Saturday 31 January 2009

Update - Saddingtons of Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire

This is a quick post updating my original post of 30 December 2008 with information discovered during my post Christmas trip to the Leicestershire Record Office.

John and Frances Saddington's son, Daniel, did indeed die in infancy. The relevant burial register for Houghton on the Hill [DE2555/7] states at entry no. 200:

Daniel Saddington Houghton February 4 [1841] Infant J S Coleman

The same register also gives details of John and Frances' burials:

No. 634
Frances Saddington Houghton April 12th [1890] 83 G B Dalrymple Rector


and

No. 669
John Saddington Houghton Sept 6th [1894] 88 G B Dalrymple Vicar of Worthington


Turning to the relevant burial register for Barsby, which can be found under Ashby Folville [DE960/10], the following entries were found:

No. 244
Henry Mayfield Barsby Ap 4 [1858] 1 year W Prosser Vicar


and

No. 334
Fanny Mayfield wife of Reuben Mayfd Barsby Novr 1st [1870] 33 H S Norwood Curate of Twyford


A further inspection of the GRO indexes provided a reference to the death of a Frances Mayfield in the December quarter of 1870 in the Melton Mowbray Registration District, whose age at death was either 31 or 34, depending on how good your eyesight is.

As before, if this is your family, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Saddingtons of Harringworth, Northamptonshire

The first Saddington to be found in Harringworth was John Saddington, born circa 1750 in Empingham, Rutland. He married Mary Hudson of Harringworth on 26 February 1783 in Harringworth Parish Church. It was a relatively short and unproductive marriage. Both bride and groom were in their early thirties when they married, and Mary was only 39 when she was buried on 31 October 1791. The marriage had produced two sons, both named John. The first son was baptised on 20 December 1784 and buried on 30 January 1785. The second John was born on 7 July 1786 and baptised 5 days later on the 12th. As yet, no burial record for this child has been found, but later events suggest that he died some time before his tenth birthday.

John Saddington did not remain a widower long. On 20 February 1792, less than four months after burying his first wife, he married Mary Bailey in Harringworth Parish Church. The happy couple then went on to have seven children, four sons and three daughters.

Their first child was a son, Christopher, baptised on 4 January 1793. He was followed by John, baptised on 12 July 1795. Then came Anne, baptised on 23 December 1797, and Sarah, baptised on 20 December 1799. The new century saw the births of Thomas, baptised on 21 October 1801, and Joseph, baptised on 16 June 1804. The final child was Hannah, baptised on 28 March 1807.

John Saddington lived to be 73 years old, being buried in Harringworth on 3 March 1823.

His sons went separate ways. The older two, Christopher and John, migrated to North Luffenham, Rutland, which will be a separate post. Thomas and Joseph remained in Harringworth and raised their families there. At the moment, nothing more is known of their sisters, apart from a hint in the parish registers that Sarah may have had an illegitimate child.

Thomas Saddington (1801) found his wife in South Luffenham, Rutland. He married Alice Bird on 12 June 1826, and their first daughter, Mary, was born in South Luffenham on Christmas Day 1826, being baptised on New Years Eve. However, the family were back in Harringworth for the baptism of their son, John, on 29 August 1830, and there they stayed.

John was followed by Thomas, baptised on 1 December 1833, and William, baptised on 10 July 1836. On 14 April 1839, James was baptised, followed by Susanna on 29 December 1844.

John, Thomas and William all married and settled down in Harringworth, working mainly as agricultural and general labourers, and producing large families. Unfortunately, by the time of the 1871 census, James was living in the Leicester Borough Lunatic Asylum at Humberstone, Leicestershire. At the moment, their sisters' lives remain to be researched.

Joseph Saddington (1804) married Amy ? before 1828 and probably in her home town of Loughborough. Their first son, William, was baptised in Harringworth on 13 April 1828. William was followed by Ann, baptised on 3 October 1830, Hannah, baptised on 22 April 1833, and Mary, baptised on 14 September 1834. Then came Joseph, baptised on 26 February 1837, and John, baptised on 9 June 1839. This long family was completed by Thomas, baptised on 1 May 1842, and Robert, baptised on 4 August 1844.

Of these eight children, William moved to Uppingham, where he married Rebecca Boon and their first child was born. The family then moved to Sheffield, Yorkshire, where there may still be descendants today. Hannah died in infancy. Mary married George Gore at Oakham on 29 May 1853 (information about her descendants is available). Ann, Joseph, John and Robert remain to be researched. But Thomas appears to have been married three times, firstly to Mary A ? of Oakham, Rutland before 1869, the mother of his two sons, secondly to Caroline Whyment of Wakerley, Northamptonshire, in 1874, and thirdly, after Caroline's death in 1885, to Mary ?, born in Chelsea, London.

There will be more posts about the Saddingtons of Harringworth, but if any of these names figure in your family tree, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thursday 1 January 2009

Happy New Year - Blog Update for 2008

Happy New Year to all of you, and may you find all of your missing ancestors in 2009!

As per this time last year, this is a quick update on how the Saddington One Name Study and its associated blog has fared.

During 2008, a number of people have contacted me in relation to their Saddington ancestry or their knowledge of Saddington data. As a result, I have not only been able to assist people with further information about their families, but also I have been able to update previous posts on the blog with additional information. Throughout the year, I have continued to collect Saddington data, including making several trips to Archives and Record Offices in relevant counties. The information collected is slowly making its way into my database, and connections have already been made between families living in different counties.

For me personally, I have been contacted by two further descendants of my own Great Bowden Saddingtons as a result of the blog, and have had the great pleasure of meeting one of them and her family.

I have, however, failed in my resolution to write four posts a month on this blog. In fact, my monthly average was 2.67. This is due to work, study, the arrival of my second niece, and losing internet access for three weeks at the beginning of the year. I will try to do better in 2009, although I am still studying, but distance learning this time, which requires more self discipline. My New Year's resolution is to attempt to write three posts a month during 2009.

2008 has been the first full calendar year of the Saddington Family History blog. Comparing the Statcounter figures for 2008 to the figures for the first actual year of the blog (16 May 2007 to 16 May 2008), there has been a significant increase in traffic on the blog.

Between 1 January and 31 December 2008, there were 4015 page loads, an average of 335 per month. There were 2398 unique visitors, an average of 200 per month. Of these, 2097 were first time visitors, an average of 175 per month. There were also 301 returning visitors, an average of 25 per month. These figures, apart from the returning visitors, are all almost double the figures for May 2007 to May 2008. The number of returning visitors has increased by two thirds.

November 2008 was the month with the most page loads (532) and the most unique visitors (300). The month with the most returning visitors was July 2008 with 36.

Of the last 500 visitors to the blog, 56.26% (256) were from the UK, 14.73% (67) were from the USA, 9.01% (67) were from Australia, and 6.81% (31) were from Canada. Other recent visitors were from Ireland, South Africa, France, the Netherlands, Finland, the Philippines, New Zealand, Pakistan and Belgium.

But some things remain the same. The most popular post on the blog is still Saddingtons who died in World War One, originally posted on 31 July 2007. Not far behind is British Army World War One Pension Records 1914 - 1920, originally posted on 20 February 2008.

Unfortunately, the Saddington DNA Project has not progressed since my update post of 5 March 2008. We still only have two participants, one each from the Appleby Magna and Great Bowden branches of the Saddington family. For 2009, it would be very nice if more people would come forward to participate in this project.

So, onwards and upwards for 2009. Any comments on the contents of the blog, or what you would like to see included in the blog, would be very gratefully received. If I don't know what you want, I can't post it.