Benjamin Nowell, Dewsbury.

[ormus]

If anyone is in the neighborhood of Dewsbury Parish Church, I would love some indication of the burial and memorial information of Benjamin Nowell, b. about 1734, stone mason. I would like to know when he died, age of death, and any relatives mentioned in memorials and gravestones. I live in the US and have no access to Deswbury.

[BumbleB]

From the parish records for All Saints, Dewsbury:

Benjamin Nowell of Dewsbury - buried 31 March 1796

No further information given.

[ormus]

Thanks so much. The issue with parish records for Dewsbury is that we only have name and date of death. I read thta there are several monuments to the stone mason family both inside and outside the church, and these may have more info regarding who is related to whom.

[Jaybob]

Hi,

I am new to rootschat, having read one of your replies regarding a Machell family of Dewsbury from a rootschat member your reply went on to detail the link to the ‘notable Nowell ‘ family of stonemasons.
This is the family of particular interest to me.
You mention areas in which they were contracted to work, I wonder please if you would be kind enough to share with me the works they carried out, in particular in Dewsbury itself please? I have found the info re: Macclesfield canal and the Menai Bridge but Dewsbury appears more difficult to get to the bottom of their achievements. Many thanks 🙏

[ormus]

There were a large number of Nowell civil engineers. The information on the Macclesfield Canal link which you may have read is a start, but I should warn you there is a mistake in the ancestry they quote. There is a book about civil engineers in the UK in Google Books which has an entry about the Nowells, but several pages are missing. I found a hard copy of the book and copied these pages which I have somewhere and I can scan them and send them to you if you would like.

The way I traced my Dewsbury stone-mason Nowells (and I am now confident their name was a coincidence; they were not closely related to their namesakes) was to follow the births of their children, through Macclesfield, Widnes, Liverpool, Chorley, and in 1841 Todmorden.

[Jaybob]

Hi,

Thank you for your prompt reply, I am extremely grateful for your help.
I am keen to learn whatever information you have on this family please. I have found the book on Google too, who does the error concern?
If I can help you with anything you need to help your own research, please let me know? I visited Dewsbury a couple of weeks ago to visit the Minster and hope to return at some point early New Year ( restrictions permitting).

Many thanks, I look forward to hearing from you again

[Jaybob]

Apologies!
Yes please, if you could scan & copy the pages, I would be very grateful 😊

Thank you 🙏

[ormus]

It will take a little while to find where I filed them, so bear with me; it has been some years since I last looked at my Nowell ancestors. The Macclesfield Canal builders link have the mistake.......all of the builders are descended from a Benjamin Nowell but again, it will take a bit of time to delve into details on this too. Give me a couple of days.

If you can look in the church for the inscription please let me know as I would love to see if my Nowell (John) was related to the builders.

[Jaybob]

Hi,
That’s perfectly understandable, don’t worry, I really appreciate your help. I have photos of the inscriptions would you like them? Your relative, John who does he descend from?
 I’ll say thank you and Good night for now and look forward to hearing from you soon ☺️