'1933 Who's Who in Methodism' & 'Hill's Arrangement'

[mary elms]

Cor you've been busy! I await the next installment!

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

I was being naughty and decided to leave starting the ironing for a bit longer! ....... but now I shall sail through it! Thank you so much Mary for all your help, it's because you gave me so much info as to Stephen's whereabouts over the years, it's made me want to find out as much as I can about him.

Definitely going offline now to get some work done!

[mary elms]

Ironing

Oh, you mean flattening clothes ...... that gets done on a need to wear basis in this house .......

Have fun,

Mary.

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Hi Mary,

I've just found Stephen in the 1861 Census.
He is Assistant Master to Wesleyan Local Preacher, (John Pryce JONES) in Oswestry.

It's a School with 16 Pupil Boarders, so I got the pupil bit wrong then!

Re being a Pupil at this School in 1851:

I was thinking the same as you Mary, as his Parents and Uncles are all living in Staffordshire in 1851 and he's not with any of them.

So who forgot about his sisters?????

Hi Mary,
He's got to be a pupil at the School! I will do my best to obtain a copy of the census page, so will have a look at Shropshire FHS to see if they can get me one? Anyway, the transcription from Family History Online, says that Stephen Forest aged 10, is living in Oswestry Town, so it looks good!

continued ....... Can you guess what's coming next?

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

continued .....

I decided to chase up the Census for Stephen's sisters (haven't worked on the Forrest file for a while now, as I like change!) One of them is Sarah, who is a widow in 1891 and living back home with her Father. I entered in my file that she was married to Unknown Jones!!!!

Even then, I didn't *twig* ...... so brain must have gone to sleep with the ironing, so I did a search on her full names, year and place of birth. It turned out (as you have probably guessed by now) that the census image page was exactly the same one that I have for Stephen. I thought the address was familiar when I spotted it!

Yes, she is the wife of John Pryce JONES as per previous messages!

continued ......

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

continued .....
I shot back into Family History Online and did an 1851 Census search for John Pryce JONES in Shropshire. I have the transcription, same as for Stephen, the reference numbers are the same:
HO107/1993/605/37
so he's a pupil at the School, with his Uncle John as The Boss.

Don't panic Mary with the next thing I found! In the 1871 Census for John Pryce JONES, an Assistant Master is his other nephew, William ...... Stephen's younger brother! I was going to ask you for look-ups in your book for these two, but William is a Furniture Dealer in 1891 living with his Dad, so he musn't have liked preaching. John Pryce JONES died somewhere between 1871 and 1881, as I found Sarah as a widow in the later census. I suppose his name doesn't appear on the list of the link you posted, because he must have left the Ministry before his death.

[mary elms]

Yes, she is the wife of John Pryce JONES as per previous messages!

Glad I'm not the only one who does this!

John Pryce JONES died somewhere between 1871 and 1881, as I found Sarah as a widow in the later census. I suppose his name doesn't appear on the list of the link you posted, because he must have left the Ministry before his death.

Ah, but we Local Preachers aren't Ministers, Diane. We preach in our "spare time". John Pryce JONES was trained to take preaching services. Only under special dispensation in truely unusual circumstances might he be allowed to administer the sacraments and I'm not sure what the Wesleyan rules were so I can't say if this would have been allowed at all. He wasn't ordained so he wouldn't be on the clergy list. Judging from his census returns he was a teacher. If you want to find out more about him you need to follow the ideas here -

https://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/dg/m.../methguid.html

No 3 If your Anscestor was a Local Preacher

Mary.

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Thank you for explaining Mary ...... I'm not well up on Methodism at all as you can tell! My late Aunt who was baptised C of E, started going to her Village Methodist Chapel about 30 years ago, but I never asked her why as I think a person's religion is their own choice.

The thing I do regret, is not listening properly when she told me that one of my FAWCETT Ancestors had *something* to do with the set-up of a Moravian Chapel in Heckmondwike, so now I have no idea who or when!

[mary elms]

OK - trying to avoid some paperwork so couldn't resist seeing what I could find! You probably know all this already but here goes -

A transcription of Baines Directory 1822 gives - Fawcett George, hat manufacturer in Birstall

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS...tall22Dry.html

A transcription of Pigot's directory 1834 gives - James Fawcett, hat munfacturer & dealer in Birstall.
It also says there was a Moravian School at Gomersall with the Rev. Benjamin Beck as its master and a Moravian Chapel. In fact the place is a veritale non-conformist hot-bed "The only places of worship are a chapel each belonging to the Moravians, Wesleyan methodists, and calvinists." Much the same wording can be found in 1829

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS...tall34Dry.html
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS...irstall34.html
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS...irstall29.html

A transcription of White's directory 1837 for Heckmondwike gives

James Fawcett, blanket manufacturer

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS...tall37Dry.html

The births, baptisms and burials registers 1788-1937 (EDIT - that should, of course be 1837) for YORKSHIRE: Gomersall (Moravian) (Limited Brethren) are kept at TNA in Kew - RG4 / 3031 - They might give you some clues and certainly an idea of dates.

S'pose I'd better do that paperwork now as I've run out of avoidance ideas!

Mary.

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Hi Mary,
Thanks for trying to help, but my FAWCETT's weren't 'posh' enough to be hat manufacturers! They lived in Heckmondwike but were all baptised etc. at Birstall, so I have looked at Genuki (a great place) for the surrounding villages, but thanks for thinking of me and posting the links.

If only (which are two of the saddest words) we had started all these threads a year ago ...... I could have asked my Aunt exactly what she knew!