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The Brooks-Dewhurst family tree
John Brooks married Isabella Cartmell, a woman eight years his senior, November 27th 1881 at Holy Trinity Church in Burnley (please see the DEWHURST-DRIVER PAGE for a picture of this church). I have been surprised at how often my male ancestors married women who were older than them - perhaps this was not uncommon in Victorian times.
The couple eventually settled at 110 Piccadilly Road, Burnley, which was the same street where I lived with my family when we moved from Manchester. I inherited a small, battered book called the "History of England", published in 1830, which begins, "Our present Majesty, King George the Fourth....."! On the inside cover John Brooks had written his name and 110 Piccadilly Road.
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This
is a photograph of the lower end of Piccadilly Road, which I took
on a visit in 2002. The road used to be longer and the houses were
black when I lived there. Some of the houses, including 110 have
since been demolished. The upper end of Piccadilly Road is very
different in character.
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I found the Brooks line especially difficult to research, despite the fact that I found my Great-Grandfather, John Brooks in the 1881** and the 1901** UK Censi, so I knew he had been born in Skipton, Yorkshire in 1860. I also knew from his marriage certificate to my Great-Grandmother, Isabella Cartmell, that his father was also called John Brooks, who was recorded as being a Twister (this is an occupation in the cotton industry - see Occupations).
I spent months of fruitless searching for any mention of John Brooks Senior and Junior prior to 1881. I attributed this to the fact that John Brooks was a common name, but I thought that I should have been able to find my Great-grandfather in the Free BMD (this is an amazing service that is a searchable database of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in the UK going back to 1837, the year civil registration started), but I had no luck.
Up to this point I felt I had exhausted all the free resources available on the internet and I joined Ancestry.co.uk, a paid service that, at that time, offered access to the 1871, 1881, 1891, and 1901 Censi, as well as the same Births, Marriages, and Death information as Free BMD. I started looking for John Brooks in the 1871 Census, when he would have been aged 11. I found a John Brooks and his wife Ann, who had 2 sons and 2 daughters listed. Their names were Easter, John, and Richard Hall, and Sarah Ann Barns (listed as both daughter and a lodger). John Brooks Senior was listed as being a Twister. John Hall was recorded as being born in Skipton in 1860. The family was living in the Habergham Eaves district of Burnley.
John Brooks 1871 Census - Image**
There were so many correct threads here I decided this needed further investigation and went back to the 1881 Census**. At this point, John Brooks Junior was aged 21 and was living as a lodger with William and Sarah Booth at 29 Dale Street, Habergham Eaves. He was recorded as being John Brooks at this point, although he had been John Hall in the previous census 10 years earlier. Later that year, on November 27, he married Isabella Cartmell in the Holy Trinity Church, Habergham Eaves.
My Great-Grandfather, John Brooks (born John Hall)
born in 1860, Skipton, Yorkshire, UK.
Their witnesses were William and Sarah Booth, but I couldn't decipher the address on the marriage certificate because the writing was so bad - it looked like Barley Skeet and I thought it might be Barley, which is a small town close to Burnley.
I couldn't find his parents (John and Ann Brooks) in the 1881 census, so I looked for his brother, Richard, who I knew had been born in 1862 in Barnoldswick, Yorkshire. In the 1881 Census, he was listed as living with his mother, who was now Ann Folds (Foulds?) (recorded as married, but no husband was living with her at that address, which was 7 Varley Street). At that point, I realized that what I had thought was Barley was actually Varley Street and I realized I did have the correct family.
Marriage Certicate - John Brooks and Isabella Cartmell
The story of John Brooks parents, John Brooks and Ann Hall, which includes John Junior's childhood is an interesting one and is continued on the BROOKS-HALL PAGE.
John and Isabella set up home at 113 Piccadilly Road, Burnley and later moved across the road to 110 Piccadilly. In 1891** John was working as an Engineers Labourer in a steam engine factory. In 1901**, he was a labourer in an iron works. In the early years of their marriage Isabella also worked as a cotton weaver.
John and Isabella had five children, Richard (1882), John, usually called Jack (1883), Isabella (1888), Mary Ann (1890), and William (1896), my grandfather. Richard died during the First World War from gas poisoning, probably in France. My Great-Aunts, Isabella (Bella) and Mary Ann never married and they lived together at 19 Howard Street, Burnley. I remember them well as I often visited them with my mother. As I got older, I was sent to do their shopping on cold, icy days. They were very sweet, gentle women and their home was a perfect example of Victorian living - everything was dark brown! They had no inside bathroom and the toilet was outside in the back yard. I always knew them when they were retired and it never occurred to me that they would have worked for most of their lives. Isabella was a cotton spinner at the time of the 1901 Census. They both died at the age of 82, Bella in 1970 and Mary Ann in 1972.
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My great-aunts, Mary Ann and Bella (Isabella), taken while they were visiting Llandudno in 1948. |
Previous Generation: John (Hall) Brooks' parents were JOHN BROOKS and ANN HALL.
Isabella Cartmell and her family can be found on the CARTMELL PAGE.
** Used with permission of Ancestry.com.
