PEARSON OF WYKE

 

The Birstall parish registers show the marriage of James “Dixson” and Sarah Pearson in November 1847, giving Sarah’s father as Joseph Pearson, labourer. Census returns show that Sarah (Pearson) Dixon was born at Wyke about 1823 or 1824,[1] leading to the location of Sarah’s family in the 1841 and 1851 census records.[2]

 

Joseph Pearson is shown by the 1851 and 1861 census returns to have been born at Wyke about 1788.[3] There is more than one possible baptism for him but the best candidates would seem to be at Lightcliffe on 22 February 1789[4] and Birstall on 30 May 1789,[5] the entries for both of which give the father as James Pearson but do not identify the mother. The use of the relatively rare name Bridget for a daughter of Joseph supports his identification as a son of the James Pearson and Bridget Firth who were married at Birstall in 1784. Joseph also had a son named James.

 

Bridget, wife of James Pearson of Wyke, was buried at Lightcliffe in 1819 aged sixty-three, and her widower would then appear to be the James Pearson of Wyke who was buried at Lightcliffe in 1825, also at the age of sixty-three.

 

There was a James, son of John Pearson of Wyke, baptised at Cleckheaton on 16 January 1763,[6] but it is not yet clear whether this was the James who later married Bridget Firth.

 

The maiden name of Mary, wife of Joseph Pearson, is given as Wilkinson on the birth certificate of their son George, and Joseph Pearson and Mary Wilkinson were married at Bradford in 1812. The parentage of Mary is uncertain but at the time of the 1841 census a John Wilkinson, age given as seventy, was living in the same building as Joseph and Mary Pearson, and there was a Mary, daughter of John Wilkinson of Wibsey, baptised at Bradford on 25 July 1790.[7]

 

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PEARSON

 

1          JAMES PEARSON of Wyke, Yorkshire, weaver, was born ca 1762 and was buried on 2 October 1825 at Lightcliffe, Yorkshire.[8] He married on 18 October 1784 at Birstall, BRIDGET FIRTH,[9] daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Hargreaves) Firth (see here). Bridget was baptised on 31 October 1756 at Wibsey and buried on 10 October 1819 at Lightcliffe.

 

                Children of James and Bridget (Firth) Pearson:

                                i               JOHN PEARSON, bap 5 Jun 1785, Cleckheaton.[10]

                2              ii              JOSEPH PEARSON (ca 1788-1870); m MARY WILKINSON.

 

2          JOSEPH PEARSON of Wyke, iron works labourer, was born ca 1788 at Wyke[11] and died on 28 January 1870 at Cleckheaton.[12] He married on 20 May 1812 at Bradford, MARY WILKINSON.[13] Mary was born ca 1792 at Wyke[14] and died on 15 August 1851 at Wyke.[15]

 

                Children of Joseph and Mary (Wilkinson) Pearson:

                                i               HARRIET PEARSON, b Wyke, bap 5 Sep 1813, Wibsey,[16] bur 31 Mar 1877, Beeston;[17] m 31 May 1852, Birstall, GEORGE HAIGH.[18]

                                ii              NANCY PEARSON, b Wyke, bap 22 Sep 1816, Wibsey,[19] bur 21 Feb 1900, Cleckheaton;[20] m(1) 25 Dec 1837, Manchester, JOHN ANSLOW;[21] m(2) 2 Sep 1849, Birstall, SAMUEL LOCKWOOD;[22] m(3) 14 Dec 1856, Birstall, WILLIAM FARRAR.[23]

                                iii             BRIDGET PEARSON, b 24 Dec 1819, Wyke,[24] d 30 Dec 1870, Openshaw, Lancashire;[25] m 11 Jul 1841, Birstall, JONAS CROWTHER.[26]

                                iv             SARAH PEARSON, b Wyke, bap 20 Jul 1823, Wibsey,[27] d 28 Oct 1867, Wortley;[28] m 5 Nov 1847, Birstall, JAMES DIXON[29] (see here).

                                v              JOSEPH PEARSON, b Wyke, bap 3 Aug 1826, Wibsey.[30]

                                vi             JAMES PEARSON, b ca 1829, Wyke.[31]

                                vii            JOHN PEARSON, b ca 1832, Wyke.[32]

                                viii           GEORGE PEARSON of North Bierley, labourer, b 25 Apr 1838, Wyke;[33] m MARY.[34]


[1] 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76); 1861 census returns, Wortley (National Archives, RG 9/3349, fol. 61).

[2] 1841 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/1291/12, fol. 5).

[3] 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76); 1861 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, RG 9/3305, fol. 13).

[4] Lightcliffe parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP47/1/1/2).

[5] Birstall parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP5/1/1/10). The residence is given as Wyke.

[6] Cleckheaton parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP35/1).

[7] Bradford parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, BDP14/1/1/8). There was also a Mary, daughter of Sarah Wilkinson, spinster, of Wyke, baptised at Wibsey on 7 Jul 1793.

[8] Lightcliffe parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP47/1/4/1).

[9] Birstall parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP5/1/3/3).

[10] Cleckheaton parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP35/1).

[11] 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76).

[12] Death certificate.

[13] Bradford parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, BDP14/1/3/7).

[14] 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76).

[15] Death certificate.

[16] Wibsey parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); 1861 census returns, Beeston (National Archives, RG 9/3361, fol. 97).

[17] Beeston parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).

[18] Birstall parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).

[19] Wibsey parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 85).

[20] Whitechapel, Cleckheaton, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).

[21] Manchester parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).

[22] Birstall parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).

[23] Birstall parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).

[24] Cleckheaton parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP35/2); 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76); 1861 census returns, Openshaw (National Archives, RG 9/2872, fol. 29).

[25] Death certificate.

[26] Marriage certificate.

[27] Wibsey parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, BDP66/1/2/1); 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76).

[28] Death certificate.

[29] Birstall parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, WDP5/1/3/13).

[30] Wibsey parish registers (West Yorkshire Archive Service, BDP66/1/2/1); 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76). He was perhaps the Joseph Pearson who married Mary (Taylor) Greenwood at the Westfield Independent Chapel, Wyke, in 1853, but the marriage certificate gives that Joseph’s father as George Pearson.

[31] 1851 census returns, Wyke, HO 107/2303, fol. 76. He was probably the James Pearson who was a railway labourer living at Openshaw in 1861 with a wife Elizabeth: 1861 census returns, Openshaw (National Archives, RG 9/2872, fol. 117).

[32] 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76). He may have been the John, son of Joseph and Mary Pearson of Wibsey, who was born on 4 Oct 1830 and baptised at Bradford on 5 Dec 1830 (Bradford parish registers, West Yorkshire Archive Service, BDP14/1/2/7).

[33] Birth certificate; 1851 census returns, Wyke (National Archives, HO 107/2303, fol. 76).

[34] 1881 census returns, North Bierley (National Archives, RG 11/4433, fol. 11).