Beck ancestry 1823

[swissancestor]

I have a mystery I've been working on for a while. I'm researching the Beck family from New Hartley and have got back as far as John Beck who appears in the census for 1841 in Cowpen as a 15 year old coal miner birth year 1826, he also appears in the census for 1851 (Westoe) & 1861 (Cowpen) as being born in Newcastle in 1823. I'm trying to find his parents so i can work back. In 1841 and 1851 he lives with a widow called Ann Cleghorn born between 1777 and 1781. His marriage record in Aug 1851 to Eliza Henzell in South Shields shows his father as a John Beck, gentleman, i'm assuming this means he has independent income? neither John or his wife can read.
I have also found a baptism record on Family search for a John Beck baptised on 25 Apr 1824 at All Saints, Newcastle, Father John Beck, mother Jane, from Silver Street, Newcastle, father is a shipwright but am not sure if this is the same John Beck as on the marriage certificate. I'd be grateful for any help here as i seem to have hit a wall with the Becks and am not aware of John Beck having any siblings.

[jon541]

I would say that, by a process of elimination, John Beck, shipwright, has to be your No. 1 candidate.

The only other John Beck in Newcastle at this time is John Beck, grocer (c1790-1830), who can be almost ruled out because his first wife, Mary Lowes, who he m. by banns at St. John on 11 Oct 1819, died in September 1820 (buried on the 29th at St. Nicholas) ... the same year that he was declared a bankrupt ... and he only looks to have had one child by his 2nd wife Elizabeth Talentyre (m. 22 May 1824 at St. John) - Jacob Wilson Beck (x 3 Apr 1825 at St. John). 

This John Beck died c. 1 Jan 1830 and was buried 3rd Jan 1830 (from St. Nicholas parish) at St. Andrew.  His widow re-married to Thomas Mowbray the following year and received a nice inheritance from her half-brother John Bulman Armstrong in 1834.  Son Jacob Beck can be seen in the 1851 census with his half-brother Thomas Mowbray.

So it seems very unlikely that your John Beck hails from that lot.  As for the intriguing Ann Gleghorn, she is described as 'servant', and perhaps that is all the relationship was although it's unusual at that date for a servant to have followed her master from Westoe to Cowpen.  Perhaps she was a sort of nanny to John - he's very young in 1841 - as it's not often you come across coal miners with domestic servants.  I think she's probably the Ann Leaming/Leeman/Lemon who married Thomas Gleghorn at Earsdon in 1795 and who died 11 Oct 1857 at Blyth ("At Blyth, 11th inst., aged 89, Ann, widow of Mr. Thos Gleghorn, tailor." [Morpeth Herald, 17 Oct 1857].  Maybe there's a clue in there somewhere ... hope so.

[swissancestor]

Thanks jon541.

I agree that John Beck shipwright looks the most likely, i'm hoping something comes to light about John Beck and Jane in the parish records unless they had moved to Newcastle from outside the area. I guess shipwrights moved to where the work was available, i have found another ancestor who was a shipwright who moved from Newcastle to the London docks. It's strange that he's described as a gentleman on the marriage certificate though?

Think i'll have to be patient with this one.

[jon541]

I wouldn't read too much into someone choosing to describe themselves as 'gentleman'.  I have plenty of yeoman ancestors who used that term for themselves.  Also, occasionally, those who had served an apprenticeship in some trade (such as shipwright) felt entitled to use it when they grew older.

My great grandfather x 3, James Hedley, who died in 1893 was never more than a stonemason and yet his National Probate Calendar entry for that year describes him as 'gentleman'.  His estate was valued at £2 !!