Children abandoning their parents?

[M_ONeill]

So I've heard of ancestors abandoning children, but did children ever abandon their parents?

In the 1830s/1840s my 3x great grandfather and his five brothers are all living with their families in what seems to be a fairly tight knit social group in western Wolverhampton, Staffordshire and the villages just to the west, all within a few miles from each other.

Their father however (my 4x great grandfather) is living apparently on his own in the town of Rock, Worcestershire some 20 miles to the south, where all the boys were born. No relatives nearby that I can see and he's aged somewhere between 60-65.

Now there is a geographical link (the Staffordshire-Worcestershire canal) that makes the distance maybe not as insurmountable as it might be, but then all of the sons have changed their names  (from Monk to Monkton) whereas the father took his original one to the grave, which is what made me wonder if an estrangement took place.

I'm trying to get an idea as to what might be going in here. Have any of you seen similar goings-on in your own trees?

[rosie99]

Some names, places & dates may help us to answer your query.

[Milliepede]

I can see where you are coming from but don't think anything unusual in the father living by himself and the sons with their own families.  I take it the father was widowed and mother wasn't around. 

When is the first example of the name Monkton?  When the boys were little did they have the Monk surname ie they changed it as soon as they were out of the house and on their own?

[M_ONeill]

Apologies, I've posted bits of the same story in various threads and was worried about repeating myself. The general outline of what I know:

William Monk, born c 1780 in Rock, Worcestershire (possible parish birth record of 1775 in St Peter and Paul's church Rock, have yet to confirm).

Married an Elizabeth Handley in the same church 1798.

William and Elizabeth had a number of children, all baptised in St Peter and Paul's.

William Monk born c1799 (no parish record found)
Mary Monk born 12th May 1800
Edward Monk - 9 October 1802
John Monk - 1 January 1805 (my 3x great grandfather)
Thomas Monk  - 4 November 1806
James Monk - 16 April 1809
Joseph Monk - 08 April 1816
Francis Monk - 02 Jul 1815 (Died that year)
George Monk - 07 Jul 1821 (Died the next year)

I believe Elizabeth Handley died around 1821 and William Monk snr. died in 1844.

Of their surviving children, I've found all except Mary in later Census returns. All of them, without exception, are using the name Monkton. All subsequent marriages use Monkton. John married a Jane Taylor of Pattingham, Staffordshire in 1836, St Peter's Wolverhampton and settled in Pattingham.

William, Thomas James and Edward all lived in the Upper Penn village just outside of Wolverhampton, William Thomas and James actually living together at one point. They stayed, whereas Edward went back to Rock after his father's death (He's living there in 1851 with his wife and family).

Joseph married an Ann Masefield in Pattingham, also in 1836 and then seems to have moved back and forth between Pattingham and Wolverhampton (one son George, died in infancy, another son Thomas, survived). Joseph appears to have died in 1840. Ann seems to have links to Pattingham, her parents are living there in 1841, looking after her child while she is in Shiffnal, Shropshire. She was remarried later that same year and living with her husband and son as Ann Hamlett in Sedgley, near Dudley in 1851.

One historical note I discovered. The lady of Patshull Hall, just outside Pattingham was a Mary Ann Pigot, born Monckton - to a much more famous, landed family in Staffordshire. She died in 1833 and the Pigot Baronets sold Patshull Hall in 1848. In 1841 John is living with his wife and family in Nore Hill farm on what I believe is an outlying part of the Patshull Hall estate, whereas he was living in Pattingham village itself from 1851 onwards. I have no idea if his name and his living on the estate is more than a coincidence. I've found no evidence of any link so far, it may be that the Monks simply adopted the name because it was a high-class name in the county.

So with such a large family group, who seem to stick together everywhere, maybe you can see my confusion as to why William Monk seems so isolated in his old age...

[rosie99]

So with such a large family group, who seem to stick together everywhere, maybe you can see my confusion as to why William Monk seems so isolated in his old age...

If you are referrring to a census entry don't forget that it was just a 'snapshot' of one night and not necessarily where someone always lived

[M_ONeill]

So with such a large family group, who seem to stick together everywhere, maybe you can see my confusion as to why William Monk seems so isolated in his old age...

If you are referrring to a census entry don't forget that it was just a 'snapshot' of one night and not necessarily where someone always lived

That's a good point. I think that he is listed as living in a single household on his own, in a place called Halls within the Rock district. Of course he could have been there temporarily.

[mazi]

On the face of it I cannot see anything unusual in this, children marry and move to where the work is, dad stays at home, even tho he is widowed, that is how the world is.

My kids did that, I certainly did not think when I was sixty five I had been abandoned, or that I was elderly.

I won’t say I was glad to see them go,  but..

Mike

[Maiden Stone]

Was the father employed on 1841 census? If he had work and a home there would be no reason to move.
You said you couldn't find daughter, Mary. Do you know if she survived and if so, whom she married? She may have been nearby.
What do you know about Rock, in particular employment opportunities at the time?
It's possible that one son moved first, for work or love, and others followed.
Was John a tenant farmer in 1841 or a farm labourer? The chance to rent a farm would have been a good reason to move.
Consider rules on settlement. The father would have been entitled to Poor Relief in his own parish if he became unable to work through age or infirmity; he may not have been entitled to Poor Relief in a different place if he moved.

I came across a Quarter Sessions petition requiring a son to support his widowed mother.

[M_ONeill]

William Monk is listed as an agrigultural labourer on the 1841 census. I have no idea if Mary survived or married, her baptismal record was found as part of a look-up by a local rootschatter. I have not yet managed to find any other associated record for her so she may have died young or equally be living nearby under a married name.

I don't know a whole lot about Rock - I know there were a number of mines there. The 41 census seems to show it was a fairly busy place with a wide varieties of trades; miners, woodcutters, publicans, shopkeepers, blacksmiths, basket makers, tailors, farriers. The first man on the return is simply listed as a 'Cosmopolitan', which I've never seen before. One of William Monk's neighbours in the census is even listed as an 'Engineer'.

So I think that the Staffordshire-Worcestershire canal is definitely a key part of this family's story. It opened in 1771-1772 and links Stourport (only ~5 miles from Rock) with Wolverhampton. My assumption is that the brothers moved first to Wolverhampton (either together or one by one) and then sometime before 1836 the link with Pattingham was established.

So I'm not sure (property history not being my strong point) but I think Nore Hill farm was a tenant farm. I've found a the following reference to a record held in the Staffordshire archives that I think describes the farm being leased to a previous owner by Sir Robert Pigot, the second Baronet. Interestingly, it's John who has no trade or profession listed in the 1841 census, the field is simply blank. There seems to have been another property on the farm which was held in 1841 by the Ash family (two elderly agricultural labourers and Ann Ash, who I presume is their daughter, listed as 'schoolmistress').

EDIT: Just looked it up, the Astley mentioned in the previous deal is Sir John Astley, 2nd Baronet - he sold Patshull Hall to George Pigot (Robert Pigot's father and the 1st Pigot Baronet) in 1771. So it looks like Astley leased the dwelling to someone called Maddox, who then surrendered the Lease to Sir Robert Pigott, who was now the owner.