Jack Priestley’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
JOHN HUDSON and SALLY HAYES (6)
JOHN HUDSON. The 1851 census shows John to be 61 and born in Padiham.[1] There are two baptisms which fit this. [2]
1789 Sep 20 John. Son of Robert Hudson. Abode: Padiham.
1789 Nov 8 John. Son of John Hudson. Abode: Padiham.
John named his two sons John and Robert, making both of these equally possible. There is no evidence that either of these infants died young.
Robert Hudson was a miner. John Hudson senior was probably a miner, but possibly a wright.
John too became a miner. Coal was discovered in Padiham as far back as 1434. There had been a flourishing coal mining industry since the 17th century. In the 19th century there were two major collieries and a number of smaller pits.
John was a resident of Padiham when he married in 1808. He was 18.
SALLY HAYES. Sally was also born in Padiham. There is a baptism which matches the age she gives in the 1851census,
1787 Nov 25 Sally. Daughter of John Heys. Abode: Padiham.
She is almost certainly the eldest child of John Heys of Padiham and Ann Cleg of Ightenhill Park. Her father was a huckster, which means a hawker or pedlar.
Sally was the oldest child in a large family. She was 20 when she married.
John Hudson and Sally Hayes, both of Padiham, married in St Leonard, Padiham, on 14 March 1808. Both were “of this chapelry” and both signed with their mark.
Witnesses: James Wilkinson and James Kelly.
Padiham was a chapelry within the parish of Whalley.
Baptisms. St Leonard, Padiham.
1808 John born Aug 15, bapt Aug 28. Son of John and Sally Hudson. Miner, Padiham.
John junior died aged 9 months on 11 May 1809 from smallpox. He was buried three days later.
1810 Mary born Mar 18, bapt Apr 1. Daughter of John and Sally Hudson. Miner, Padiham
1815 Robert born Jan 23, bapt Feb 5. Son of John and Sally Hudson. Miner, Padiham
Robert lived 2 years. He died of convulsions on Feb 22 1817 and was buried two days later.
Other children whose baptisms have not been found show up in the 1841 census. Relationships are not given in this census, but they were living with John and Sarah (Sally) and are very likely to be their daughters.
1820/1 Sarah.
Then we have another baptism.
1822 Ann born Dec 4, bapt Dec 22. Daughter of John and Sarah Hudson. Miner, Padiham.
Two more probable daughters are shown in the census:
1826/7 Alice.
1828/9 Elizabeth.
It is possible that there were other children born between Robert in 1815 and Sarah in 1820/1, who may have left home before the 1841 census.
We know of no surviving sons.
Sally is a common diminutive of Sarah. Sally Hayes was baptised with this name, and this is how she appears in her early married life. But from the 1820s onwards her name is recorded as the more formal Sarah.
In the 1841 census we find the family in Back of Ousel Row, Padiham. John and Sarah’s ages have been rounded to 50. With them are four young women whom we presume to be their daughters: Sarah 20, Ann 15, Alice 14 and Elizabeth 12. John is a Collier. Sarah junior and Ann are P L (Power Loom) Weavers. Alice’s occupation begins with a D, but I have not been able to decipher it. Elizabeth is not in work. Also with them is 13-year-old Ann Waddington, a spinner.
The 1851 census shows John Hudson, Coal Miner, aged 61, and his wife Sarah, aged 63, They are living at 39 Church Street, Padiham. With them are their daughter Alice Taylor, aged 25, her husband Luke Taylor, a Stone Mason aged 25, and their grandson Richard aged 6m. All were born in Padiham. This would fit with Sally’s birth in 1787.
Alice’s baptism has not been found.
John and Sarah were both alive at the 1861 census, but an entry for them has not been found
John died the following year.
Burial. St Leonard, Padiham.
1862 died Dec 5, buried Dec 6. John Hudson. Age 73. Abode: Padiham. Grave 9/15. Cause of Death: Old Age.
Sarah survived him by 6 years.
Burial. St Leonard, Padiham.
1868 Aug 20. Sarah Hudson, aged 80. Abode: Padiham. Grave 9/15. The cause of death is not given.
John and Sally were born before the end of the 18th century, when the principal male occupations in Padiham were coal mining and handloom weaving. The Industrial Revolution put the handloom weavers, like their son-in-law John Tootle, out of work. But the demand for coal rose to feed the boilers which powered the cotton mills.
[1] Censuses from Findmypast.
[2] BMDs from Lancashire Online Parish Clerks.
[3] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Church_Street_Padiham.jpg
NEXT GENERATION: 5. TOOTLE-HUDSON
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 7. HEYS-CLEGG