Finding Ancestors on Tithe Rolls & Plots

Thanks to Twitter frind

@Dave_Lifelines and his explanation of Tithe rolls & maps I've been plotting my ancestors! 

Currently I am working on my Higginson and Bell ancestors in Cheshire England. 

I've begun to notate the map for Elizabeth Higginson in red. Elizabeth had 24 plots in Lower Peover so it's taking me a long time. 

I have not yet plotted my Bell ancestors but one that I found is William Bell. His plot 157 is outlined in blue below.

 

I also took a peek at the Google street view of what is there now! Below is the Google street view of William Bell on Plot 157 Hulme Lane in Nether Peover.

Dave's explanation is at The Joy of Tithes and should not be overlooked if you have UK ancestors. 

It took me awhile, even with Dave's excellent walk-through, to understand how the Cheshire website worked. But once I played with it a bit, I got the hang of it and now I am super excited to try to find all my Cheshire ancestors.

My Surname Christmas Tree

Here's my yearly surname Christmas Tree. It's the only one I'm doing this year.

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Dawson, Motteram, Wildbore, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman, Van Horn, Snediker, Post, Shuart, Uziele, and more.

My Christmas Tree 2016

Merry Christmas everyone! I put up my Christmas Tree today!

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman  Post, Shuart, Uziele and more.

Meme: Immigrant Ancestor Frances Holford Higginson

Frances Holford Higginson was born 28 May 1769 in Lower Peover, Cheshire England along with her twin sister Sarah Holford. Not much is know about Frances' life - her parents  John Holford and Ann Harrison were from Devanham Cheshire but settled in Lower Poever shortly after their marriage. In 1787 at the age of 18, young Frances married Thomas Higginson, a tax collector and wheelwright in Lower Peover. Over the next 15 years the couple had 8 children born in the town. 

 

I really like that both Thomas and Frances could write their names. For a woman that was fairly rare in the 1780s so it appears Frances had some basic education. It is not known exactly what happened to the family but some misfortune did fall on them - the loss of the family's home in 1805. An impoverished Thomas, deep in debt, signed over his land and effects before July that year. The couple had 8 children to care for, the youngest only 3 years old. 

Sometime between 1805 and 1831 Thomas died. In December that year Frances, a widow, set sail for New York with her daughter Elizabeth (Betty) Bell and Betty's children Ann, Phoebe, Mary, Peter & Joseph. They were meeting Betty's husband Peter Bell who had previously settled in New York.

Peter and Elizabeth and their children as well as Elizabeth's brother John Higginson eventually left New York for the wilderness of a new settlement in Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). Peter filed a petition for land in 1839 explaining that he wasn't happy living in New York and desired land in Arkell Ontario.  But what happened to Frances?

She was 62 years old when she left her homeland for America. Did she die there? Or did she travel with the Bell family to Upper Canada and die there? The records are sparse for Upper Canada in that time period and her death remains a mystery.  It must have been difficult for Frances - and I suspect she never saw her other children again after 1831. Her daughter Sarah remained behind in England until June 1841 when she too left for America, settling in Illinois with her husband Aaron Richardson. Poor Sarah died in Illinois that August.

What challenging lives our ancestors lived! I cannot imagine leaving my children and grandchildren behind and venturing off to an unknown land at 62 years of age. I am glad though that Frances was with her daughter Elizabeth and some of her grandchildren.  I hope that was some comfort to her.

Happy Birthday to my 3rd great-grandmother Elizabeth (Betty) Higginson

Happy Birthday to my 3rd great-grandmother Elizabeth (Betty) Higginson.

Betty was born 09 Jan 1788 in Lower Peover, Cheshire England. She married Peter Bell on 08 Oct 1809 in Lower Peover, and had several children before sailing to New York on board the ship Charles Joseph in December 1831. With Betty were her mother Frances Higginson and children Ann, Phoebe, Mary, Peter & Joseph. Little Joseph, the youngest, was 10.

Once in New York Betty and her headed to Sullivan County to join her husband Peter. In 1839 Peter and his family left New York and made their way to the wilds of Arkell, Wellington County Ontario where Peter purchased a farm consisting of 80 acres. The family settled there in December that same year. What a Christmas they must have had!

On 18 Sep 1855 Betty died and is buried in Farnham Cemetery, Arkell Ontario

Her tombstone reads

In Memory of Elizabeth wife of Peter Bell who died Sept. 18,1855

According to the "Annals of Puslinch", On October 11th, 1830 a small group of Englishmen among whose names were John and Thomas Arkell, T. W. Stone, John Oulton, John and James Carter, Chas. Willoughby, Peter Bell and Henry Haines, left England on a sailing vessel which took 14 weeks to reach New York. In the spring they wended their way on foot to their destination which became known as the settlement of Farnham, so named after their home town in England. The village was called Arkell and named in honour of one of the group.