William Bacon and Elizabeth Ashley Family

The Family History of William Bacon and Elizabeth Ashley

William Bacon Sr. was born in Tapton, a, village on the outskirts of Chesterfield, England. He was christened in the parish church December 1803, son of Joseph Bacon and Ann Middleton, the second of six children. At the age of twenty-five he married Elizabeth Ashley who was 28. Betty, as she was then called, grew up in nearby Scarcliff about eight miles west of Chesterfield. After marrying, William and Elizabeth began a home in Tapton where William had grown up. The two raised a family of five children. Two others died at the young age. 

Tapton Town. Photo found on OldMiners.co.uk website

  Their first baby they named William after his father. He is our ancestor. At the birth of young William his father's occupation was listed simply as laborer. This was also his job description two years later when a second boy, John, was born. A year later they were blessed with a baby girl who they named Mary Am. This time William had begun work as a gardener, an occupation that his namesake, William Jr. took up in Kaysville, Utah, years later. He maintained this employment during the following years when three more children were born to Elizabeth. A third baby son, George, was born 2 ½ years after Mary Ann but died a short three weeks later. A little over a year later Harriet was born but she only lived eighteen months. Their last child, Emily, was born in 1841 when their mother was 40 years old.  

Newbold Dunston just north of Chesterfield. Tapton is to the northeast.

Newbold Cottage c1900

 Sometime after the death of their toddler, Harriet, and before Emily’s birth William and Elizabeth moved to the neighboring village of Newbold.  William was no longer working as a gardener. Economic conditions of the time were poor for the agricultural community, forcing William to once again seek employment as a general laborer. He was probably hired out to do a variety of tasks, whatever would support his young family.  The first English national census was conducted in 1841. That summer the family of seven was listed as living in what was known as the Wharf Furnace section of town. It included William and Elizabeth both about 35 years old, young William age 12, John age 10, Mary age 8, George age 6 and Emily 3 months.

Before the next ten year census big changes took place in the household of William and Elizabeth. Their oldest son, William Jr. listened to the Mormon missionaries and was baptized into the upstart religion at the age of eighteen.  This event took place in December of 1847, shortly after the Mormons in the States began their westward exodus to what was to become Utah. Within a year mother, Elizabeth, and two more children, John, 17, and Mary Ann, 15, had joined the church. Shortly after Emily was baptized at 10 years old. Now all the family members except the father, William, had accepted the new and much ridiculed new religion.

By 1851 the railroad had been built. William was now employed as a railroad laborer. The country was rapidly become industrialized. Cities like Chesterfield were growing as factories produced more and more goods and employment opportunities continued to expand. No longer was Chesterfield primarily a market town with a main purpose to sell agricultural crops and animals.

 The next census in 1861 indicates that more changes had occurred. The second and third children, John and Mary Ann, had married and moved out of the house. To partially fill the gap, however, their oldest grandchild, William Jr.'s daughter, Harriet, had at age 10 moved in with her grandparents. Perhaps she assisted Elizabeth who was then 60 years old in the housework. Harriet was also kept company by her Aunt Emily and Uncle George who still lived at home. George was 26 and was employed working in the coal mines while Emily was just 20 with no occupation listed although it is logical to assume that she, too, assisted in the household income.  William Sr. was now working, at least for a time, as an agricultural laborer, similar to his original occupation of gardener.  He may have helped in planting or harvesting crops or other related activities.

Low ceiling in English colliery or coal mine.

 We don't know whether the father, William, was antagonistic or apathetic towards the Mormons, but there is no record that he ever accepted the faith. William Jr., John and their Mother were all rebaptized in 1857, a situation that often happened during that time period to renew the faith and commitment of an individual. Chesterfield Branch records, however, show that Elizabeth was eventually cut off from membership at age 67. It is easy to imagine that persecution from within the mostly Anglican neighborhood in addition to possible conflict within the family unit caused by a nonmember spouse may have contributed to inactivity. We wish we had the written testimonies of those involved to help us understand the climate of the time.

All five children who survived childhood married and continued to live close to William and Elizabeth which must have been a comfort in their later years. William Jr. was a brickmaker and gardener. He married Mahala Eliza King, also a member of the church and later emigrated with most of his family to Kaysville, Utah.  He was ordained a Teacher a year after his baptism. John worked as an ironstone laborer. He married Hannah Coates who had also joined the church. He was later ordained a Deacon. Mary Ann apparently lived with her parents until she was 23 years old when she married William Shipley, a painter.  He, also, became a member of the Mormon faith.  George stayed home the longest, living in Wharf Newbold until the age of 29 when he married Mary Jane Jessop.  He may have sided with his father in religious matters as there is no record of him in the Chesterfield Branch records.  The youngest child, Emily, married at the youngest age.  She was 21 when she married Anthony Thacker, a tailor.  Both she and Anthony were living in Clay Cross at the time of their marriage, indicating that Emily was on her own by this time. 

Unidentified Plate-layers Gang. c1905

Elizabeth (Betty) died at age 70 in 1870. After her death William lived with his daughter Mary Ann and son-in_law William Stapley as shown by the 1871 census.  His death in 1873 was witnessed by Mary Ann, verifying that he died in her home on St. Helen Street in Chesterfield of gangrene senilis. As listed on his death certificate he was once again employed by the railroad, specifically as a platslayer.  He lived three years after Elizabeth apparently continuing to work actively to contribute to his daughter's family income. At his death his posterity and that of his wife included five families to mourn and remember them:

William and Mahala Eliza Bacon with children Sarah, Emily, Arthur, Rose and Lucy

John and Hannah Bacon with daughter Elizabeth

Mary Ann and William Shipley with children William, Henrietta, and Mary

George and Mary Jane Bacon

Emily and Anthony Thacker with children Agnes, Alfred, William and Anthony 

Sources: 
By Phil Sangwell (Class 37 at Tapton Jct  Uploaded by oxyman) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

Platelayer often misplelled as plateslayer: a workman who lays and repairs railroad tracks 
Photo: http://www.pottostation.co.uk/photos.html 

Wharf Furnace was a section of town named for the Iron Works in Newbold where a blast furnace was built supposedly along the canal wharf.

Ironstone laborer probably shoveled ironstone. "It's soul destroying, back breaking, low paid and just plain bloody horrible!" Usually a younger man's work as, it is hoped, a more mature man would have worked his way out of the situation, but not always. - posted by Steve G on Rootschat.com forum Sunday 16 August 09

Colliery picture from http://Healeyhero.co.uk

Map:
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Newbold, in Chesterfield and Derbyshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1252. Date accessed: 03rd March 2014

Buy photo Picture the Past site

Place:

Chesterfield, Newbold

Location:

Littlemoor

Title:

Thatched cottage opposite St Hugh's Church site

Image Date:

c 1900

Originator:

Copyright Reserved

Credit:

Mr G W Martin