Thomas (TH102) was born in 1817.
His father John (JO101) was recorded as a Dyer and later as a Weaver. His mother Margaret (MA104), a widow formerly
Mason, was John’s second wife (his first wife, Mary (MA094) had died in
1813). John was listed in Pigot’s
directory in 1828 and 1830 as a Dyer in Bridgegate, Barnard Castle. Bridgegate
is one of the oldest parts of Barnard Castle, close to the river and the
castle, and was also one of the poorest.
It is now a pleasant riverside residential area but in the nineteenth
century there was a surge of industrial development and a report in The Times in 1850 indicated that typhus and cholera were common. There were no surviving children from John
Wouldhave’s first marriage but Thomas had several siblings from the second
marriage.
Thomas married Anne Race in
June 1839 at Barnard Castle. In the 1841 census Thomas is living
with his father and his wife, Ann, in Thorngate, Gainford, which is a few miles
east of Barnard Castle (see map). Undoubtedly
times were difficult for the family and Thomas’ brother William was arrested on
more than one occasion for larceny and was transported to Australia in 1843
(see blog from August). Thomas’s sister
Margaret was also arrested on a number of occasions and charges ranged from
being drunk and disorderly to larceny; she also served time in prison having
been sentenced to hard labour.
Thomas had one child before emigrating, John (JO108) baptised
15th March 1840. The family emigrated in 1842 (according to the 1900 Federal
census for John, although we can find no other information on this). In November 1853 John
appears in the US naturalisation records.
According to information from the Maynard Historical
Commission, Massachusetts, Thomas was one of the early mill men and ran the
first drug store in Maynard in 1865 at 40-44 Main St, Somerset Hotel. He was a member of the American
Pharmaceutical Association from 1859-1867.
In the Maynard Illustrated Almanac (Maynard
Historical Society Website) he is listed as a taxpayer in 1878 and was listed
in the Maynard and Stow Directory as residing in 1887-8 in Summer St.
Ann died in 1858 and Thomas in 1899.
Thomas’ son John (JO108) was a shoemaker and a volunteer
in the American Civil War; he married Abbie Reed in 1866. Other children of John and Ann include Elizabeth
(b. 1844), Hannah(B.1849), Thomas (B.1850), Maria J (or Mary) (b.1855) and
Robert (b.1857). We are still
researching information about the family and hope to add further information at
a later date.
