Mum would never have heard of Ryhall in Rutland but for one thing – one of her great-great-grandparents was born there in 1839. That in itself was a surprise as she’d grown up believing he was from Herefordshire or even Wales.
This was because his surname was Jones and Mum had been told that his daughter Elizabeth (who was her great-grandma) had been born in Lyonshall in Herefordshire.
Mum had also been told that Elizabeth’s husband, Henry Edward Mercer, had been born in Garston, Liverpool, and they had met in Herefordshire while he was working as a plate-layer on the railway.
All their 15 children were born in Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, between 1882 and 1907, however, and so that was where Mum had first started looking for them on the census for 1881 – and it was also when she’d found out that almost everything she’d been told about the family was wrong!!
Although Henry Edward Mercer was indeed a railway labourer and had been born in Garston, Lancashire, he was a lodger at the home of John and Mary Jones, along with two other men who also worked on the railway.
John Jones was born in Ryhall, Rutland, however, and worked as a railway labourer, while his wife Mary gave her place of birth as Pontefract, Yorkshire. Even more confusingly, their daughter Elizabeth was born in Bewdley, Worcestershire, while their younger children, John and Hannah, were born in Kington, Herefordshire, and Twyford, Leicestershire, respectively.
When Mum checked the 1871 Census for Ferrybridge, however, there was no sign of any of the family there at that time and she began to think she would never find them again as John Jones is such a common name. Then she got a lucky break when an index to the 1871 Census appeared and she had enough information to hand to find the family living in Penketh in Cheshire.
And that’s when she got another surprise!
Although John Jones still gave his birthplace as Ryhall in Rutland, he was then described as an excavator, which was another name for a navvie or railway builder.
John’s wife Mary gave her birthplace as Penistone, Yorkshire. This time their daughter Elizabeth was said to have been born in Rock Town, Shropshire, along with her brother Richard, however, while their two younger sisters were born at Botany, near Chorley in Lancashire and their older brother was born in Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland.
Mum knew that if she could find a birth certificate for William Jones, it would give her Mary’s maiden name – and she thought that, if that name was fairly unusual, she’d be able to get a marriage certificate for John and Mary which would give both their fathers’ names and take her back another generation.
Alas, when the birth certificate arrived, Mum found that Mary’s maiden name was Smith!!
As she’d no real idea as to where the marriage might have taken place – and John Jones and Mary Smith were amongst the most common names in England at the time – she knew she’d very little chance of finding it.
She did find Mary and her one-year-old son William living with Mary’s mother and stepfather in Cannock, Staffordshire, on the 1861 census, however, and this time Mary gave her birthplace as Wakefield, Yorkshire. Also at that address were Mary’s four sisters. One was born in Wakefield, but the others were born in Abbots Ripton in Huntingdonshire, Bellingham in Herefordshire, and Cheslyn Hey in Staffordshire.
Also on the 1861 Census Mum found Mary’s husband, John, who was lodging at a house in Astley Abbots, in Shropshire, and helping to build what we now call the Severn Valley Railway.
Mum also found Mary on the 1851 census, living in Abbots Ripton, Huntingdonshire, where her father was also helping to build a railway. But she couldn’t find John Jones anywhere at that time.
That was why, when she realised how close she was to Ryhall on her trip with Faye, she just had to go and visit the churchyard there, just in case there were any gravestones with the name Jones carved on them.
But she was out of luck and, having looked at every inscription, she and Faye got back in the car and drove back to the bed-and-breakfast in Collyweston, ready for an early night and an early start the next day.
This time she was determined to get to St Albans and from there get a train into London, so she could show Faye our capital city.
But I’ve said enough for today, so I’ll tell you all about that in my next post. Meanwhile please take care, stay safe – and look out for some more tales from me soon!
Follow my next blog:158. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER – PART FIFTY-ONE
12/08/2021
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 