John Smith's Family Tree Website

Jagger family

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Part 1: Joseph Jagger (1804 - 1864)

Working life and marriage to Hannah Haggas

The name ‘Jagger’ has had an association with the Halifax area since at least the late 1500s. However, it is almost impossible to trace this particular Jagger branch before the 19^th century owing to a lack of details in records.

The earliest confirmed member was Joseph Jagger (1804 - 1864) born 22 September 1804 in Northowram. His parents were Benjamin and Mary Jagger. A Benjamin Jagger (c1775 - ?) weaver and Mary Wilkinson were married 24 March 1803 in St John the Baptist Parish Church, Halifax. They were quite possibly Joseph’s parents.

Joseph married Hannah Haggas (c1810 - 1981) 16 April 1827 at St John the Baptist Parish Church. Hannah was most likely born 16 April 1810 in Northowram and her parents were probably delver James Haggas and Grace Horsfall, who had five children altogether.

For most of his life, Joseph worked in the stone quarrying industry, first labouring as a delver then later becoming a stone merchant. At one point he was listed as being a weaver, like his father, but as sandstone quarrying took off in the 19^th century in the area, Joseph was able to take advantage and do well, employing 18 men in the 1850s, as well as being a farmer of eight acres. By the turn of the 20^th century, there were said to be forty quarries in and around Northowram, Southowram, Hipperholme and Brighouse producing ‘Elland Flag’, for sandstone paving used around the United Kingdom, as well as stone walls and roof slates. [1]

Joseph and Hannah had nine children who all lived to adulthood (a rare occurance when infant mortality rates were such that a woman would lose on average one in four of her children before the age of five [2]): Mary, Benjamin, Grace, John, Joseph, James, William, Haggas and Sarah Hannah. All their sons worked in the quarry business at some point and many became stone merchants themselves.

The children who had all been born by 1837 had their births registered 30 June 1837 at the Ambler Thorn Methodist New Connection Chapel in Northowram. This was possibly done because the following day, 01 July, civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began throughout England and Wales (although it was not mandatory for parents to register births until 1875).

Joseph died 10 November 1864, aged 59, and left all his possessions, investments and real estate to his wife, valued at less than £1500 (£68,000 in today’s money). Upon her death it would be divided up between the children. He was a generous man, making separate provision for his youngest son Haggas (who seemed to have a mental incapacity) to live on the interest of £300 (worth about £13,700 today). Joseph was buried at Ambler Thorn Methodist Burial Ground, Queensbury.

Neither Joseph not Hannah were able to sign their own names when they married. Their sons appeared to have had some formal education but not their daughters. However, when Joseph died, his will stated that money would be provided for any child or grandchild to receive an education and certainly this happened for his grandchildren.

After Joseph’s death, Hannah did some dressmaking and looked after her grandchildren and was able to live off what Joseph had provided. She died 07 February 1891, aged 76, and was buried in the family plot at Ambler Thorn.

Children of Joseph and Hannah

Mary (1828 - 1903) was born 01 March 1828. It is not known what she did before her marriage but afterwards she was recorded as a worsted power loom weaver. She married stone delver Joseph Pogson Coates (1829 - ?) at St John the Baptist Parish Church, Halifax, 01 April 1850  and they lived next door to Mary's parents for a time. They had six children: Sam, Fred, Hannah, Ben, Charlotte and Mary. Joseph died between 1861 and 1871 and Mary worked as a charwoman, taking in her brother Haggas. By 1891 she was living in Clayton, near Bradford. She died in 1903, aged 75.

Benjamin (1829 - 1898) was born 12 September 1829. He worked as a stone delver and married worsted power loom weaver Mary Drake (1830 - 1897) 02 February 1852 at St John the Baptist Church, with his brother-in-law Joseph Emsley as one of the witnesses. They did not have any children and stayed living in Northowram, at one point living nextdoor to his brother William. By 1881 Benjamin had left the stone quarrying industry and was a coal dealer, then later a farmer. However he had returned to stone quarrying by the time of his death 11 November 1898, aged 67. Mary died a year earlier in 1897, aged 66. They were both buried in Ambler Thorn Methodist Burial Ground.

Grace (1831 - c1885) was born 29 January 1831. It is not known what she did before her marriage but afterwards she was recorded as a worsted weaver. She married stone delver Joseph Emsley (c1823 - 1867) at St John the Baptist Church 23 March 1851, with her brother-in-law Joseph Coates as one of the witnesses. Joseph had was a widower with two children: Hannah and James. He and Grace had six children together: Sarah Jane, John, Mary Ann, Jabez, Emma and Leah. Joseph died in 1867, aged 47. Grace later moved to Clayton and died c1885.

John (1832 - 1885) was born 02 October 1832 and worked as a stone hewer. He married dressmaker Hannah Womersley (c1835 - c1885) at St John the Baptist Parish Church 17 September 1855. (Hannah does not appear to be part of the Womersley family who have a section on this website.) John and Hannah had six children: Eugenie, Titus, Clara Jane, Anne, Lilly and George William (the two eldest died in infancy). John later became a stone merchant. Hannah died in February 1885, aged 49, and John died in September of the same year, aged 52. They were both buried in Ambler Thorn Methodist Burial Ground.

Joseph (1834 - 1890) was born 02 October 1834 and worked as a stone hewer and delver. He married Betsy Abbott (c1835 - 1901) at St John the Baptist Parish Church 03 July 1854 and they were both able to sign their names. They had eight children: Sarah Hannah, Emm Jane, Frank, Lilian, Oscar, Jura, Allott Eddlebert and Kaye. Joseph later became a quarryman and then a stone merchant and farmer of 16 acres. He died 29 September 1890, aged 56. Betsy then took over from Joseph, declaring herself a 'stone merchant' in the 1891 census. She died 14 May 1901, aged 66. They were both buried in Ambler Thorn Methodist Burial Ground.

James (1836 - ?) was born 04 September 1836 and worked as a stone hewer and quarryman. He died sometime after 1871.

William (c1839 - 1895) was born c1839 and unlike his older siblings, there is no record of his baptism. He worked as a stone hewer and delver and married Mary Ann Whiteley (c1838 - 1890) at St John the Baptist Parish Church 25 March 1860. One of the witnesses was William's brother-in-law Sidney Smith. Mary Ann was unable to sign her name, unlike William. They had ten children: Sidney (who died in infancy), Hannah, twins Henry (known as 'Harry') and Joe who both died aged 5 months, Lauretta, Maria, Azuba, Harry, Joe and Mary Ann. William worked as a stone quarryman. Mary Ann died in 1890, aged 48, and William died in 1895, aged 56. They were both buried in Ambler Thorn Methodist Burial Ground.

Haggas (1841 - 1893) was born in 1841. At age 10 he was working as an errand boy and listed as the adopted son of Thomas and Ann Bentley, Round Hill, Northowram. It is not known why this was arranged but in subsequent census records he lived with his birth parents or siblings. In the 1871 census, he was listed as an ‘imbecile’ (a term which denoted someone with the mental age of an infant). [3] This may have been a condition since birth or perhaps caused by an accident years later. This incapacity was never mentioned again on any other census records. He worked as a 'jobber' at the Top o' th' Hill Delph quarry and later became a general labourer. He died in 1893, aged 52, and was buried in Ambler Thorn Methodist Burial Ground like his parents and most of his siblings.

More information about Sarah Hannah (1842 - 1904) appears in Part 2.

Next: Sarah Hannah Jagger

Footnotes

[1] ‘Child and Infant Mortality’ by Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie and Bernadeta Dadonaite, 2013 (https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality#child-mortality-from-the-parents-perspective)
[2] ‘Strategic Stone Study: A Building Stone Atlas of West and South Yorkshire’ by English Heritage (2012) (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=2509)
[3] ‘Morons, Imbeciles and Idiots’ by Campbell M Gold (2011), (www.campbellmgold.com/archive_esoteric/morons_imbeciles_idiots.pdf)