B19 - John Walker & Family, 1689

see cht. 6-0

John Walker was born in 1689 in Cleckheaton, Birstall Parish, Yorkshire, England, the first child of Joshua (1657) and Jane (born Overin) Walker. He was baptised on 25 February. 1689 at the Church of St. Peter, Birstall by Thomas Hepworth the Vicar of St. Peter from 1681 to 1701. John was, therefore, not a Quaker at the time of his birth.

Below is a true copy of the “Baptism Records” from St. Peters Parish Church of Birstall, of John Walker, in 1689. The bottom line reads:- “John son of Joshua Walker of Heatton, the 25 day”.

On 12 (11) Jan. 1714 John married Sarah Chappell at the Quaker Meeting House in the Township of Rastrick, Yorkshire. According to the Brighouse Monthly Meeting Minute Book Sarah was born on 1 Jan. 1692, the daughter of Richard and Mary (born Preston) Chappell of Toothill, Yorkshire. According to their Marriage Certificate John was a Clothier of Staincliffe in the Parish of Batley and Sarah was of Bradley in the Parish of Huddersfield, both in the County of York. The following is a true copy from the original Brighouse Monthly Meeting Minute Book, of Sarah’s birth date, located in the Public Record Office in London, England.

Further information obtained from the actual Minute Book of Brighouse Monthly Meetings concerning John and Sarah’s marriage is as follows:-

Monthly Meeting of 26-9-1714; John Walker and Sarah Chappell publishing their intentions of marriage with each other and being brought to this meeting, signifying an account of his intentions, and an account being given of his orderly proceedings, this Meeting appoints Wm. Preston and Joseph autee to enquire into his clearness and give account to the next Monthly Meeting.

Monthly Meeting of 24-10-1714 John Walker and Sarah Chappell a 2nd time publishing their intentions of marriage with each other and an account being given by Joseph Autee of his clearness from all others, account being given by the women of her clearness, Joseph Autee and John Yates are appointed to see ye decent accomplishment thereof and give an account thereof to the next Monthly Meeting.

Monthly Meeting of 21-11-1714

Joseph Autee gave account of the decent accomplishment of the marriage of John Walker and Sarah Chappell.

As John was married in a Quaker Meeting House it can safely be assumed that he became a Quaker sometime prior to his marriage. It would appear that John’s parents were both deceased at the time of his marriage as they have not signed the marriage certificate John and Sarah had 9 children, all born in Batley Parish;

William b. 25-8-1715 died

Robert b. 17-1-1717 died 24-9-1785

Hannah b. 9-8-1718 died

Mary b. 22-2-1720 died

Elizabeth b. 31-6-1723 died 4-3-1895

Ruth b. 21-2-1725 died 26-12-1732

Sarah b. 20-5-1727 died

Ruth b. 28-12-1732 died

Judith b. 11-9-1733 died

Though William Walker’s exact date of death is unknown we do know that he was still living in 1742 when he signed the “Obligation Document” of his father’s Probate papers, which stated that he was a butcher, and, he was still living in 1753 as he signed his brother Robert’s marriage certificate on 31 Oct. of that year.

The first Ruth, born 1725, died at Batley and was buried in the Quaker Burial Ground at Liversedge, Yorkshire. It was not uncommon, in those days, to give a new born child the same name as one who had recently died, thus the 2nd Ruth born just 2 days after the first one died.

See separate biographies for Robert (Biog.24), and Judith (Biog.25). Nothing more is known of the remaining children at this time.

As early as Sept. 1715 there are entries in what were known as “The Books of Sufferings” of Brighouse Monthly Meeting of John Walker being forced to pay Tythes. Tythe payments were in the form of a tenth part of personal income or profit, or of agricultural or other produce, either voluntarily or as a tax, to support the Church of England. As Quakers refused to pay tythe, someone appointed by the Church, would sequestrate produce from the premises in lieu of payment, often equal to more in value than the actual amount levied. Following are a few of the 14 entries in the “Book of Suffering” from 1715 to 1740 which show what the “Tythe Farmer” of Batley Parish confiscated from John Walker:-

7mo.1715

John Walker of the Parish of Batley had oats taken in the 7th month by

Marmaduke Shepley, tythe farmer or his servants.

...............................

10sh:6d

7 mo 1717

From John Walker of Batley by Marmaduke Shepley, tythe farmer of Batley

in the 7th month Barley, Oats Pease and Beans worth.

...............................

£1:15:0

10th mo 1722

Demand from John Walker of Batley by Thomas Rhodes (vicar of Birstall

parish church) 7sh:8. and 2sh:0 charges taken by Joshua Brook (constable)

and John Taylor (church warden), malt worth

...............................

9sh:10d.

7 mo 1740

John Walker of Batley by the sevants of Jeremy Shepely, tythe farmer

Oats.

...............................

9sh:0.

Following John's death in 1742 payments were taken from his wife Sarah and also from her son Robert. Robert at this date was married to Hannah Firth.

7 mo. 1747

Sarah Walker of Batley by Joseph Watson tythe farmer Wheat, oats and pease.

...............................

16sh:0d.

From this it would appear that John leased land in Staincliffe, near Staincliffe Common and Chapel Fold from Marmaduke Shepley the “Tythe Farmer” of that area, See maps of 1750 and 1847 where he (John) grew wheat, oats, barley, beans and peas.

John Walker of Staincliffe in Batley Parish died on 28 Dec. 1742 at age 53. He was interred in the Quaker Burial Ground at Liversedge. Following John’s demise his wife, Sarah, remained at Staincliffe with her son, Robert, and the other children that were still at home. In 1753 she moved with Robert and his family to Sunnybank in Batley, and in 1757 to Driglington, in Birstall Parish. In late 1772 or early 1773 the family moved yet again, this time to a small cottage in a field adjacent to the Quaker School in Gildersome. It is thought that the reason for Robert’s move to this location was so that his mother could escape the claws of the Tythe collector as he was, at that time, planning a journey to America. Sarah Chappell, died at Gildersome on 29 Apr. 1776 at age 83. She was buried at the Friends Burial Ground at Gildersome Meeting House.

Though John died intestate his Probate Documents were found at the Borthwick Institute in the city of York. The Document of Obligation is dated 3 Jan. 1742 and states that John died on 28 Dec. 1742. At first sight it would appear that someone made a mistakes in dates, until one remembers that prior to 1752 the calendar year in England and Wales began on Lady Day, March 25th. For Quakers, who eschewed the pagan names of days and months, March was the “first month” of the year and February the “12th month”. Thus December was the 10th month and came before January, which was the 11th month of the same year.

A part of the Probate Documents consists of a Schedule of the Goods and Chattels of John Walker.

From this inventory of John’s possessions, and information from the “Publication of Rural Houses of West Yorkshire”, we can ascertain with some degree of accuracy what type of house he lived in and where he stood on the social scale. There is not much doubt that he was of Yeoman status. Not only that but he was a yeoman of dual occupation, which is to say that he was both a farmer and a clothier.

The benefits of this are as stated in “Rural Houses” :-

“The yeoman practicing a system of dual occupation could ride out a depression in textiles by falling back on farming, and survive an agricultural depression through concentration on trade”.

From the inventory it appears that John was much more involved in the clothier trade than he was in farming. From the size of John’s probate inventory, £21-1-1, it would appear from the chart in Chapter 2 of "Rural Houses" that he was at about the middle of the Yeoman Class.

Again, as stated in Rural Houses, the most important source of what the Yeoman required in his dwelling, in terms of elaboration and decoration, are the houses themselves. It can be seen from John’s Probate that his house contained a Housebody. Originally the Housebody was an all-purpose room which was open to the roof, but in John’s time by far the majority were single-storeyed with a chamber over it. The floored-over housebody was adopted by the bulk of the yeomanry after 1600. To quote

“The principal requirement for most yeomen was a housebody which could most easily act as a comfortable living and working area. Considerations of display were of small importance to these men, who had little need to maintain themselves in the style of more dignified yeomen. Consequently, the open housebody, a room designed to impress, had no value, and was both a wasteful extravagance and a room unsuited to everyday living”.

This principal would certainly apply to Quakers. John’s inventory reveals his housebody as an all-purpose room for cooking, sitting and dining as it contained a range, a clock, a table and nine chairs etc. and would, I think, be of the floored-over type.

The main Parlour was probably off the Housebody at the front of the house and was, it would appear, a fairly large room as it contained a range, 2 beds, a chest and a chest of drawers. The little parlour was likely located at the rear of the main parlour and contained just one bed, but very possibly was also used for storing some of the husslements (odds & ends) of the house. Though we cannot be sure, it is likely that the shop was part of the house with the shop chamber over it. Considering the size of John’s family the shop chamber, which contained a bed, was probably used as a bedroom and for storing wool, copar and other items. Again to quote from Rural Houses “the shop often had a shop chamber over it” . This is borne out as the Chamber on John’s inventory appears to be listed as part of the shop.

It would appear from the items of woven wool at Blads and Davensens that John also contracted work out to accommodate the overload of work he had. In looking at the entire operation it would seem that perhaps the value of John’s estate may well have been underestimated by the appraisers, Wm. Walker (his son) and Mr. Barker, possibly for tax purposes. However this apparent under evaluation may also be the result, in part, of not including such items as a spinning wheel or “farm yard” buildings and animals (geese & ducks etc.) which were considered to be the property of the farmer’s wife.

Note:- All dates prior to 1752 are old calandar dates.

Associated records;- Lk-1-pg-2; pg-2 & 3.

Sources:-Friends Digests at Brotherton Lib. Leeds University. Eng.

:-Society of Friends Library, London, Eng

:-Rural Houses of West Yorkshire

:-Borthwick Institute, York University, York, Eng.

By:- R.B. Walker , Eng & H.L.Walker, Can.

Rev:- 22 July, 2005.