Roger ATHERTON, 1761-1846, Cheshire, England

Roger ATHERTON is the furthest back in time ancestor, the 4th great-grandfather of my PERRY son-in-law, 5th great-grandfather to his children. Born in Cheshire England, in approximately 1761, Roger lived to a good age of 85 years. As a genealogist, I am thrilled Cheshire's Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts can both be searched fairly easily as many are online, using FindMyPast.

The name Roger is sometimes spelled Rodger, and on several of his children's baptism documents, as well as in naming his second son, that alternate spelling is used.  Speaking of alternate spellings, the surname ATHERTON apparently originated north of Cheshire, in Atherstone, Lancashire, which might possibly be where Roger came from. I have not been able to prove his birth place, even though an 1841 Census states "Y" - meaning Yes he was born in the same county [Cheshire]. Frustrating, but just means I need to troll through more parish registers!

On Feb 24, 1789, in Frodsham Parish, Cheshire, Roger married Ann/Nancy LEWIS, likely the 2nd  daughter of Richard LEWIS and Martha DAVISS, christened 13 Jan 1766 in Cheshire.

Roger and Nancy had the following children, baptism dates shown with birth dates if noted on the Weaverham parish records. Note the 4 year gap between the 2nd and 3rd children.
   1.  Catharine, bap. 4 Jan 1790, Weaverham, bur. 28 Feb 1824 Weaverham;
         m. 3 Sep 1810 in Weaverham to Thomas Rimmer [1781-1824]; 5 known
         children
   2.  Peggy, b. 6 Nov 1791, bap 4 Dec 1791 Weaverham; nothing further known.
   3.  Richard, b. 13 Jan 1796, bap 28 Feb 1796, bur. 10 Jan 1887 Lower Peover
        Cheshire; m. approx. 1838 to Lettice [unknown surname] b. est 1817
        Dunkirk Cheshire; nothing further known.
   4. Martha [ancestor], b. 9 Sep 1798 Crowton, bap 30 Sep 1798 Weaverham.
       Illegitimate son Thomas with Hepard/Heppard male; nothing further known
         about Martha after Thomas' baptism.
   5.  Ann, bap 21 Feb 1801 Weaverham; nothing further known
   6.  Rodger jr, bap 12 May 1805 Weaverham, d. 1889 in Cheshire co.;
         m. abt 1838 Plumley Cheshire to Elizabeth [unknown surname]; one
         daughter known
   7.  Elizabeth "Betty,"  bap. 8 Nov 1807 Weaverham. Nothing further known.

In 1803, 1808, and 1821, Roger, as Occupier, had a Land-Tax assessment for Crowton. A map will show that Crowton, Frodsham, and Weaverham are relatively close. In 1825, Roger is shown to be the occupier of several pieces of land.  His occupation on the 1841 Census is "Farmer."

The 1841 Census for Plumley [Plumbley] Cheshire, shows Roger 80 yrs with his wife Ann 75 yrs, son Roger, daughter Betty; grandson John Rimmer, Samuel Hornby [possible son-in-law], plus Ann Burrows and Mary Ellison listed as "Ind" [independent means]. All on this Census are listed as born in the same county, Cheshire.

October 23rd 1841, Roger wrote out his simple will, making his mark, witnessed by Peter Rimmer and Samuel Hornby. He left everything to his wife Ann; and directed on her death that everything then to be valued and divided between his son Rodger, and daughter Elizabeth [still unmarried at this time, aged 34]. Executors were to be his nephew John Lewis of Arley Chester, and son Rodger; and Executrix Elizabeth Atherton [daughter].

The 1846 Index to the Death Duty Registers [image] shows Roger Atherton resident of Plumbley Chester, Executor J.Lewis of Arley.
Arley, by the way is about 7 miles north of Plumbley.

On July 10 1846, Roger ATHERTON's probate was settled including a statement that "the personal Estate and Effects of the Testator within the Diocese of Chester were under the value of three hundred pounds." And it is stated the Testator died on the 19th day of March 1846. He would have been 85 years old at the time of his death. We know from N.Cheshire Memorial Inscriptions that Roger was buried by St Oswald [Church of England] in the Parish of Lower Peover, as was his wife, Ann.

Just over two years later, his wife Ann died 13 Oct 1848 in Lower Peover. She may have been living with their older son, Richard Atherton, who had married Lettice and moved to Lower Peover, about 2 miles away from Plumbley.

Important DNA Note:  Atherton male descendants from Roger's two sons, Rodger jr. or Richard, will naturally show ATHERTON YDNA. However - male descendants from Martha ATHERTON's son, Thomas Hepard ATHERTON, will of course show up in Y-DNA matches - not as Atherton Y-DNA - but likely as Hepard/Heppard Y-DNA. Information from 1822 may not keep on being known in the 21st century, so I am making this note clear!

=== / === / === / === / === / === / === 

If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day.

Thomas BOSTOCK, 1789-1848, Weaverham, Cheshire, England

This week, I'm back to my favourite son-in-law's family lines. [he's the only one!]  Here we have his 4th great-grandfather (his children's 5th great-grandfather), Thomas BOSTOCK, the second one in the line that I'm relatively confident about. This Thomas' parents were Thomas and Mary, and so far I've found four possible ones in Cheshire, England! Genealogy research is never done.

Thomas BOSTOCK, born June 6th, 1789 in Weaverham, Cheshire, England, and baptised on July 5th, 1789, the following month. The parish church, St Mary's Church for over 1000 years, was known at the time of the Norman invasion, and many details are found in the link, including photographs. The photo of the church is above on the right. [© Copyright Sue Adair and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence]

Weaverham is a small village beside the Weaver River, scarcely 10km to the west of the Mersey River and the west coast. Thomas and his wife Mary appear to have lived in the Weaverham Parish for the majority of their lives. Nearby was the Forest of Delamere, a "forest by the lake" [Latin phrase: foresta de la mera]. The link for the forest has interesting stories and facts about the forest and lakes.

In the Parish Church on April 29th, 1811, Thomas married Mary, possibly Mary Birtwisel although this is not yet confirmed definitively. Children of this couple appear to be the following, although it is possible there are more not yet found and confirmed:
  1.  Elizabeth, b. 7 Jan 1812, bap. 9 Feb 1812; nothing further researched to date.
  2.  Thomas, b. 1815, d. 9 Apr 1819 aged 4 yrs of age

  3.  George [ancestor], bap 19 Feb 1817, d. bef 1871; m. 29 Dec 1841 to Hannah "Ann" PICKTON, 8 known children

  
As far as I have been able to find out, Thomas seems to have been a farm worker, or "Ag Lab" worker [agriculture labourer]. There was a mill in Weaverham which was used until late in the 19th century, and there was much farming in the region. At the time Thomas and his family lived there in the early 1800s the population was not much over 1000 people, although after WWII the post-war boom brought the population up to about 7500.  

On September 24th, 1848, Thomas Bostock died, and was buried the same day, according to the Burial Records for the Parish.  I have no information about his wife, Mary, whether she was still alive or not. The lack of children's birth records for this couple might indicate she died at some point after son George's birth in 1817.

More research in the Weaverham parish needs to be done to tease out more details of the several Thomas Bostock individuals and their respective families.  Although I have found there are several families of Thomas and Mary in the region on the 1841 Census for Weaverham and surrounding hamlets, the names and ages of their children are very confusing, when looking at ages of the parents. 

If you have any information on this particular Thomas and Mary or corrections to offer, please do contact me at the address at the bottom of the page. I'm happy to share whatever I have found to date, as well.  

Blogger has a glitch in it stopping me from replying to your comments, but please do know that I appreciate your comments very much. You make my day! Thanks for stopping by to read my family blog.