Letman Chemist of Saltney

[vonne]

Please can anyone help to fill the details in for me ?

My great grandfather x5 was John Letman who was a chemist in Saltney from at least 1785 .
His son Edward 1785 -1846 was also a chemist there .His address on the 1841 +1851 census is   "Chemistry " in Saltney.

I would love to know more about what sort of chemists they were i.e industrial ? Also about the  "Chemistry  "house ? .Is it still there ?

  I suspect that John and his wife were not English/Welsh and that he may have come from Germany /France but have been unable to confirm this yet

Thanks Vonne

[JeannieR]

Vonne....

I have quite a lot of the Hawarden Parish Registers, and theLetman's  do not figure in any prior to Edwards baptism, on May 15th 1785........

If you have not got the info, as yet, I do have information on all Edwards children.

regards

JeannieR

[vonne]

Hi
Thank you for your reply
I have already looked at the Hawarden  church record s .Just recently I have been able to link  this letman family to the Warwick area before they lived in Wales .They also had a son John born in c 1773 who puts st Katherine's Middlesex on his birthplace census information
The family seem  to split into  two, the elder children staying in  the Warwick area and the two youngest children staying  in Saltney
There was another child William christened in Chester in 1782 .I think he must have died young .Can you see if he is buried at Hawarden please
 I expect that the moving around the country was associated with being a chemist ,but HOW ??
I will find out one day,
 Thanks Vonne

[sheabear]

Hi Vonne,

I am linked to the Letman's, are you still researching them?

Shea

[vonne]

Hi .
 Yes, I am still researching the Letmans .
 It's amazing how many decedents there now are of the original John and Maria .

Any information very welcome .

Regards Yvonne

[wilcoxon]

I found this on Welsh Wills site.
Unfortunately Hawarden wills are not able to view online. You would have to order the document.

Edward Letman : 1847. 
In  Hawarden Probate Records, 1554-1858 (WlAbNL)3650007 
Notes  Includes miscellaneous document

[MarkDBri]

I was in Saltney library last week and asked if they have any local history books.  I was astonished to realise just how industrial it once was.  It basically grew up as a railway junction and from around the 1840s to the 1960s railway engines were built here on Boundary Lane.  Also on Boundary Lane were two major ironworks making anchors for ships (hence the Anchor pub) and chains with links the width of tree trunks.  King George V visited Woods chainmakers in 1917, probably suggesting that the chains/anchors were for battleships and the local primary school is called Wood Memorial school.  Also on the Dee were shipbuilders called Crichtons.  From a map of 1913 there were several manure works on the Dee and also an oil works - not petrol but the other type of oil, not sure exactly what though.   So, quiet little suburb of Chester that it now seems, it was once a thriving industrial area.  So choose your pick, there are any number of industries that a chemist might have worked in although perhaps the oil works seems to fit best?

[vonne]

 Hello ,

  Update on the Letman Chemists  of  Chemistry ,Saltney.

The family lived at Chemistry house /workshop from about 1793 .Moving there from the Warwick area

The  House had been  established in 1781 by a Mr Thorp to extract Glauber's Salts and Sal ammoniax and  to produce Black Ivory .He used the black Ivory in his production of buttons


John Letman was employed by a Mr Rigby  around 1793 after he had purchased the business from Mr Thorpe  and then  expanded the production of black Ivory.

John's son ,Edward Letman,  continued in his fathers  footsteps,  working and Living at Chemistry in Saltney .

He produced Black Ivory ,known now to a carcinogenic agent .The process to make the black Ivory used  refuse animal horn and bone ,sounds unpleasant !.

I don't know when the business closed (maybe in the 1840's )

The house at Chemistry was  still lived in during the 1890's  .

I think that the area is now known as Chemistry Lane

Any further information very welcome

[j.letman1978]

Hi my name is John Letman.I have traced my line back and hit a dead end when i get to Edward Letman,can anyone please tell me when and were Edward and his farther John Letman were born.
There is a rumor that there was a company in france called letman chemistry but carnt find anything on the net.Dose anyone now anything about this.
Cheers john.