Beginnings
(again)
Nicholas
Watson and Hannah Birchall; part one
When I’m researching an ancestor one of the things, I
really enjoy is finding out about the places they lived, and the events that
might have affected their lives.
Nicholas Watson, my three times great grandfather was
born in 1797 in Leith, Midlothian, Scotland. He married Margaret Oliver on
19 Jul 1818 Inveresk, Musselburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Despite much searching I have only found one mention
of a child, also called Nicholas, born 28 APR 1819 Inveresk, Midlothian,
Scotland. Musselborough had its
potteries, and it is likely that Nicholas worked in one because his occupation
on the later 1841 census was ‘potter’. Nicholas moved his small family to Burslem,
Staffordshire and it was there that Margaret died 13 May 1831, aged 32.
Nicholas married my three times great grandmother, Hannah
BIRCHELL, ten years his junior, at St. John the Baptist, Burslem, on Saturday
April 28th 1832, one week after Easter. Several other of my ancestors
married on Christmas Day, which I initially thought was quite romantic. In
reality it was more of a financial consideration because at that time this was
one of the very few days, if any, that could be taken off without losing a day’s
pay, obviously not so in this case.
He signed himself as Nichol and she with a cross. One of
the witnesses was William Birchall, who is still to be researched. The name of
the other witness is so far illegible.
Below
is an extract of talk by Mervin Edwards local historian and author who
describes Burslem and St John’s.
St John's in Burslem has a long history as a community church…It is
thought by some that the original community in Burslem was centred around the
church, in the valley below the ridge on which Burslem developed during the
Industrial Revolution. The land around the church would have been marshy and
poorly drained, but it is difficult to believe that the early church in Burslem
did not serve a community that lived or worked nearby.
The exact age of the church is uncertain, but records and
the evidence from an archaeological dig in 19991 suggest that its foundations
date to between the 12 & 14th century.
…the church
and the town centre in Burslem are like a husband and wife whose marriage has
broken down - they are together, yet apart. Nevertheless, the links between
these two sites in Burslem are indisputable. Enoch Wood (1759 - 1840) served as
churchwarden at a time when the church vestry committee wielded quite an
influence on the civil life of Burslem, whilst the importance of the church to
the town is seen in the decision to build a new "link road" in the
late 18th century. This was New Church Street, now known as William Clowes
Street. The old road to the church, Bourne's Bank, is mentioned in 1689 at
latest.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, St John's community involvement increased, with choirs, boys brigades and other groups attached to the church. It is now well and truly on the tourist trail - note the interpretative panel outside - with people wishing to visit the church that Arnold Bennett wrote about and that Reginald Haggar painted. Just for good measure, it can also boast the oldest structure still in use in the city. The tower almost certainly dates back to the 1530s, being older than Ford Green Hall (1624) by a distance. http://www.merver.co.uk/history.html
