Week 37: My ancestor worked with wood

[Jill on the A272]

Week 37: My ancestor worked with wood

Woodman, forestry worker, sawyer, charcoal burner, turner, cooper, bodger, carpenter, joiner, cabinet maker - from the raw material to the finished product your chance to showcase your woodworking ancestor. You might want to offer a short biography and speak about their work eg

Name
Birth location/date
Family background
Where you've found them on the census
Their workplace/employer
Any tips on researching this occupation?

Trades and Occupations - Family Tree Forum

[Nest week: Slater]

[Jill on the A272]

My 4x great grandfather John Kershaw was a joiner in Newchurch in Rossendale, Lancashire. He was born around 1774 married Grace Edmonson in Burnley in 1800. The earliest record I have of him being a joiner is from Freemason records, he joined the Rossendale Lodge of Tranquility on 21 July 1804 and was a member right up to 1846 the year before his death.

He is on the 1841 census as a joiner as was his son Henry, and his other son Joseph (my 3x great grandfather), although he had diversified as well and in 1814 had also run a pub as his youngest child Harriet's baptism notes him as a publican. John died on 15 Jun 1847 and was buried at St Nicholas, Newchurch in Rossendale on 21 Jun 1847 and was the first named on the gravestone (which names a dozen other family members) now lying flat near the church porch, though not in the original position.

[Lin Fisher]

John Everitt Ashmore, who married my 2 x G Aunt Selina Everitt was a cabinet maker. Born 1849 to John Ashmore and Harriett Harrison (who was also a distant relative on the other side of the family).

John and Selina married 8 Jan 1871 at St Pauls Church Nottingham. They had no children and move to Lincoln between 1888 and 1891 to Lincoln. On 1901 census they are living at 12 Steep Hill and have a shop there selling his handiwork, He dies in 1907 in Lincoln

[Lin Fisher]

William Dunn baptised 1 Jan 1752 at Holy Trinity Belbroughton Worcs was my 5 x G G/father. He married Ann Dorothy ? and is buried in Belbroughton 4 May 1795. He was a carpenter.

Roger Williams bap 29 Oct 1710 at Holy Trinity Dennington Suffolk, my7 x G G/father was a carpenter. He married Mary Edwards by licence at Dennington and was buried 15 Jun 1780 in Dennington. He left a will.

[PhotoFamily]

My group from Antrim included Joiners/Carpenters/Contractors. I had no idea what a joiner was before finding them.

After several months of genealogy research, feeling that I had a grip on my father's ancestry, my father chirped up and said - what about Uncle Dave? Who? And he thought Uncle Dave was related on his mother's side, but he couldn't tell me anything more about Uncle Dave and his wife, Aunt Abbie, not even their surname, just they lived in his childhood area and attended family reunions.

Fortunately, my uncle didn't throw his hands up in the air like I did, and found Uncle Dave - Taggart - which was my father's paternal uncle (actually, great-uncle). Dave was a carpenter, and in 2010, Dad still had some of Dave's tools, which he sold off in a move before I had heard about Dave. Sigh.

Dave's father was a joiner, and his eldest brother was a contractor who probably started out with carpentry/building skills. Another brother was a Carpenter in the 1900 census.

[jenoco]

There are at least five generations of my Cox ancestors who were carpenters, builders, millwrights. The earliest one I’ve found is James, 4x great grandfather, born circa 1766 in the Shiplake area of Oxfordshire, who died in 1844. His two surviving sons, Thomas (my 3x great grandfather) and Daniel were a carpenter and a millwright. Daniel’s two surviving sons were both carpenters. Thomas had six sons; five of them were involved in carpentry / building, the exception being my 2 x great grandfather, John (he was a factor on an estate), but all of John’s four sons were carpenters. The most successful of Thomas’ sons was James who became a well known builder in the Stoke Row area and about whom there are quite a lot of newspaper entries available.

My grandfather, Henry James Cox, born 1892, was also a carpenter.

Most of the family remained in the South Oxfordshire area of Sonning Common / Stoke Row and I’m sure I have a lot of unknown relations still there.

This is Thomas and his wife Lucy in their garden in Sonning Common. I’m not sure of the date but he died in 1874 and Lucy in 1873.
Lucy & Thomas cleaned up.jpg

[Lin Fisher]

Another one. John Everitt baptised 20 Mar 1781 in Everton Notts was my 4 x G Grandfather. He was a carver and gilder. He married Elizabeth Scrimshaw on 14 Aug 1809 at North Muskham Notts. They moved to Doncaster and had 11 children.
Doncaster trade directories have him in 1822 as a painter and 1829 as a Carver and Gilder.
He was made bankrupt in 1831 and moved to Nottingham with most of his family. He kept going back to Doncaster and buying thing 'on bill' which I presume means 'on tick' and selling them at a fraction of the price in Nottingham. Lots about him in the Newspapers.
He died 12 Dec 1838 Nottingham

[cbcarolyn]

My great grandfather was a carpenter, his father owned a farm in Hartland, Devon, but as he wasn't the first born he didn't get first dibs on the farm, the will of his father was contested, and I don't think I found the outcome, will he to search again.

He moved to London in his 20s and in all the census he is a carpenter, possibly not wanting to be in contact with some of the family. He died in 1919 before my mother was born, and she didn't know much about him. So I don't really know what he did with wood. Not sure where else I can look to find out more.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/34206860/person/18607477539/facts

[Darksecretz]

Thomas Graves was born in Uffculme Devon in 1841 to John and Susannah Graves. John was also a Carpenter so I presume that Thomas learned the trade from his father. Johns father was James another carpenter, so maybe this was a family trade that was passed down. I haven't yet come across much in the way of a paper trail for the carpentry side, but I do have a wooden box that may have been made by Thomas who was my x2 grt grandad.

Thomas moved from Uffculme by 1881 and was living in Hucknall Torkard, Nottinghamshire working as a farm labourer, he had one daughter and he died in Hucknall Torkard in 1912.