Joseph Robinson (1842-80) and Sarah Jane (1846-88) WILLIAMSON of Pardshaw
New page 16 March 2017
Links:
Immediate ancestors: Thomas and Deborah WILLIAMSON and John and Sarah TOMLINSON
Immediate descendant: Thomas Edward WILLIAMSON
The Williamson story - WILLIAMSON 1 research notes
index of surnames
Joseph Robinson and Sarah Jane are named as the parents of Thomas Edward WILLIAMSON on his birth certificate. [research note - get the Quaker record] He appears as a child with Sarah Jane in the 1881 census, and is named in her will as her son. In fact, she left him the family Bible, recording his birth (corroborating the civil certificate) and those of his siblings, and Joseph Robinson and Sarah Jane's marriage. The bible is in the possession of my family still and I have seen it and copied out the family information recorded.
Joseph's parents were Thomas and Deborah WILLIAMSON
Sarah Jane's parents were John and Sarah TOMLINSON
Joseph was the second of four brothers, and his childhood in Allonby on the west Cumberland coast is covered on his parents' page.
In 1867, Joseph's maternal grandfather, Joseph ROBINSON, died. Named for him, Joseph inherited his farm, at Pardshaw on the fringe of the Lake District in Cumberland. Assuming he took over the farm when old Joseph died, he'd have been 24 or 25. Estabished on his own farm, he was ready to marry and a year or so later he did, in Whitehaven down the coast from Allonby, to a woman from that port - Sarah Jane TOMLINSON. She, 22, was also a Quaker and they married in the meeting house at Whitehaven.
Joseph and Sarah had six children:
Deborah, 7 December 1869
Sarah Edith, 19 January 1871 (died 3 August 1872)
Mabel, 10 January 1873
Thomas Edward, 12 November 1874
William Henry, 18 November 1876
Joseph John, 23 May 1879
They lived and farmed at Pardshaw - I believe it was at a place called the Croft, but the 1871 census doesn't give specific addresses within the village. Joseph owned and worked the farm, employing (in 1871) one man to help him on the 88 acres. Looks like he was Joseph HOLLIDAY (21, born Threapland, Cumberland) one of the two General Servants living in the house at the census - the other was Mary CHAMBERS (20, born Westnewton, Cumberland) who I suppose was more of a house worker than on the farm? Sarah had Deborah aged about 16 months and Sarah Edith aged 2 months, so I'm sure would have appreciated domestic help.
Also staying with them that census day were Ellen N ARMSTRONG, Sarah Jane's sister, and her own infant, Wilfred.
Joseph John was only seventeen months old when Joseph Robinson fell ill with pneumonia and, after six days, died aged 38 on 31 October 1880. In the 1881 census for Pardshaw, Sarah Jane was living with her five surviving children (aged between 20 months and 11 years) and a governess, Emily CLARKE, and a servant, Annie GILL (both unmarried women of 19). Sarah Jane was aged 34 and listed as an annuitant.
By about 1885, Sarah Jane had developed cancer. She made her will in February 1888, giving her address as Lonsdale Place near Whitehaven, a port on the west coast of Cumberland. She died on 30 June that year, aged 41, at Lonsdale Place, Moresby - I take it this is the same place, Moresby being the parish just north of Whitehaven. Her death was registered by her mother, who was present at the death and gave the same address (though she lived at Plumblands in Whitehaven proper both before and after this date - I suppose she moved in with her sick daughter to take care of her and the children).
Obviously not.
Joseph Robinson seems to have died quite suddenly and did not leave a will. Administration was granted to Sarah Jane his widow in November 1880 with Thomas and Jonathan WILLIAMSON, his brothers presumably, standing surety. His effects were stated to be worth under £4000 including leaseholds.
Sarah Jane did have time in her last illness to put her affairs in order, making a will a few months before her death, which was proved at Carlisle on 23 August 1888. In it she leaves an annuity of £20 to her parents, specifies the division of the more valued household goods (such as furniture and silverware) between her five children, and leaves the sale value of her real estate and other property for the maintenance and education of her four younger children, and to be divided between them when they come of age. The will says that this is to equalise their share with their older brother Thomas Edward - from this, from his taking over the farm, the Croft, in Pardshaw, and from the difference in value between Joseph Robinson's estate (up to £4000) and Sarah Jane's (just over £1600), I infer that the Croft was the main property and was put in trust for Thomas Edward by Sarah Jane as administrator of Joseph Robinson's estate. It is also noticeable that Thomas Edward receives less than his siblings in the 1887 will of his father's father Thomas WILLIAMSON - which I also take to be indicative of Thomas Edward having already been provided for.
(I suppose that if Sarah Jane had bought herself aged 34 an annuity from the estate, that might have accounted for some of the difference in capital value too, even though she only lived to collect it for seven years.)
The children were orphaned aged between 18 and 8. Sarah Jane's will places them in the guardianship of their uncle William WILLIAMSON (Joseph Robinson's brother) and his wife Rebecca at Allonby. Research note: check who's still living there 1891
If you are interested in this family I'll be pleased to hear from you. Click this link to 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.
Links:
Immediate ancestors: Thomas and Deborah WILLIAMSON and John and Sarah TOMLINSON
Immediate descendant: Thomas Edward WILLIAMSON
The Williamson story - WILLIAMSON 1 research notes
index of surnames