Hannah Holsworth and my other Holsworth ancestors

Hannah Holsworth (1791-1879).
My 4th great-grandmother.

Holsworth is a fairly common surname in Norfolk. Hannah, my 4th great-grandmother, came from the village of Salhouse and was the first by this name to join my family tree. She was born on 12 January 1791 to Thomas Holsworth and Ann Parfrey (see below) and was baptised in the village four days later.

She married Robert Rose on 9 April 1810 at St Martin at Oak Church in Norwich, Norfolk. He had been baptised at St Fabian & St Sebastian Church in Woodbastwick – a village just up the road from Salhouse – on 8 August 1790. They brought up their family in Salhouse, where he was listed as a husbandman or tenant farmer in various records, but he died in 1843 after being crushed by a horse.

Hannah then married shepherd Robert Harmer on 13 January 1845 at Holy Trinity Church in Rackheath, Norfolk. He died in 1854, Hannah in 1879.

Read more about Hannah and her life with Robert Rose and Robert Harmer, as well as her children, on the Rose family page.

---

Thomas Holsworth (1762-1837) and Ann Parfrey (1764-1841).
My 5th great-grandparents.

Thomas came from Horsham St Faith, a village just north of Norwich in Norfolk. He was baptised there on 17 January 1762 to parents Thomas Holsworth and Elizabeth Larwood (see below).

He married Ann Parfrey or Parfree on 4 March 1783 at St Peter’s in Ringland, Norfolk, about six miles to the west of Thomas’s home village. She was baptised on 29 July 1764 in nearby Taverham, her parents being Robert and Sarah Parfrey.

They settled in Salhouse and raised a large family but I’ve yet to find out what Thomas did for a living. Many of his offspring were bricklayers, so were they following him in the trade?

Thomas died in 1837 and was buried at All Saints’ Church on 25 May. Ann was buried there on 16 June 1841.

Thomas and Ann’s children were:

• Robert Holsworth (1785-1849), my 4th great-grand uncle. Robert was baptised on 3 April 1785 at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk, and married Elizabeth Spink there on 24 December 1804. Her parents were Daniel and Sarah Spink, who had their daughter baptised on 8 February 1787 at All Saints’ in Earsham, Norfolk, a village near Bungay. The couple settled in Earsham and had children, while Robert worked as a bricklayer. He died on 13 May 1849 and was buried in Earsham on the 16th. In his will, signed just two days before his death, he left all his money, household furniture, live and dead stock, goods and chattels to his wife. She remained in the village and the 1851 census listed her as a baker. She died intestate on 1 July 1856, leaving effects valued at under £50, and was buried on 8 July. Their children were sometimes recorded as ‘Halesworth’:
  • Robert Holsworth (1805-1809).
  • Robert Holsworth (1810-1890) was baptised in Earsham and married Mary Bull there in 1831 but she died in 1851. He then married Charlotte Mayhew Spatchet in Norwich in 1852 and had children with her. Initially he worked as a bricklayer and agricultural labourer but later census records described him as a farmer and builder employing several men. After the 1881 census Robert and Charlotte emigrated to the United States with other members of their family. They were recorded in Lancaster, Nevada, in 1885 but Robert died in San Francisco in 1890, California. Charlotte died in California in 1889.
  • Sarah Ann Holsworth (1812-1812).
  • Eliza Holsworth (1813-1863) was baptised in Earsham and married bricklayer Charles Rope there in 1840. They had a large family and he became the innkeeper of the Duke’s Head in Earsham as well as a builder. After Eliza died, Charles remarried. He died in 1902.
• James Holsworth (1789-1839), my 4th great-grand uncle. James was born on 29 January and baptised on 15 February 1789 at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk. He married Sophia Ann Fenn at St Marylebone’s Church in Marylebone, Middlesex, on 2 September 1810. She’d been baptised there on 13 October 1789 to parents John and Elizabeth Fenn. They returned to Salhouse and raised a family while James worked as a bricklayer. James was buried on 19 July 1839 in Salhouse. Sophia was buried in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on 25 September 1859. Their children, who’ve been difficult to trace, were:
  • Elizabeth Holsworth (1811-????) was baptised in Marylebone.
  • John Thomas Holsworth (1813-????) was baptised in Salhouse.
  • Mary Ann Holsworth (1817-????) was baptised in Salhouse.
  • Sarah Holsworth (1818-????) was baptised in Salhouse.
  • James Holsworth (1820-????) was baptised in Salhouse.
• Hannah Holsworth (1791-1879), my 4th great-grandmother. She married into the Rose family.
• Mary Ann Holsworth (1793-1794), my 4th great-grand aunt. Mary Ann was born on 3 April and baptised on 28 April 1793 at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk, and was buried on 15 July 1794.
• Mary Holsworth (1795-????), my 4th great-grand aunt. Mary was born on 27 April and baptised on 3 May 1795 at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk. There were several girls by this name born around the same time in the area, making it difficult to track Mary’s life.
• Sarah Holsworth (1797-1797), my 4th great-grand aunt. Sarah was born on 25 March, baptised on 2 April and buried on 17 December 1797 at at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk.
• Thomas Holsworth (1798-1801), my 4th great-grand uncle. Thomas was born on 21 October and baptised on the 28th at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk. He was buried on 15 February 1801.
• Ann Holsworth (1800-1833), my 4th great-grand aunt. Ann was born on 19 October and baptised on the 26th at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk, and married Samuel John Joseph Standfast there on 20 September 1824. He was a ropemaker who’d been baptised on 9 September 1802 at St Leonard’s in Shoreditch, Middlesex, to parents John and Susannah. They had at least one child in Middlesex but Ann died young and was buried at St Mary’s in Haggerston on 20 October 1833. Samuel remarried, died in 1863 and was buried on 21 May 1863 in Hackney, Middlesex.
  • Sarah Ann Standfast (1829-1831).
• Thomas Parfrey Holsworth (1802-????), my 4th great-grand uncle. Thomas was born on 1 October and baptised on the 3rd at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk. It’s possible that he followed his older sister Ann to London as he married Ann Rushbrook at St Leonard’s in Shoreditch on 5 October 1824. Her ancestry is unclear but she may have been a Salhouse native too, born in 1804. The couple had a family and many of their children were baptised in Salhouse, suggesting they initially settled there. Thomas worked as a bricklayer like many in his family and a counterpart draft lease for property in Salhouse dated 1834 probably refers to him, as well as his younger brother Joseph. The parties included William Hawes of Norwich, Thomas Holsworth the younger of Salhouse and Joseph Holsworth of Salhouse, bricklayers. The lease was for 14 years at £18 per annum and referred to three cottages, tenements, a barn, stables and other buildings and several acres of land. It appears, though, that Thomas ended up back in Shoreditch as the 1841 census showed the family within the parish. However, Ann died in 1842 and was buried on 1 January 1843 in Haggerston, Middlesex. The 1851 census showed Thomas and his family in Shoreditch but with a new bride by the name of Ann, whose age was given as 28 and was said to be from Foxhall in Suffolk. I haven’t found their marriage or a death record for either of them that I’m confident about but a Thomas Holsworth’s death was registered in the area in 1854. Thomas’s children with his first wife were:
  • Mary Ann Holsworth (1825-????) was baptised in Salhouse.
  • Elizabeth Holsworth (1826-1829) was baptised and buried in Salhouse.
  • Robert Holsworth (1828-1879) was baptised in Salhouse and married Elizabeth Baldwin in Bethnal Green, Middlesex, in 1852. They had children and he worked as a bricklayer while living in East London and Essex. His address at death was given as 1 Union Street, Hackney.
  • Sarah Holsworth (1830-1903) was baptised in Salhouse and married labourer Alfred Fowler in Middlesex in 1851. By the 1871 census she was a widow and living with a cousin and widower called James John Cornell in Roydon, Essex. He was a gamekeeper from Beckenham in Kent and they eventually married in Bethnal Green in 1875. He died in 1896.
  • Jane Elizabeth Holsworth (1839-1882) was born after her parents had moved to Shoreditch. She married umbrella maker Thomas Samuel Bignold in Bethnal Green, Middlesex, in 1861 and had children. They remained in the city but Thomas died in 1880, Jane just two years later.
• Joseph Holsworth (1804-1851), my 4th great-grand uncle. Joseph was baptised on 6 January 1805 at All Saints’ in Salhouse, Norfolk. He married Hannah Bullimore there on 11 June 1832. She, however, was from Great Yarmouth where she was born on 25 February 1807 to parents John and Mary. The couple had a large family in Salhouse and Josepth worked as a bricklayer. A counterpart draft lease for property in the village dated 1834 and mentioned above with his brother Thomas probably refers to him. The parties included William Hawes of Norwich, Thomas Holsworth the younger of Salhouse and Joseph Holsworth of Salhouse, bricklayers. The lease was for 14 years at £18 per annum and referred to three cottages, tenements, a barn, stables and other buildings and several acres of land. Joseph became landlord of the Bell pub in Salhouse at some point in the 1840s as he was described as such in the Norfolk News of 31 July 1847 but he died intestate on 2 August 1850 and was buried on 7 August in Salhouse. A grant of administration dated 5 March 1851 recorded that Joseph’s wife along with Christmas Goulder of Rackheath, a farming bailiff, and publican Thomas Howell of Norwich were bound in the sum of £200 to administer the estate. His goods were valued at under £200. Hannah took over as landlord of the Bell and was listed as an innkeeper until the 1871 census. By 1881 she was lodging with her daughter Mary Ann at the home of a master baker in Grove Lane, Camberwell, in what’s now South London, and living off money invested in funds. She died in 1882. Joseph and Hannah’s children were:
  • Mary Ann Holsworth (1833-????) was baptised in Salhouse and married draper and widower John Wade Moses in Islington, Middlesex, in 1859. They lived in Pentonville, Middlesex, but he died in 1866. She went on to work as a millinery saleswoman.
  • Hannah Holsworth (1834-1895) was born and died in Salhouse. She married labourer John Powles there in 1872 and had children. John lived until 1917.
  • Sarah Holsworth (1836-1853) was baptised in Salhouse and working as a child’s nurse in Norwich in 1851 but died just two years later.
  • Charlotte Holsworth (1838-1842) was baptised and buried in Salhouse.
  • John Holsworth (1840-1841) was baptised and buried in Salhouse.
  • Louisa Holsworth (1842-1878) was baptised in Salhouse and married jeweller William Henry Wells in Clerkenwell in 1863. He came from Somerset and the couple settled there, raising their children. The 1871 census listed them in Frome, where she was buried in 1878. After her death William settled in Hammersmith and worked as a travelling salesman for a brewery. He died in 1916.
  • Emma Holsworth (1844-1886) was baptised in Salhouse and married Thomas Foster in Penge, Surrey, in 1866. He came from Hastings in Sussex and the couple settled there, he working as a clerk and a tobacconist. They had children but Emma died young.
  • Ellen Holsworth (1849-1925) was baptised in Salhouse and married labourer and navvy Henry Lambert there in 1873. They moved to East Ham in Essex and raised a family. He died in 1902.

---

Thomas Holsworth (c1739-????) and Elizabeth Larwood (1738-1787).
My 6th great-grandparents.

Thomas Holsworth’s origins are unclear but he married Elizabeth Larwood on 5 January 1759 at Horsham St Faith in Norfolk. His bride was Elizabeth Larwood, who was baptised in the village on 14 May 1738 to parents Thomas and Sarah Larwood.

The couple remained in the village, raising a family. An apprenticeship document dated 12 November 1772 listed Thomas Holsworth as a carpenter, the master of apprentice John Dunn. Elizabeth died on 21 May 1787. The notes on the parish register referred to her as a pauper who’d died of a ‘decline’ (!).

Their children were:

• Thomas Holsworth (1762-1837), my 5th great-grandfather. See his details above.
• James Holsworth (1764-????), my 5th great-grand uncle. James was baptised on 5 February 1764 at Horsham St Faith in Norfolk. It’s possible he was buried in the village on 21 December 1781 but no age or family members were mentioned in the burial record.
• John Holsworth (1765-1765), my 5th great-grand uncle. John was baptised on 15 September 1765 at Horsham St Faith in Norfolk and buried there on 8 December that year.
• John Holsworth (1767-????), my 5th great-grand uncle. John was baptised on 4 January 1767 at Horsham St Faith in Norfolk. He may have married Susannah Moon in Salhouse in 1792 but several men by this name were living in the area at the time.
• Elizabeth Holsworth (1769-1853), my 5th great-grand aunt. Elizabeth was baptised on 19 March 1769 at Horsham St Faith in Norfolk and married William Haynes / Haines there on 9 January 1792. He came from the village of Cawston, a few miles north, where he was baptised on 11 June 1769 to parents William and Mary (their surnames were spelled Hanse). They had several children in Horsham and then in Salhouse. The 1841 and 1851 census records listed the couple in Horsford, a short distance from Horsham, and described William as an agricultural labourer. By 1851 they were also said to be paupers. The couple died in 1858 and were buried on the same day, 19 December, at Wroxham – where their oldest son had been living for many years. Their children were:
  • William Haines (1792-????) who was baptised in Horsham St Faith. He married Sophia Riches in Salhouse in 1815 and worked as an agricultural labourer. They raised a family and lived in such villages as Felthorpe and Wroxham. I’ve yet to find a death record for him.
  • Thomas Haines (1795-????) who was baptised in Horsham St Faith. It’s possible he was the man who married Sarah Whitewood there in 1816.
  • John Haines (1798-1870) was baptised in Salhouse. It’s possible that he married Mary Green at St Helen’s in Norwich in 1818 but she died and he then married Sophia Slipper in 1840. Census records describe him as a carter, agricultural labourer and gardener over the years, while the family lived in such villages as Horsham St Faith and Heigham. He was buried in Horsham following his death in 1870 but said at the time to have been a Norwich resident.
  • Rhoda Haines (1801-1819) was baptised in Salhouse and buried a few miles away in Horsford, Norfolk.
  • Robert Haines (1804-1856) was baptised in Salhouse. It’s likely that he married Martha Lubbock in Heigham in 1826 but she died the following year and he then married Elizabeth Hallows in Norwich in 1828. He, his wife and children lived in Norwich, where he worked as a draper and then a dyer’s labourer. He died in the city but was buried in Horsford.

• Ann Holsworth (1771-????), my 5th great-grand aunt. Elizabeth was baptised on 24 March 1771 at Horsham St Faith in Norfolk. It’s possible she married a William Darken or Darkin in Norwich in 1802 but proof is hard to come by.
• Mary Holsworth (1772-1772), my 5th great-grand aunt. Mary was baptised on 2 October 1772 at Horsham St Faith and buried some weeks later in December (the record is badly damaged).
• William Holsworth (1773-1773), my 5th great-grand uncle. William was baptised on 18 August 1773 at Horsham St Faith and buried just days later on the 22nd.

Sources: BMDS and census records at Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk. Norfolk Archives for lease document: HNR 750/3. NCC and DCN admons 1819-1857, NCC administration bonds 1851 no. 11, NCC administration bonds 1857-1858 no. 10, NCC will register Womack 614, NCC and DCN admons 1819-1857 NCC administration bonds 1851 no. 11. Robert Holsworth death, March 30, 1890 San Francisco Chronicle. Norfolk Pubs website.