Help with pinning down a William MONK of Rock, Worcestershire.

[M_ONeill]

Hey all,

So someone who knows about the families and history of Rock, Worcestershire might be able to help me out with this one. I’m looking to try and pin down the details on a William MONK who I believe lived in Rock. I don’t know his dates, but I think he would have been married around 1798 - 1899 so maybe he’d have been born sometime 1760- 1770 as a rough estimate.

The oldest confirmed ancestor I have in this part of my tree is John MONK/MONCKTON, son of a William (confirmed in marriage records) and born in Rock c1805-1806 later living in Staffordshire. It’s currently a mystery to me as to why in every record for this family in Worcester they’re MONK, but in every Staffordshire record they are MONCKTON. I still don’t know if it’s a mass name change, some kind of weird transcription error or something else.

So John has plenty of candiates for relatives, as there seem to be lots of MONKs in Rock. The only ones I’d say I’m 100% sure on are John’s brothers William, Edward, Thomas and James. I’m fairly confident that they are indeed brothers, as they were all born in Rock, in close order and they end up living with each other in various combinations in Staffordshire (as per census records). I was also lucky that my ancestor James (son of John) named his first three sons William Edward, John Thomas and James Albert respectively - in other words, after his uncles and father in birth order!

Someone in another old thread suggestted to me that their father might be a William MONK who married an Elizabeth HANDLEY in Rock in 1798 - while that’s my current working theory, I’m not sure how I could confirm it. Obviously when you get this far back in a tree a lot of details become fuzzy.

If anyone could give me any hints and tips as to how I could figure out exactly which William MONK I’m after, it’d be greatly appreciated! Or even details of other people’s research into Rock in this period.

Thanks in advance! 

[philipsearching]

Just to save Rootschatters from duplicating searches, related posts are:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=801596
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=707873

Coincidentally, I have just been trying to help another Rootschatter with a search in Rock, but didn't find anything new on MONK/MONKTON 

Philip

[M_ONeill]

Thanks for adding the links, Philip!

Yes it’s a puzzle for sure. I guess the toughest thing for me is that I don’t know exactly how deep the family’s roots go in Rock (terrible pun not intended!). The five brothers were all born there, or at least I baptised there. John lists his birthplace as Rock on every census except for the 1851 where he’s listed as n.k. - ‘not known’.

I’m now pretty sure this family has some kind of link to the branch of the landed Moncktons of Staffordshire, but I’m not sure what it is. At some point after his 1836 marriage to Jane TAYLOR John and family move into a farmhouse on Nore Hill Farm - along side the Ash family, one of whom is a Schoolmistress. I’m pretty sure Nore Hill is actually part of the estates of Patshull Hall, then seat of the Pigot Baronets - the third Baronet George Pigot was married to a Mary Anne Monckton, daughter of Col the Hon John Monckton. The Pigots had to sell Patshull Hall in 1848, and John and family had moved into Pattingham village by the 1851 census - I believe the two events may be related.

So I’m not sure which side of the county border the family flows from. It’s eitherr from Worcestershire into Staffordshire or from Staffordshire into Worcestershire!

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
Not sure if you have it
William Monk born 1780 buried Rock 14 Dec 1844
Wife Elizabeth 1776-8.7.1821.

And he's on the 1841 census at Rock-Halls
William Monk 65 ag lab     y

There are some Monks at Rock but the only William I can see is 1789 to Samuel and Martha

Ciderdrinker

[M_ONeill]

Hey CD, thanks for looking those up for me, I hadn't seen those records yet.

So I'm not sure if the dates for these Williams match with those on my tree. John Monk's eldest brother William would have been born sometime around 1799  (at least based on his reported age in future census returns).

He moved, along with at least two of his brothers, to Upper Penn Staffs, about 6 miles from Pattingham. He eventually became a coal dealer.

So to me, it seems likely that the William Monks you've found are relations to the one in my tree. Cousins, perhaps?

[M_ONeill]

Wait, my maths is off (seems to run in the family!), that first couple may in fact be the couple I’m looking for, as the ages, though fuzzy, do mostly fit. Do you have a link to that census return on ancestry? I can’t find Rock-Halls in the search there. EDIT: Never mind, I found it. The ancestry transcription was ‘MORETH’.

In an attempt to untangle the Monks in this part of the world, I tried to narrow down the Monk couples having children in Rock in the correct timeframe. I could find three listed on Ancestry:

George and Sarah
Thomas and Mary
William and Elizabeth

Looking at the lists of their children, William and Elizabeth are still the best candidates to be my 4x great grandparents.

As an aside, I looked up Edwards listing in the 1851 census, as he was the only brother (I’m aware of) that stayed in Rock. He also begins listing himself as Monkton. So I suppose I can rule out ‘purely local abbreviation’ as reason for the name change.

[M_ONeill]

So the more I research, the more I’m convinced there’s something strange going on with this family...

I’ve now found all of the brothers in the 1841 census.They’ve all moved en masse to Staffordshire. James is living with William, his wife, and children/stepchildren in Penn. Thomas is living on his own nearby, but by 1851 he’d moved in with them. John is living on Nore Farm just outside Patshull Hall, Staffordshire about 6 miles away. Edward is living with his wife and children in or near Wolverhampton. He must have moved back to Rock after his father had passed.

Which brings me to William. If the 65 year old man in the census is indeed their father, then the boys have left him to live alone. Also, by 1841 all of the brothers have switched to using MONKTON whereas their father is still sticking to MONK.

I still can’t figure out why all of his children would switch to using another name, especially while their father was still using the old one. I’m beginning to wonder if there aren’t some illegitimacy shenanigans going on somewhere in this part of the tree.

[M_ONeill]

So, the plot thickens.

I've found another of the Monk/Monkton brothers - a Joseph Monkton, born 1816 in Rock, Worcestershire (again, listed as Monk at birth, son of William and Elizabeth).

He marries a Sarah Maxfield of Beckbury, Shropshire in the village church in Pattingham in 1836. They have two children - George Monkton, born 1837 in Wolverhampton and Thomas Monkton born in 1839 in Pattingham.

Something then happens in between, because Sarah Monkton then marries a George Hamlett in 1841. I can't find her in the 1841 census but she's present in the 1851, living in Sedgley. She's listed as Sarah Hamlett alongside her son Thomas, listed as Son-in-Law to her husband George. I assume Joseph died, but I'm not sure. There's someone I believe to be a Joseph Monkton of around the right age living not far away in Willenhall, Staffordshire in the 1841 census, but I've yet to confirm that.

There's also another Monkton living in Pattingham in 1841, a James Monkton, living with his wife Sarah and son Thomas. He's about 50, and interestingly is listed as having been born in the county, so not a Rock child.

This is proving to be one hell of a knot to untangle, but I'm growing more convinced that this family's history is tied very strongly to the Staffordshire-Worcester canal. It geographically links what would otherwise be a very disparate series of moves and relocations.

[Eastbury]

Hi M_ONeill
I posted some information about this family on the old thread and have been able to have a quick look at the original Rock Parish registers which are on microfilm in “Explore the Past” at the Hive in Worcester.

There are two Munks (sic) Edward and William who have children baptised at Rock between 1766 and 1781.

I have made a note of William and Mary’s children, but found the baptism of a WILLIAM MUNK son of EDWARD AND MARY MUNK taking place 12 February 1775. Mary seems to have been Edward’s second wife, but I couldn’t find a burial in Rock for his first wife Elizabeth.

Edward and Elizabeth’s daughters were Sarah (15 May 1769), Elizabeth (3 February 1771)
The baptism of Edward and Mary’s first child seems to be Hannah on 21 February 1773, followed by your? William 12 February 1775.

In case you need them here are the baptisms for the other Munk family - William and Mary Munk’s   in the Rock Parish Register book which commenced in 1766 – Mary, 29 June 1767, Elizabeth, 3 February 1771 possible burial as Elizabeth Munk and infant 6 January 1773.

I checked from 1773 to 1781 in the Rock Parish Register but there were no more Munk/Monk baptisms.

I also looked at the relevant Worcestershire Marriage Index transcription book for Edward and Elizabeth and Edward and Mary and any Munk/Monk marriages at Rock.

1764 November 26 William Munk to Mary White at Rock
1768 July 25 - Edward Monk of Kinlet (Shropshire) to Mary Harvatt at Ombersley. (Kinlet is about 9 miles from Rock, but Edward Munk in Rock was with Elizabeth at that time)
1783 August 11 - Edward Monk to Sarah Carter at Rock
1787 October 9 – George Munk to Sarah Nutt at Rock (You also found them on Ancestry)
1792 November 26 – William Monck to Mary Dalton at Rock
1798 February 4 -  William Munk to Elizabeth Handley at Rock. (You also found them on Ancestry)

Ciderdrinker mentioned a son William baptised 1789 son of Samuel and Martha they married 10 June 1776 in Abberley.  (About 4 miles from Rock)

M_ONeill - The other couple you mentioned Thomas and Mary, are not in the Worcestershire Marriage Index book.

Best Wishes
Eastbury