Author Topic: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet  (Read 14183 times)

Offline PaulSlo

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #18 on: Sunday 27 December 09 00:57 GMT (UK) »
       Just by chance in a different internet search, I stumbled across this set of exchanges. I haven't read through all of them yet, but I'm so surprised to find them, that I'm responding straight away.
        Sarah Bower was, I assume, the daughter of the very powerful Bower family who had a big bottling business in Hunslet (there until the 1960's).
         In 1968, I used to deliver evening papers and would walk home through Hunslet cemetery. I was very taken by the grave of Horatio and Sarah Wood - which - as far as I can remember was rather grand, and had iron railings around it. What struck me also  was that it had Horatio and Sarah's names in gothic script, and mentioned that he was a solicitor. I was also intrigued by the fact that they died on the same day. Even as a 14 year old, I thought that the coincidence must be due to them having died in the cholera epidemic.
          When I visited the cemetary again in 1973, I was astonished to find that the grave had gone. (There are still a lot of other Bower graves there, however.) So Horatio has stayed in my mind ever since.
          Many years later when back in Leeds, I researched Horatio in Leeds central Library. He voted in the general elections and his voting preferences are recorded. He was man of some means, and in addition to his legal practice, had a counting house down near the river
          Horatio's legal business was in  Bowers Yard - which is off Briggate in the city centre. I went there in 1999, and I suspect that the office he had is still there - though obviously the place has changed...I even went up to the Ellersby Road area in east Leeds where Hill House Place used to be.
          Some years after this, when I became computer literate, I did an internet search for Horatio, and found that - unless there was another solicitor called Horatio Wood in Leeds at the time ( which seems wildly improbable) - he was a political radical having beeing elected as a Chartist representative to the Leeds Improvement Commission in 1841. I think his radicalism must have subsided somewhat, as, in the last general election he voted in, he gave votes to the Tory and Whig candidates (if I remember rightly).
        Another net search some years later, indicated that he might have lived (after Hill House Place) at a grand house called Holbeck Lodge with central heating that was designed by the engineer matthew Murray. I'm not sure, however, whether this Holbeck Lodge is the same one as he was living in at the time of his death. Whatever, even though the building has been long demolished, there is a photo of the Matthew Murray Holbeck Lodge on the Leodis photographic archive (which is free, and fully accessible on-line).
       As I'm not related in any way to this family, I haven't taken the research any further. I imagine that there must be archive material about the Leeds Improvement Commissioners. The only other thing I recall, is that a Horatio Wood was a member of the 'Leeds Philosophical and (something else)' society.
       I think I also found that the Woods were buried in unconsecrated ground (maybe because they wanted them buried fast). This might explain why their grave was given the chop when others were left intact...
      Hope these recollections are of interest.

Offline PaulSlo

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #19 on: Sunday 27 December 09 01:33 GMT (UK) »
PS
     In relation to my other entry, if you are looking for Sarah Bower's birthplace, you must ask why the Woods were buried in Hunslet Cemetery - which is nowhere near Holbeck Lodge. The answer can only be that they were buried in the area where  Sarah's kin lived. In 2001, I went back to Hunslet Cemetery again, and tried to see if there was any remnant or sign of Horatio's and Sarah's grave at all. I didn't find any, but I found a few Bowers in the place where I thought the grave had been located. All this would suggest that she was from Hunslet.
     If Sarah was C of E she would most likely have been baptised at St. Peter's - the main Parish Church in Leeds. They used to have transcripts of the records for 1805 and before, in the Leeds Central Library. (I found Horatio's entry there.)
      Best wishes,
      Paul

Offline dobfarm

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #20 on: Sunday 27 December 09 02:42 GMT (UK) »
SARAH WOOD BAPT 8 TH OCT 1803 in Wakefield looks interesting as father John
Hunslet is well south of Leeds centre and the abode of this bapt  could be well north of Wakefield Centre

There is Sarah Bower death in a Inn in Wakefield and the Wood's were 'well too do' so could be the Bowers as middleclass.
The A61 link road from Leeds (Includes Hunslet  on)to Wakefield on the old staging turn pike road would or could link these families easy. Travel them days by stage coach would be as compatable as a bus at 30mph these days.
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Any transcription of information does not identify or prove anything.
Intended as a Guide only in ancestry research.-It is up to the reader as to any Judgment of assessments of information given! to check from original sources.

In my opinion the marriage residence is not always the place of birth. Never forget Workhouse and overseers accounts records of birth

Offline PaulSlo

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #21 on: Sunday 27 December 09 05:48 GMT (UK) »
A birth in October 1803 would fit Sarah Bower as being 45 for a death in September 1849.
     Her Dad could easily have come from Wakefield but made his money in Hunslet and established a family home there. Born in Wakefield, she would have been baptised at the the Cathedral most likely.
                  Paul
     


Offline dobfarm

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #22 on: Sunday 27 December 09 12:21 GMT (UK) »
Content of e-mail recieved

I have taken your advise and signed up with rootschat.com and still in the process of learning how to use the site. Thanks for your entry I noticed it when I logged into the internet and was delighted to see so many responses thank everyone for their interest.

With regards to what I have discovered to date, which also seems to be the findings of others on your internet site are as follows -
Sarah Bower married Horatio Wood on the 12. 7. 1828. They had six children Bower b. 4 July 1830, Joseph b. 30. 11. 1831, Joshua b. 22. 8. 1834, Robert b. 10. 12. 1836, Sarah b. 8 4. 1838 and  Horatio b. 28. 3. 1840.
In the census of 1841

Horatio and Sarah both recorded their ages in the Census of 1841 as being 35 which suggest that they were born either 1805/06.

I gather the first son was given the name Bower after her family name.

Their second son Joseph was the name of Horatio's father.

Joshua, the third son, was I believe her father's name since Joshua Bower mentioned her children in his will of 1855. Also the obituary for Horatio and Sarah Wood in the Leeds Mercury Saturday 15th 1849 pages 5 and 8 stated  'Horatio Wood Solicitor of this town and his wife, the former who was taken ill during his absence from home and died at an inn, in Wakefield on Thursday. Mrs Wood who is a daughter of Alderman Bower, who was taken ill during her husband's absence from home died about the same hour on Thursday. Neither of them knew the other's illness. their bodies were interned in the Hunslet Cemetery'. There appeared to be only two Aldermen during this period with the surname Bower - Joshua and his brother John both of Hunslet.I feel that if someone is able to view the headstone for Horatio and his wife in the Hunslet cemetery I might be able to discover when she was born and possibly who her father was - do you know who I could get in contact with who may be able to assist me.

I don't know who Robert was named after I think however it must have been in the Bower family since no Robert's appear in the Wood family tree.

Sarah would have been named after her mother, Horatio after his father.

What is also interesting to note is that no birth entries exist for her  brothers Joshua Wood b. 1801 (married Elizabeth Preston 31 .12.1827), John b. 1801 (never married), or sister Ann b.1808 (married Charles Grosvener 23.1.1828) yet they are all found in the census's and other official documents.

Hope these findings help.


John is a common name but Wakefield was the major city those days in business and politically! thus would be a reason for a meeting of the Bowers and Woods. Bradford has a few Bower's baptisms around Clayton/Thornton district but nothing fits the death age of Sarah, also Thornton is on the far side of Bradford.
If some other info could be found linking these Wakefield Bower's and Leeds Wood's together at the parent level of Horatio and Sarah. One lead could be the other Bower grave headstone/tomb epitaphs in the cemetery at Hunslet. Deeds, Wills.  1801 to 1831 census if any.
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Any transcription of information does not identify or prove anything.
Intended as a Guide only in ancestry research.-It is up to the reader as to any Judgment of assessments of information given! to check from original sources.

In my opinion the marriage residence is not always the place of birth. Never forget Workhouse and overseers accounts records of birth

Offline dobfarm

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #23 on: Sunday 27 December 09 13:27 GMT (UK) »
1 John Bower, Hunslet, cabinet maker
 John Bower and Company, Hunslet, vitriol and
 aqua fortis manufacturers
Calderdale GB 203 
 WYC:1089/226 
Phone WYAS CALDERDALE Held at Halifax Library >WYAS ask for Ian

Manor Ct Normanton Wakefield 1849

And John Bower Birkenshaw/Hightown  WaKefield/Bradford turn pike road 1812ish Bradford WYAS
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Any transcription of information does not identify or prove anything.
Intended as a Guide only in ancestry research.-It is up to the reader as to any Judgment of assessments of information given! to check from original sources.

In my opinion the marriage residence is not always the place of birth. Never forget Workhouse and overseers accounts records of birth

Offline Calverley Lad

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #24 on: Monday 28 December 09 10:46 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for the additional info.
I am awaiting Colleen getting back to me following an e mail I sent last night.
 Regards Brian
Yewdall/Yewdell/Youdall -Yorkshire

Offline dobfarm

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #25 on: Monday 28 December 09 13:53 GMT (UK) »
Happy New year Brian
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Any transcription of information does not identify or prove anything.
Intended as a Guide only in ancestry research.-It is up to the reader as to any Judgment of assessments of information given! to check from original sources.

In my opinion the marriage residence is not always the place of birth. Never forget Workhouse and overseers accounts records of birth

Offline Calverley Lad

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Re: Sarah Wood (nee Bower) - Hunslet
« Reply #26 on: Monday 28 December 09 18:32 GMT (UK) »
Likewise have good and prosperous 2010.
The only things that I haven't mentioned in this thread, I took a number of photographs whilst at Hunslet cemetery.
(File a bit on the large size at 6MB each photo, but have sent to Colleen in Aus).
Still awaiting reply from Colleen.
 Brian
Yewdall/Yewdell/Youdall -Yorkshire