This is a line of several generations from west Cumberland, though I'm greatly endebted to Julian Gill for the information and mostly haven't yet followed it up myself. Julian has a website here.
9. William PONSONBY, of St Bees parish in the early 18th century.More
8. Thomas (b 1741) and Mary (b 1752) PONSONBY of Ennerdale. Mary had been a JACKSON of Ennerdale. More
7. John (b 1774) and Mary PONSONBY of Ennerdale. Mary had been a WILLIAMSON of WHitehaven.More
6. Thomas (1804-92) and Sarah (1810-79) PONSONBY of Ennerdale. Sarah had been a SUMPTON of Ennerdale. More
5. Mary PONSONBY (1830-1899), who married (1849) Joseph JACKSONMore
Nothing is known of William except as the father of Thomas, who was baptised on 15 August 1741 in the parish of St Bees, Cumberland. Therefore William would seem to have been alive around 1740.
Thomas married Mary JACKSON on 22 October 1774. Mary was about 11 years younger than Thomas and was from Ennerdale. St Bees is (or was) a very large parish and covers part of Ennerdale, so they may have been close neighbours or may have come from some distance apart. On the last day of 1774 in Ennerdale they baptised their son John, so either Mary was very pregnant when they got married or perhaps John had already been born and was baptised by way of legitimisation.
We will see below that Long Moor, a farm in the township of Kinniside, chapelry of Ennerdale, St Bees parish, was a home of my PONSONBY ancestors. It was a PONSONBY place as early as 1802 and perhaps before. I must get round to tracing my ancestors' residences in such genealogical staples as original parish registers, wills and property records, but for now I'll mention a special bit of evidence in a letter of none other than Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The great poet spent the first nine days of August 1802 walking around the Lake District. On the second day he arrived in Ennerdale and stayed overnight at Long Moor with a John PONSONBY, a 'friend of Mr JACKSON's' (who Coleridge's friend Jackson was I don't know). He described his welcome there as very hearty. The next day he walked with 'the old man' up the valley to the head of Ennerdale Water, returning to Long Moor, and not leaving until after tea. Now, there's no suggestion that the old man who Coleridge took his walk with wasn't John PONSONBY, his host at Long Moor. In which case it wouldn't have been John below, who'd have been under thirty at this date, but might have been a brother or other relative of his father Thomas. Full text of Coleridge's account here and a bit more info on Coleridge here (among many other places, obviously).
Research notes - PONSONBY baptisms and marriages, and deaths and wills if possible, in the 18th century to see if I can identify an old man John and see what relation he might have been.
John married Mary WILLIAMSON on 23 September 1802 in St James, Whitehaven. Whitehaven is on the west coast of Cumberland (and I think at this date it was also at least partly in the parish of St Bees, so again this may have been close to the family roots). It seems that they lived in Kinniside, a township in the chapelry of Ennerdale in St Bees parish. This is where their son Thomas was born, and baptised on 20 September 1804.
Thomas married Sarah SUMPTON on 27 June 1829 in Ennerdale. Sarah was a local yeoman's daughter only about 18, about six years younger than Thomas. They had their first child, Mary, after nearly a year of marriage, and then John about a year after that, Ann about another year later and William in about 1835. They lived at a place called Lang Moor in Kinniside.
In 1851, their son William is not at home - perhaps working for someone else? The other children are still there, though Mary the eldest has married and also in the same household are her husband and first child (see below), as well as her teenage siblings John and Ann. The family had two live-in employees as well - a farm worker and a house servant.
William, the youngest son, died aged just 25 in 1861. He had married Hannah DIXON at Ennerdale four years previously. I don't know what became of John or Ann.
A place called Brackenwreay also comes in - perhaps in old age Thomas and Sarah went to live there when their daughter and son-in-law Joseph and Mary JACKSON took over at Lang Moor. Anyway, Sarah died at Brackenwreay in 1879 in her late 60s, and Thomas died, perhaps back at Lang Moor, in 1892 in his late 80s.
Mary married Joseph JACKSON on 29 December 1849 in Ennerdale. She was only 19; Joseph was about six years older, a local farmer (from Eskett). She was probably pregnant but it wouldn't have showed - the first of her many children, Ponsonby JACKSON, was born in July 1850. For her married life see above and the JACKSON page.
If you are interested in this line I'll be very pleased indeed to hear from you. Email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com but delete everything up to and including the first dot, leaving just my name and number @ service provider. Please do not delete the automatically-generated subject line, so that I know your email is not spam. You can add more to the subject if you like but if you delete what appears I may not read your mail.