailor? On the other hand, he might have led a bachelor life and been at
sea all that time, if the 1845 Ticket was a replacement of a previous one
which might have been damaged or lost. The only family member to mention
Frederick was his nephew, John Fretwell, who, when he was getting ready
for a trip to Hamburg, bemoaned the fact that he had ...no trunk but an
old sea chest, the legacy of my sailor uncle Fred... There is nothing in
the family papers to indicate that Frederick did marry, and no mention of
him in Uncle John's Will, which might have made a reference to a wife and
children. Perhaps he was regarded as a black sheep. But, unlike his elder
brother Peter, Frederick seems to have maintained some contact with the
family.
His sister Elizabeth was with him when he died, on 8th May 1848
at the age of 48, of Hepatitis and Ansarca at 5 Back Pleasant Dairy Leeds.
At the time of his death he was recorded as ‘Out of Business’. He was
buried at the Woodhouse Cemetery, Leeds, where his name is commemorated on
the family memorial stone, along with his mother, brother William,
sister-in-law Anne, and nephew John.
The two Johns born to William and
Mary-successively named for their great uncle-both lived for but a short time.
They were born, respectively, on 1st July 1802 and 4th August 1807. The first
John was baptised three months after his birth, on 12th September at the Mill
Hill Chapel, Leeds. The parents did not wait so long to baptise their second
named John, as this took place two months after his birth, on 6th September
1807. The first John died just short of his first birthday, on 3rd June 1803 and
was buried 2 days later in the Mill Hill Chapel Yard. He predeceased his father
by some 6 years. His later namesake lived to just past his second birthday, with
his death recorded as 20th August 1809, 'from decline', and he too was buried in
the Mill Hill Chapel Yard. This child died two months after his father, a double
tragedy for his mother and family. Both infants, and their father, were laid to
rest together.
Sabina, the fifth child, and only other
daughter, was born to William Fretwell and Mary Vause on 16th October 1804, and
baptised on the last day of that same year at the Mill Hill Chapel. She lived to
celebrate her coming of age, but died, from causes unknown, in her 24th year, on
22nd May 1828. The Reverend J P Malleson conducted the burial 4 days later at
the Mill Hill Cemetery. Sabina was buried with her niece Rhoda, who had died
only one month earlier. Her elder sister, Mary was to join them two years later.
As noted under Generation 5, we are now able to follow
through from Joshua, son of Peter Fretwell of Cawthorne, and likely twin brother
of Matthew. The first Joshua had, at some time, moved to Hoylandswaine, and it
was here that his descendents lived and brought up their families. The mainstay
of this branch seems to have been the textile industry. Some account has been
given of Joshua and his wife Elizabeth Heeley (see Generation 4), and what
follows is a brief note on the families of their two children Ann and Joshua.
The progeny of Ann Fretwell and Jonas Walshaw
were, according to Chris Bradley, Jonas, born about 1777 and Hannah, whose birth
is estimated at 1779. Nothing further is given for Jonas, junior, but Hannah
married Joseph Silverwood on 17th April 1797, at Penistone. Joseph was born
about 1774, and lived to 1858. Hannah's date of death is not known, but it would
have been at least after the birth of her last child who was baptised on 1st
June 1827.
In all, between the
years 1798 and 1817, Hannah and Joseph produced a brood of ten children, four
daughters and six sons. Isaac and Asa were possibly twins. Then, according to Chris Bradley's notes, a 'postscript'
joined the family-another son Sidney, baptised on 25th September 1827. His
mother and father would have been around 48 and 53 years of age when he made his
appearance.
