John Smith's Family Tree Website

Mitchell family

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Part 2: Thomas Mitchell Jr (? - ?)

Almost nothing is known of Thomas Mitchell Jr. His name appeared on the marriage record as the father of James Bentley Mitchell, the grandson of Thomas and Elizabeth Mitchell, and he was described as a ‘silk draper’. On the marriage record of William Mitchell (who also lived with Thomas and Elizabeth Mitchell for a time and was most probably another grandson), his father was Thomas Mitchell, dresser. It is quite likely that they were both sons of Thomas Mitchell Jr, though there are no plausible baptism records that confirm their parents. Given that many male descendants within the family carried a middle name that was their mother’s maiden name, it is quite possible that this was the origin of James’ middle name ‘Bentley’. However, there is no plausible marriage record for a Mitchell and a Bentley to confirm this.

Children of Thomas

William (c1819 - 1882) listed his birth place in census records as Marsden, Lancashire, but it may refer to Marsden, near Huddersfield (Yorkshire) or Little Marsden or Great Marsden villages which are now part of Nelson (Lancashire). William worked as a dyer all his life (sometimes recorded as a ‘sinjer’ in census records) and was probably brought up by his Mitchell grandparents. Living next to the Mitchell family were the Denton family and William and Ann Denton (c1821 - 1895) had a relationship which resulted in her becoming pregnant out of wedlock. It was common enough at the time for a young couple to go ‘courting’, the girl to become pregnant and marry a few months before the birth. For many women, they were able to marry the father of their child but a few had to remain single mothers – perhaps because the father could not be prevailed on to marry (even with threats) or had departed the scene.

William and Ann married 04 April 1841 at St John the Baptist Parish Church, Halifax. Ann worked as a burler (inspecting the quality of clothing). Neither could sign their name when they married. Their first child, Susannah (1841 - 1873) was probably born within a couple of months of their marriage as she was baptised in early June. They had six more children: Harriet (c1844 - 1845), Lydia Ann (c1846 - ?), Emily (1848 - 1863), Elizabeth (c1850 - 1893), Harriet (1852 - 1891) and George Denton (1853 - 1879). William died in 1882 and was buried 24 December in Christ Church, Mount Pellon, Halifax. Ann looked after four orphaned grandchildren until her death in 1895. She was buried 13 March in Christ Church in an unmarked grave.

More information about James Bentley (c1824 - 1896) appears in Part 3.

Next: James Bentley Mitchell

Footnotes