Whatmore Family History

The Wolverley branch of the Whatmore family is perhaps one of the vigorous of the Whatmore lines, with many existing sub branches. It was founded by Thomas Watmore and his wife Susannah Southal who were married in 1768 at Kinlet in Shropshire but who went to live in  Wolverley, Worcestershire the same year.

 St John the Baptist’s Church, Wolverley Copyright: Mat Fascione  Reproduced here under the terms of the site license which can be viewed at this link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Wolverley is a rural parish just north of Kidderminster. The houses nestle among sandstone rocks, which rise in height to the north until they form the dramatic and beautiful landscape feature of Kinver Edge where there are houses built into the rock which can be visited. There are also rock houses at Wolverley and one was recently sold for £100,000. For pictures follow this link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=466124&in_page_id=1770

One of the Wolverley Whatmore families lived in a rock house for several years.

Thomas’s wife Susannah was probably from Kinlet where there were two people of that name baptised in 1747. Thomas’s own origin is more of a mystery.   If he was about the same age as Susannah, then he is likely to be the Thomas Watmore was baptised at Neen Savage on 3 June 1745. The register gives his parents as Francis and Mary, but there are no further records of a Francis and Mary Watmore living locally and I think that ‘Mary’  is a mistake and should read ‘Margaret’.  A Francis Watmore (probably the one baptised on 7 March 1720 at Arley) married a Margaret Rudd at Cleobury Mortimer (the next parish to Neen Savage) on 6 August 1744. Their three known children were baptised at Kinlet - William 1747, Sarah 1750 and Francis 1754. One would expect there to have been an earlier child which I think was probably Thomas born 1745 at Neen Savage. If this is correct then Thomas would have been brought up at Kinlet, where he met his future wife and where he was married.

If we look for link between Kinlet and Wolverley for this family we find the burial at Wolverley of a Francis in 1781 and a Margaret in 1797. Were these Thomas’s parents who had come to live with him? Although there are alternative burials for Francis Watmore this is the most likely one for his wife Margaret. One wonders, however, why Francis and Margaret had no further children after 1754 which suggests that Margaret may in fact have died soon after this date.

Turning from the speculative to the definite, the known children of Thomas and Susannah, all baptised at Wolverley, were:

John -baptised on 14 September 1768 and buried two days later.

Mary - baptised on 1 October 1769 and possibly the Mary Whatmore who was buried at Wolverley on 11 April 1789.

Francis - baptised on 16 February 1772. He married a Sarah and they had at least seven children.

Their eldest son was Francis baptised in 1798 and who married a Deborah (probably Deborah Mitton who married a Francis Whatmore at Kingswinford in 1832). Their six known children were all baptised at Pattingham, Staffordshire.

Francis and Deborah’s son James, born 1841, married an Emma from Claverley who died before the 1891 census for by then James had remarried to Emma Eliza Taylor from Stottesdon, and had established a large family at Claverley, where James died in 1918 aged 77.

Francis and Deborah’s son William, born in 1844 married an Ann Mansell alias Butcher at Madeley in 1864. Their two children were born at Madeley - Francis in 1864 and John in 1869 but the family later lived at Ogley Hay, Brownhills where William continued to work as a miner. Francis married Emma Jobburn in 1892 and they had two children there - John in 1893 and Francis William in 1894. John Married Gertrude Cole in 1914 and Francis William married Polly Friar in the same year. These two brothers moved to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, pursuing work in the mines - John was there by 1919 and Francis William by 1924.  John and Francis William were the founders of the very large Whatmore family that lives around Mansfield today.

 Wolverley   Copyright: Andrew Longton   Reproduced here under the terms of the site licence which can be viewed here:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Sarah - baptised on 27 December 1774. She is believed to have married John Bennett at Claines on 28 February 1803.

Thomas - baptised on 1 June 1777. He married a Jane from Wolverley. They moved about quite a bit after their marriage but never very far from Wolverley to which each of their children was taken in turn to be baptised.  In 1817 they were at Cookley, in 1818 at Kingswinford and in 1826 at  the ‘Rock House’ in Kingsford. By 1841 Thomas and Jane had settled in Kinver and there they spent the rest of their lives.  Thomas died in 1855 and Jane in 1857. The 1841 census refers to a Whatmore’s Rock otherwise known as Welling’s Rock,  somewhere on Kinver Edge in the vicinity of Kinver Edge Farm.  It is not referred to in later censuses nor is it marked on modern maps of the area.

Thomas and Jane’s daughter Susannah, born 1802, married a William Critchley and lived at Kinver Lock.

Thomas and Jane’s son John, baptised in 1809 would appear to be the John who married Mary Ann Griffiths at St Thomas’s church in Dudley in 1833. They had two sons born at Tipton - Benjamin Franklin in 1834 and William Henry in 1837. A couple of years after the 1841 census, John emigrated to Pennsylvania. His wife and children followed him in 1846, sailing from Liverpool.  According to a descendant, both of John and Mary’s sons enlisted as soldiers during the Civil War and both deserted.  Benjamin Frankin Whatmore married Sarah Elizabeth Hommel. In 1860 they were at Hartleton in Union County where Benjamin was working as a miner.  They had four children, of whom William Henry, born 1860, married Minerva Jolly in 1887 and had a large family of children.  William Henry, the other son of John and Mary Whatmore, married a Rebecca and in 1860 they were at Yoder Township, Johnstown, Cambria County. William Henry was working as a puddler as was his father John, who was living with his son.

Another of the sons of Thomas and Jane was William, born 1814, who married Amy or Emma Evans in 1840 at Dudley. Amy /Emma was a widow and her maiden name had been Lawley. Their son William married Ann Maria Jordan and migrated to Bradley Green, Biddulph on the border of Staffordshire and Cheshire.

 John - baptised 22 October 1780. He married a Sarah and they had 10 known children. Their eldest son was George, born in 1800. George married  Sarah, a widow - probably Sarah Cope. They lived in the Wolverley area for the whole of their married lives and had seven known children. One of these, John, born 1832 ended up in the Kidderminster Union Workhouse. He seems to have been the only one of the Wolverley Whatmore who suffered this fate.

Another of John and Sarah’s sons was Samuel, born in 1815 who married an Isabella. They lived all their married lives in the Wolverley area as did their 4 children.

 Tragedy befell  John and Sarah  in 1822 when two of their children died of small pox within three months of each other.

Ann - baptised on 31 October 1785. She is believed to have married William Cope at Wolverley on 22 May 1810.

 Wolverley Bridge    Copyright: Mat Fascione   Reproduced here under the terms of the site licence which can be viewed here:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

James - baptised on 4 November 1787 and who married Elizabeth Priest in 1813 at Old Swinford. They lived at Wolverley and had two children - Thomas born 1814 about whom nothing further is known, and Joseph born in 1815. Joseph married Rosanna Brown in 1839 at Old Swinford and lived at Wolverley where they had a large family. In his old age, James, still working but by now blind, went to live with his son Joseph.

Of the children of Joseph and Rosanna, James born 1840 married Sarah Hill in 1863 at Old Swinford. Their children included Louisa born 1880, who is described in the 1901 census as a dog trainer! Another son of Joseph and Rosannah was George,born in 1844 who married an Ellen (probably Ellen Walker). They lived at Kidderminster and had 4 children, two of whom went to live in Birmingham.

A further child of Joseph and Rosanna was Joseph Junior born 1851. He married Susan Heath in 1873, but  tragically she died a few years later, leaving Joseph Junior with a young son.  In 1884 Joseph Junior remarried to Eliza Weavers who was also no stranger to tragedy Born in Kidderminster in about 1848, she had married a Thomas Jones in 1866. Thomas died aged only 28 in 1873 leaving Eliza with two young sons. Eliza then remarried to a George Weavers by whom she had two further children, but George Weavers died aged 29 in 1883. It is to be hoped that both Eliza and Joseph Whatmore lived out their lives to a full span together. This story shows the frailty of life in Victorian times and how widows and widowers with young children to look after, needed to find a new partner quickly.

Mary was baptised on 15 August 1790 and is probably the Mary buried at Wolverley on 11 July 1813.

George - the final child of Thomas and Susannah, was baptised on 5 June 1796. He married Mary Credington in 1818 at Old Swinsford. They lived initially at Little Holborough where their first child, Maria, was baptised in 1819. Thereafter they lived at Wolverley. They had two further daughters and a son William, born in 1825.

William married Ellen Summers in 1848 at Netherton, Dudley but later they moved to Sedgeley. They had twelve children including twins - Mary and Martha born in 1852.  Three of their sons migrated to seek new opportunities in Middlesborough, and after Ellen died in 1886, William joined them there. That is another story to be told in a future post.

Thomas, the founder of the Wolverley family is probably the one buried at Wolverley in 1810. His wife Susannah lived to the ripe old age of 93 and was buried at Wolverley on 18 January 1839.