Thomas Chester Apprentice Cordwainer to William Skenton (or Skelton), Wem

[macw]

I am trying to find out more about Thomes Chester (c.1742) who was probably first recorded as having completed an Shoe Apprenticeship under William Skenton (or Skelton) at Wem, Shropshire (Salop), England in 1759.
He went on to be a Cordwainer in Grinshill, Shropshire (Salop), England, where he was also the Church Clerk.
We have not been able to relaibly locate his birth, baptism or parents, his birth date comes from his gravestone.
If anyone has further information about Thomas, or William Skelton or Shoe or Cordwainers in Wem of this period I would be very interested.

[horse000]

Hi

Not sure if this is of any interest:

28 Dec 1745 Thomas Chester and Mary Parry, both of Wem, mar. (The only entry of either of your names in the PR).

Cordwainers in Wem PR:
12 Nov 1799 John Weever, cordwainer, perished at Holbrook, bur.
22 Jan 1757 John Hornes, cordwainer, & Elizabeth Cook, mar. (Wem).

Geoff

[macw]

Thanks Geoff,

I've added the information to my mapping out cordwainers and chesters of the area project, juet in case something comes up. Although Thomas and Mary Parry appear to be a little late for the marriage it's witin bounds of error and it looks like they moved from Wem before having any children. There is a possibility that he was born at Acton Reynolds, but I understand that the church records were lost when the village was moved by the local gentry. There is alos the possibility that he was the illegitamate son of a member of the gentry as he could read and write and rented a property on the Acton Reynolds estate.

macw

[horse000]

Hi

Still having prob's with Thomas' early years and his marriage...

However, the following may or may not be of interest:

Grinshill PR
7 May 1775 George s. of Thomas and Mary Chester, bap.

10 Feb 1799 Mary d. of *George & Sarah Chester, bap. (This *George maybe Thom. son)
30 Nov 1800 Anne d. of George & Sarah Chester, bap.
17 July 1802 Edward s. of George & Sarah Chester, bap.
15 Jan 1804 Esther d. of George & Sarah Chester, bap**
13 Feb 1804 Esther Chester, bur. **(Sadly)
20 Feb 1805 Thomas s. of George & Sarah Chester, bap.
27 Sep 1807 Jane d. of George & Sarah Chester, bap.
11 July 1810 George s. of George & Sarah Chester, bap.

A Thomas & George Chester have been witnesses at numerous marriages (especially Thomas, which may or may not suggest his involvement with the church, i.e. as a Clerk or Warden).

Geoff

[macw]

Thank you again Geoff,

Thomas is a bit a a problem in that we have a large amount of information on his life, as you pointed out he is often a witness (in his role as church clerk) and also appears in the estate records (presumably due to his role as Church Clerk and also on the "local coucnil",his being literate being a big advantage in this respect). However despite all this information there is no mention of his parents and suitably aged Thomas's baptised in the area have proved to be not him.

He married late to a Mary Griffiths in Petton and did indeed have George as his son. George was again the Church Clerk and a cordwainer and we have several references to him and we have traced all his offspring to current generations except Jane Chester (c.1807) who we can't find a marriage record for (IGI and SFHS marriage CD) and have two options for her death in Shrewsbury St. Mary. We need to check the street names of the deaths and see if another member of the family was also living in that street about the same time.

Is your Baptism information from a CD as we are looking for a good CD to extend beyond the coverage of the IGI and also have ancillary information on it such as witnesses etc for oher members of the family in Shropshire. If you can recommend a CD we would be interested.



There is a large CHester family in Clive near Grinshill and as a last resort we are also looking for members of thier current generations to see a a DNA test sheds any light.

macw

[horse000]

Hi

Yeah, I concur, an elusive type is Thomas...

Had a quick look through the Clive PR, not dissimilar in results to previous look-ups..

Something will turn up that will click, hopefully...

I wouldn't recommend software, I think this is a specialist area, perhaps talk to the moderator for advice. I do have access to some PR's but would prefer to look-up and quote from that source than recommend. There are some parts of Shropshire that are not too well transcribed as I have found out with my research.

Geoff

[Melleh01]

Hello,

I do not have anything to add other than I am a 9th generation decscendat of Thomas Chester. I came to this forum through googling and correlating what information I have on my paternal side.

Would love to get some pictures and further information if I could. Thomas is as far back as I have been able to find also. Relatively new to family tree tracking, but any useful information would be appreciated!

[macw]

Hello,

I do not have anything to add other than I am a 9th generation decscendat of Thomas Chester. I came to this forum through googling and correlating what information I have on my paternal side.

Would love to get some pictures and further information if I could. Thomas is as far back as I have been able to find also. Relatively new to family tree tracking, but any useful information would be appreciated!

Hi Melleh01,

Just came back to the family tree after a break. Have we been in touch since your post.

Do you want to exchange details via a private chat?

Several family members have had DNA tests.

macw

[sheeptaurus]

Just been  searching Shawbury PR on FindMyPast might this be of interest?

Marriage 1761 John Chester shoemaker to Ann Withers both otp.

Could be your Thomas`s brother?? Shawbury parish and Grinshill do join.

Jackie