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!

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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.

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52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 36, Working For A Living: Thomas Hepard ATHERTON, Coachman

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was School Days, and this week's is WORKING FOR A LIVING.   Here is Thomas Hepard ATHERTON, who worked for a time as a Coachman.  He is the only person found in any of our family lines with this occupation.

Above, Thomas is seen on the 1861 Census of Crowton, Cheshire, England, with his wife Ellen ("Helen" sic), and their two first children: Anne 3 yrs old, and Thomas (jr) 1 yr old.

His occupation on this Census is stated as "Coachman, DomServ", i.e., he is working for a family as a Coachman, in an outside servant role.  It is unclear where he was working, as that is not noted on the Census form.

Thomas Hepard ATHERTON, bap. 10 Feb 1822, was the illegitimate son of Martha ATHERTON. Martha was the middle child of Rodger ATHERTON & Ann [Nancy] LEWIS.  She was 24 when her son was born.

As he is the only person on many pages of the Parish Register with a middle name, and there are several Hepard families in the village, one could make a reasonable assumption that a Hepard man was the father. Martha was likely indicating to the parish priest (and community) who the father was of her son, by baptizing him with this name.  All "Atherton" surname lines from Thomas are not Atherton, but most likely to be Hepard, genetically.  The surname Hepard may be spelled variant ways: Heppard, Hepperd, Hepard, Hepherd, and so on.

I have not yet found a subsequent marriage for his mother, Martha, nor for her death/burial.

Thomas was born and grew up in the small town of Crowton, Cheshire, England, where his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins lived.   His grandfather Rodger was a farmer according to an early census, as were several uncles.

According to this article on Victorian Occupations, in 1861 there were 11,897 Coachmen listed as such in all of England and Wales (scroll down on page).  This was a significant increase over 1851 numbers.

A coachman's duties would include overseeing the appropriate care of the horses and condition of the equipment (e.g., harness), plus cleaning the carriage and equipment if there were not any second-coachmen or grooms.  You might find it interesting to read the duties of a Coachman in a fairly wealthy home, by clicking on this link.

On the very next Census, 1871, Thomas is listed with his wife and five of their children, and his occupation is listed as a "Farmer 53 acres", which implies he owns the 53 acre farm.  I could be making an incorrect assumption here, of course.  Either he earned enough in earlier times to purchase this size farm, or perhaps he received land from one of his relatives (uncles?).  I haven't done enough research on all members of this Atherton group, as yet, to be certain.

I have much more information on Thomas Hepard ATHERTON, his mother, and grandparents as well as his children, and will do a full genealogy post on him at some point in the future.

If you have information and corrections for Thomas, I would be very pleased to receive any details.  I may be contacted through the email at the bottom of the page, or in the Comments section below.

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.