Mary Swales of Yorks

[king otg]

The 1814 Michaelmas Quarter Sessions for Kendal Westmorland tell of a Mary SWALES who was apprehended at Kirkby Lonsdale. She had been gathering rags, selling spoons and sometimes begging. She stated that she married Richard SWALES 15 years earlier at Kirkby Moorside Yorkshire and that he was a tinker of Dent. Her age can be further narrowed down because in 1811 she had been supplied with lotion and ointment (presumably for childbirth?). Her legal place of settlement was declared to be Dent which is a small town now although it used to be much more densely populated during wool production.

The burial register for Dent shows a Mary SWALE 'of Town' buried 22 April 1830 aged 70. It also gives a Richard SWALE 'of Hall Bank' buried there on 17 August 1825 aged 48. His close relative, John SWALE, also of Hall Bank, was described as a razor grinder is one of his children's baptisms but there is no mention of the word 'tinker'. This John was the ancestor of a later Robert SWALES who is found in 1861 Pembrokeshire 4167/82/7.

Since Kirkby Moorside had its own supply of SWALES, and a few links to places in Westmorland amongst them, I wonder if anyone knows who this Mary was and whether the link with Kirkby Moorside can be unravelled.

[deb usa]

Hi king otg

I am not sure if this is relevent but I found this on Palots marriage Index. I wonder if he could be related ?

Date; 1808
Richd Swales hawker aged 80 to
magdalene Stuart aged 84, widow
Thornton In Lonsdale West Riding Yorkshire

there is a christening on IGI, extracted
Richard Swale s/o John Swale and Mary
12 FEB 1775   Dent, Yorkshire

possible siblings =
BENJAMIN SWALE 5 MAR 1780 Dent
JOHN SWALE  7 APR 1771 Dent
GEORGE SWALE 8 MAR 1777 Dent
FLORA SWALE  28 FEB 1782 Dent

deb

[king otg]

Thanks, I have checked them and there appears to have been a settlement in Dent from which some of the SWALES moved to Sedbergh where a group of pottery hawkers called LAKING from Leicestershire settled and married into local families.

The A To Z of Gipsy Genealogies Part One (which is a free download) mentions how interesting the Kirkby Moorside baptism registers are. I visited Northallerton Record Office in North Yorks to search for Swales and was impressed by the amount of detail available in the standard register entry.

Between 1822 and 1842 all but two of the baptisms for Swales contain seven names, the extra four being both sets of grandparents. In one case the maiden surname of the maternal grandmother is also included.

They were pot dealers, hawkers and tinkers living on the Moor and travelling to and from County Durham and Westmorland. I collected full details of 26 SWALES (baptised 1801-1854) at Kirkby Moorside, 9 at Yarm (1837-1844) and 19 at Pickering (1838-1851).

I cannot reproduce it all but would be happy to look up specific private requests if there is a clear family history reason for it. Here is an example to show the degree of detail. The information in brackets is also in the original record:

YKS.NLN. Kirkby Moorside [p135/1685] bp19/11/1838 Mary d/o James (s/o James/Esther) SWALES, potman of Kirkby Moorside, and Mabel (d/o John/Mary BASFIELD).

[magpie28]

Hello,I am looking for George Swales born 1809 or 10. He married Margaret Cunningham. On the 1851 census Durham [ St Giles]he gives his birthplace as Sedberg,and on the 1861 Horton Bradford he gives his birthplace as Middlesex. George was an earthenware dealer, I cant find his birth anywhere and wondered if you had come across it,while looking into the Dent Swales,Thanks Margaret

[magpie28]

Hello again, I should have explained George was my ggggrandfather and the family were hawkers,general dealers travelers until my grandmothers generation,thanks again

[Bubblewrap]

#1
Deb usa
The list of Swales baptisms you mention also appear in my family tree, as I am a descendant of  the  JOHN SWALES  Born 1771 in Dent to John and Mary. Does anyone know Mary's maiden name?
John married a Mary (possibly EADLE) 1789 in Dent . He  named his daughter  Flora (born c 1795) Christened 1799 in Dent. (Where John's occupation is listed as a Potter.)
Flora died aged 83 in 1878 in Preston Lancashire. She was my 3x great Grandmother.
I searched for years for certain certificates and eventually found them under the name of Waters and Walters. The documents do state Swales in fancy handwriting but have been transcribed wrongly in the indexes.

[king otg]

In reply to magpie28, no sign of George senior, so far, but the names of his family members are not unlike those at Dent, a possible brother being Benjamin who is age 50 in Millthrop, Sedbergh, in 1851.

From Benjamin's third marriage on 16 August 1847 at Kendal Holy Trinity his father was John Swales.

[magpie28]

King otg,
               Thanks,. now I have another avenue to explore,[part of the fun] it could be a possibility as Georges oldest son was John[1841-1915].
 Thank you.

[king otg]

I have been doing quite a bit of research on the SWALES family in the north which has led me to its offshoot families. The name was widespread, ranging from Lancashire, Westmorland to county Durham, although the largest number are to be found in Yorkshire. Combine this with some very detailed baptism register entries and you have several generations in one entry giving up to nine names and four surnames for SWALES, CUNNINGHAM and others.

The SWALES family most often mentioned comes from Kirkby Moorside although I have traced them back to Westmorland a few generations earlier.

Despite this branch living in the region of Dent, where another lot are situated, they seem to be a completely different family. The other major group originated from Durham and include the Hannibal SWALES families.

Researchers are justified in describing these as very interesting but I do not see many people asking questions and I attribute this to  bad habits.