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| DUNKERLEY FAMILIES OF OLDHAM IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Outline Family Tree
The Dunkerley Family of Oldham
The Parish Registers and Records of Oldham
The Dunkerley Names – surname and forenames
Criteria used to determine an ancestral line
Dunkerleys in the 16th Century
The First James Dunkerley
Moses Dunkerley
Dunkerleys in the 17th Century
Daniel Dunkerley our presumed 8 x great grandfather
Some Records of the Overseers of the Poor
Lower Horsedge
John Dunkerley of Lower Horsedge 7 x Great Grandfather
John and Susan Dunkerley’s presumed eldest son – John
Luke and Hanna Dunkerley’s presumed son John
SOURCES - AND THANKS
A DIRECT LINE OF DESCENT SHOWING ONE BRANCH OF THE DUNKERLEYS OF OLDHAM FROM 1556
*John Dunkerley
*James Dunkerley
*Moses Dunkerley
*Daniel Dunkerley
John Dunkerley m. Susan Thorpe, 1669, Manchester
Mathew Dunkerley m. Hanna Heywood, 1714, Oldham
James Dunkerley m. Martha Jackson, 1712, Oldham
James Dunkerley m. Anne Winterbottom, 1745, Oldham
James Dunkerley m. Elizabeth (Betty) Taylor, 1735, Prestwich
John Dunkerley m. Betty Dunkerley, 1769, Oldham
John Dunkerley m. Anne Buckley, 1759, Oldham
John Armstrong m. Betty Dunkerley, 1799, Prestwich
John Dunkerley m. Betty Heywood, 1785, Oldham
James Dunkerley m. Mary Knight, 1809, Oldham
John Armstrong m. Sabra Hallas, c. 1827
Daniel Dunkerley m. Elizabeth Armstrong, 1853, Prestwich
Daniel Dunkerley m. Kate Isabel Holme, 1891, Friesland
Norman Dunkerley m. Hannah Thompson, 1920, Oldham
Kenneth Gibson Brown m. Rosemary Dunkerley, 1956, Whitby
*The relationship between the first John Dunkerley and James Dunkerley can only be presumed, also that between Moses Dunkerley and Daniel Dunkerley.
THE DUNKERLEYS OF OLDHAM
INTRODUCTION
There have been Dunkerleys living in Oldham since St Mary’s Parish Registers began in 1558. However they were few in number and probably all related. For the first two or three generations relationships can often only be presumed, but as new sources come to light these presumptions may be proved or disproved. It is only towards the end of the 17th century that people’s abode or dwelling is mentioned, eg, James Dunkerley de Lower Horsedge. Lower Horsedge was where our ancestors lived, and judging from the amount of poor relief given to its inhabitants, (several Dunkerleys amongst them,) it was a pretty poor area . Many of the inhabitants were elderly, living in cottages, their rent paid by the Overseers of the Poor, suffering the indignity of wearing a badge on which the letter P was stitched to identify them as a ‘Pauper.’
During the 1720’s, according to Daniel Defoe Oldham was a pleasant place to live, its inhabitants were happy and relatively prosperous. It was during this time that occupations were given in the Parish Registers and the Dunkerley men were almost invariably described as weavers, this continued until the 19th Century. It was during this period that members of our branch of the family, James and Mathew Dunkerley became landowners or more likely tenants, at a property called Cleggs in Sholver. Now they in their turn had to pay a relatively high amount towards the relief of the poor. Both James and Mathew brought up large families. Three sets of grandchildren intermarried, including my direct ancestors, John Dunkerley the grandson of Mathew, and Betty the granddaughter of James. They moved around between neighbouring locations, Broadbent, Barrowshaw and Counthill amongst them. Our ancestors John and Betty moved to Northyate Farm to be near Betty’s brother John and his wife Anne. Northgate farm, as it is now called, can still be found in Sholver Lane at the side of St Thomas’ church, but as far as we know, nothing remains of Cleggs.
Industry, in particular the production of cotton materials, was well established by the end of the 18th Century, and as always there were winners and losers. James Dunkerley’s grandson Joseph established his own factory. Joseph’s son John was described as a cotton manufacturer and he built a huge mansion for himself called Pitbank Hall. The youngest son of James and Martha, also named Joseph did well, he became the owner of a property at Broadbent, where Dunkerleys had lived at the beginning of the 18th Century. Joseph’s daughter Jane married Enoch Dunkerley, a shopkeeper and a man of property. A man knew that he had arrived when he was described as "Mr." In St Mary’s Burial Register! I think the losers included our direct ancestors, At a time, described by local diarist William Rowbottom, as "The most dismal of Times" they left Northgate Farm and went to live in Maygate Lane. The next generation gravitated to Watershedding and thence to Moorside, where one branch, Tom Dunkerley’s family, remains to this day.
Today, as far as I know, there are only two male Dunkerleys of our ancestral line who bear the Dunkerley name, Robert Dunkerley who lives in Rugby and Stuart Dunkerley the son of Gordon Dunkerley, William’s grandson. Sadly Gordon is now dead but Robert has kindly allowed his DNA to be taken and recorded on www.dna.ancestry.co.uk We hope that other Dunkerleys with Oldham roots may eventually join him.
THE DUNKERLEY FAMILY OF OLDHAM
THE PARISH REGISTERS
The main sources of information concerning 16th and 17th century Dunkerley's, so far found, are the Parish Registers of St Mary's, Oldham. St Mary's, at that time was a Chapelry of Prestwich. Up to 1630 the name was normally spelt Donkerley, afterwards it was almost universally spelt in the modern way, although Dunkerley men occasionally signed their names Dunkerly. From 1726 St Mary’s Registers incude records from Holy Trinity, Shaw. The first Dunkerley baptism recorded there was in 1737. For people who lived in the North of the parish, such as Sholver, Shaw Chapel, as it was also known, must have been easier to reach.
THE DUNKERLEY NAMES
The surname of Dunkerley is supposed to originate from a small place called Dinkley, which is within the parish of Blackburn. Literally leah means "fort by a wood .’’ The only association of Dunkerley and Dinkley appears to occur in a lay subsidy of 1332 when there is mention of Roger de Dynkedlegh of Wilpshire cum Dinkley. (Dr David Hills ‘’ The Place names of Lancashire.’’ ) I do not find this very convincing. The Oldham registers are patchy until they became more reliable around 1680. Bishops Transcripts sometimes gave more detail than the registers themselves. In the Baptismal Registers between 1681 and 1690 the mother's Christian name was given, otherwise the mother's name was only given after 1720. This does cause problems with identification, every branch of the Dunkerley family had its John, James and Mary, other commonly used Christian names were Daniel, Joseph, Mathew and Luke. Later there was Enoch and Benjamin. Burial records usually gave the christian name of the wife, though sometimes she was just an unnamed "Ux of... Dunkerley." Marriage records, which are the least common before 1700, do give both Christian name and maiden name. If it has been impossible to establish the wife's name, she has simply been recorded as Mrs - followed by her husband's name, e.g. Mrs. John Dunkerley.
THE PARISH RECORDS
It should be mentioned that I have never actually seen any of the original records; I have relied entirely on microfilms made by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormons. This obviously increases the difficulty as film readers are often badly lit or dirty, the documents themselves can be soiled, crumpled, blotted, or with their edges eaten away. On the whole the handwriting has been very good. I have been fortunate in that the shape of the Dunkerley name is distinctive and easily recognisable. There was a nucleus of about 30 original family names in St Mary’s Parish Registers which became familiar. These are they, spelt in the early way:-
Assheton Bardsley Brearley
Broadbent Butterworth Bucley
Chaderton Clegg Coup
Dunkerley Halkyard Halle
Heap Heywod Jackson
Knott Leese
Mellor Neild Ogden
Schofeld Schole Smethhurst
Sondifforth Tetlow Taylor
Whitehead Whittake Winterbottom
Wolffendon Wylde
The most difficult entry to decipher was the first recorded Dunkerley marriage in 1623, which was John Dunkerley duxit Alice ? I returned to this entry time after time, eventually deciding that it was Heywod, or just possibly Hopwod. The Lancashire Parish Register Transcript makes it Hopwood. This is interesting because there are Hopwood papers (DDHP) in the Lancashire Record office and John Dunkerley is mentioned in them at least twice. There is more information concerning this on the following page.
CRITERIA USED TO DETERMINE AN ANCESTRAL LINE
As I have had no formal training in family history I do not know if there is an accepted criteria for deciding whether or not a person can be accepted definitely as an ancestor, or only presumed. The criteria I have used are:-
There should be a BAPTISMAL RECORD. The best kind of record names the child, together with the father and mother. The very first entries gave no parental names, the entries from 1598 gave only the father's name. From 1650 the mother's name was occasionally given and for the period between 1681 and 1693 it was always given. From then until 1722 only the father's name is shown. However the father's name in the early records does at least prove his existence, as with James Dunkerley, the presumed brother of John and Moses, and also with Daniel himself who first appeared in the register as the father of John.
MARRIAGE can normally be assumed, even though no entry has been found. The letters B.B. were written in the margin of the baptismal registers in the case of a baseborn child, the father was also named in the Oldham registers up to the 19th Century. If a woman was not married I understand that the child normally took her name, not that of the father, even if he was named. However I know of several illegitimate Dunkerleys who took their father's surname. When deciding if a marriage took place I made sure the people concerned were of a suitable age. This was possible in the 18th century when there might be a gap of 20 years between the marriages of two men with the same name. Also their abode was nearly always given, which helped. By the 19th century there were too many John, James or Joseph Dunkerleys, but by this time other sources, such as censuses and civil registration were coming into play. After 1812 the burial registers were much more helpful as they gave the age at death. This can take us as far back as the 1730's, which is a very useful check.
CHRISTIAN NAMES provided limited clues. With very few exceptions Dunkerleys kept to the same Christian names. In our particular ancestral line the eldest son was almost invariably named John. The early names included some from the Old Testament like Moses and Daniel and some from the New Testament like Mathew, Mark and Luke, but over the whole period the most popular names were John, James, Joseph and Daniel followed by Enoch, Benjamin and occasionally Samuel or Isaac. There was a little more variety in the girl's names. Mary was the preferred name for the eldest, followed by Hannah, Martha, Anne or Sarah. Dinah was quite popular. During the last part of the 18th century there were a great many Betty's. Towards the beginning of the 19th century more fanciful Christian names were introduced.
The BURIAL REGISTER needs to be very carefully checked to ensure that a child has not subsequently died. It is also important to ensure that the mother was still alive, and the father had not died more than nine months before the birth!
The location of the family's home, or ABODE, was an important clue, it was given in the marriage register and in Bishops Transcripts. Brothers, and sometimes sisters, remained close, often moving together, or following on to new locations. There are several instances of second cousins marrying, which reinforces the idea that members of the same family line kept in touch.
DUNKERLEYS IN THE 16TH CENTURY
Baptisms in the first volume OofSt Mary’s Parish Registers commence in 1558 so we are very lucky to find the baptism of John Donkerley on the 9th November 1565, followed, on the 18th October 1568, by the baptism of Mary Donkerley. I think it is fair to assume that they were brother and sister, or at the very least, cousins. There were probably several more Dunkerley siblings baptised around this period, unfortunately some leaves of the register are missing. Apart from a few months between November and March 1571, there are no further baptisms until 1574, no baptisms for 1580 or 1582 and none from 1591 until 1598. I have subsequently discovered from Dr. Peter Rathbone, who is a distant cousin, that a John Dunkerley was listed in the Muster Roll of 1569, he was the only Dunkerley and it might be reasonable to surmise that he was the father of John and Mary and our first named ancestor.
A deed of 28.09.1638 to be found in the Lancashire Record Office – "DDHP Hopwood of Hopwood" concerns a cottage, "William Compton of Ouldham linen webster cottage in Ouldham late in the tenure of John Dunkerley deceased father of Martha wife of William Compton." This deed probably refered to the John Dunkerley, son of James, who was baptised in 1598, married Alice Hopwood in 1622 and died in 1638. John and Alice could have had 3 children, the John and Martha who are mentioned in the above document, also Daniel who is important to me because he is my first known ancestor. Unfortunately there is no baptismal record for him so therefore he could have been the son of any one of the three breeding Dunkerley males of the period, John, Moses or James.
Ten years later 25.01.1647/8, "Assignment for £5 William Crompton of Ouldham to John Dunkerley of Hollins tailor cottage in Ouldham with consent of Henry Wrigley of Werneth." This John Dunkerley could have been Martha Compton’s brother. There is a further assignment for £3, John Dunkerley of The Hollins tailor to Henry Wrigley dated 12.05.1649
THE FIRST JAMES DUNKERLEY
The name of James Dunkerley first appeared in St. Mary’s Registers in March 1598/9 as the father of newly baptised John Donkerley, whose brother David was baptised on the 21st February 1602/3. James' son Moses Donkerley was baptised in May 1605. An unnamed child was buried in June 1599. I think it can be inferred that James was probably born in the late 1560's or the 1570's, and that despite the absence of a baptismal record he was a contemporary of John and Mary, probably a brother.
MOSES DUNKERLEY
Moses Dunkerley is mentioned twice in the Manchester Constables Accounts Vol.1.
"1s for a passé and whippinge of Moses Dunkerleye and Ric Hopwood Ouldham pische and brought to ye constable of Newton 29th May 1628." If he was our Moses Dunkerley he would have been about 23 years old. There was also mention, although without a date, of – "1d for bringing Moses Dunkeley a blind boye towards Hollinwood." Moses is a very unusual name, A fellow researcher called Philip Dunkerley who has an interest in the distribution of the Dunkerley name has found two other occurrences, probably gleaned from the IGI, however they do not occur in either the Manchester or Oldham Parish Registers One was dated 1613 Manchester, the other 1630 Greenacres. It is also strange to think that Moses was blind. He appears to have been a particularly strong and healthy man. He married at least twice, fathered a child when he was 50, and was aged about 74 when he died.
Moses Dunkerley may have married several times. The Oldham Baptismal Register mentions Mark the son of Moses Dunkerley by Mary his wife, dated 18th December 1653. I am informed that Moses Dunkerley married Ann Graves in 1638 in Manchester Cathedral. He would have been aged 33, which was old for a first marriage in those days and may mean that he had been married before.
James Dunkerley, Marie his wife, and Moses Duncolly are mentioned in the Poll Tax List of 1641/2. The transcript for this is to be found at the back of the Lancashire Parish Register Society’s Registers of Oldham 1558 – 1682.This tax was levied on all those aged over 16, though men receiving poor relief were normally exempt. James, Marie and Moses, together with John Dunkerley are also mentioned in the Protestation Roll of 1642, this was used for the relief of Protestant refugee from the Civil War in Ireland. James senior was buried in June 1638, this was therefore likely to be his presumed son, James who was unrecorded in the baptismal registers, but was the only James Dunkerley mentioned in any of the Oldham sources that I have seen for this period.
DUNKERLEYS IN THE 17TH CENTURY
The next generation of Dunkerleys probably married and started their families during the 1620's. The most common age for a Dunkerley to marry was between twenty and twenty five, with the earlier age being more common. The first child was usually born within the first year of marriage, often within the first few months. In the first flush of youth a child might be born every year, and then every two years, the last child might arrive well over twenty years after the marriage. Children died most frequently in their first few years. Our branch of the family usually averaged about six children, with more than half surviving. Some families had as many as eleven children and lost nearly all of them.
The second volume of St. Mary’s Baptismal Registers began in 1624, it was the only one written on paper and its condition was very dilapidated. I found only one Dunkerley entry:-23rd Aug 1631 Israll bastard of Mary Donkerleyes. Unfortunately we do not know what happened to Israll or Mary, who was probably a sister or cousin of John, David, Moses and James.
DANIEL DUNKERLEY OUR PRESUMED 8 X GREAT GRANDFATHER
Daniel Dunkerley first made his appearance in the registers in November 1653 as the father of John Dunkerley. An unnamed child of his was also buried in March 1653/4. As mentioned previously, Daniel was likely to be a child of James or John or Moses Dunkerley.
Moses must have had quite an extended family, Martha was baptised in August 1639, James in November 1649, Marke in 1653 (died 1655) and Luke in January 1655 when Moses would have been aged fifty. There were probably more children, but their baptismal entries are missing. There could have been a Matt or Mathew, Particularly given Moses’ preference for the Evangelists. (There is a mention of a Mathew Dunkerley in the Records of the Parish Overseers of the Poor overleaf). I have always favoured Moses as Daniels father, mainly because Daniel’s son John and Luke’s son John clearly lived near one another at Horsedge. However Daniel would have been one of the eldest children, born in the 1630’s, possibly to an unknown first wife. If he was the son of Moses and Ann Graves he would need to have been born in 1638, and would only have been aged 15 when his eldest son John was baptised in 1655. Another scenario might have been that he was James or John’s child, but looked after by Moses when they died in 1638. For this reason I have taken the unusual step of adding Daniel to all three of the brother’s charts. A Daniel Dunkerley was buried in 1680. It could have been ‘our Daniel’ but I think that it is more likely that he went on Poor Relief. See below.
RECORDS OF THE OVERSEERS OF THE POOR FROM 1681
Peter Rathbone, who shares this 17th Century Dunkerley ancestral line, has suggested that these early Dunkerleys were amongst the poorest of the parish. He makes this inference from the records of St. Mary's Overseers of the Poor, which fortunately still survive. Those records that I have seen, commence in 1681. There were two Poor Leys in the course of a year, normally in May and November. First were written the names of those who contributed, with the amount they paid. Occasionally the name of each property was written of which they could be an owner or occupant. No Dunkerley was recorded in the list of contributors until 1722, except for a couple of entries for Luke Dunkerley in 1697 and 1698 for 1s 02 and 1s - respectively. At the end of the list were written the names of the impotent poor who received a weekly allowance. In 1681 and 1682 two Dunkerleys were on this list, Dan Dunkerley’s unnamed daughter received 7 pence and Martha Dunkerley received 10 pence. In 1682 Daniel Dunkerley received his half yearly house rent of 4 shillings and 6 pence. This continued until June 1684 when Martha Dunkerley died. The two Dunkerley names came very close together in the lists, suggesting that they lived near one another. This reinforces the idea that they were brother and sister.
In 1683 Widow Dunkerley joined the list, receiving 2 pence a week and her half yearly rent of of 4 shillings. She remained on the list until November 1692, the parish burial register tells us that Wid Dunkerley of Sholver was buried on December 16th 1692. There is not enough information at present to know who she was, although she could have been Moses’ second wife, Mary, whom he married in 1649. For most of the period when she was receiving benefit she was living at Bardsleys. In May 1684 the wife of Mathew Dunkerley also received 4 shillings for her half yearly rent. The fact that she was a wife and not a widow suggests that Mathew had either absconded or was otherwise unable to keep her. She continued to receive benefit as Mathew’s wife until 1692 but, by the end of 1692, she is described as his widow. She continued to receive benefit until 1698, when her son was also included. She was buried on July 8th 1698, as "Ann wife of Mathew Dunkerley," so her status was still in doubt. I have presumed that Mathew Dunkerley was one of Moses’ sons mainly on the strength of his Evangelist’s name. He appeared in none of St. Mary’s registers.
From 1688 Daniel Dunkerley was receiving 4 pence weekly as well as his house rent. If he was one of Moses’ older children, born in the early 1630’s, he would have been approaching sixty at this time. He dropped out of the Oldham Poor Ley after 1693 but there is no record of his burial in the Parish Registers .The record also mentions that Susan Dunkerley received money and smock cloth, the total value being £1 4s 2d. In 1693 and in 1694 she received £2 11s 4d, which included funeral expenses. She was buried from Sholver on February 21 1694/5. Susan Dunkerley was likely to have been a single woman as married women were given the title of "widd," meaning widow, or "ux" meaning wife. It seems possible that she was that daughter of Daniel Dunkerley who had been receiving Poor Relief from at least 1681, but she was only identified by her Christian name after his death, when there was no further reference "to Daniell Dunkerley’s daughter."
Luke Dunkerley must have died between 1696, when his youngest daughter Ann was born, and 1699 when his widow began to receive poor relief. Her name was not mentioned after 1702 but their son Luke Dunkerley was one of three who received 9s 4d for indentures in 1702. Two Dunkerley widows, Mary and Ann, received 3s each in 1693. A David Dunkerley also received 5s 10d in 1694.
On February 4th 1700/01 John Dunkerley of Horsedge died. Because he and his wife Susan were married in 1669 I have always felt that they must have had children between 1665 and 1688 unrecorded in the baptismal records, which have been lost. In particular I thought that they may have had an older son, named John. As has been mentioned before it was the custom for the eldest Dunkerley son to be named John and it must be remembered that there were very few Dunkerleys living in Oldham at this time. I thought that it was possible that this John, who had moved to Broadbent, where he had married and had a daughter in 1703, was the elder brother of James and Mathew, the younger sons of John and Susan Dunkerley. As families seemed to stick together in those days I thought that it was possible that James and Mathew had joined him there after their father’s death. They too, in their turn, were married from Broadbent. The arrival of two younger siblings may well have caused financial difficulties because in 1705 John Dunkerley of Broadbent initially received 1s 4d, then a further 1s 10d, followed by 6s 0d for clothing. He received further relief in 1707 and 1708. (He also received 2s- in 1726 when he was living in Pittbank.) Susan Dunkerley probably remained at Lower Horsedge, as Widow Dunkerley of Lower Horsedge she received 4s 8d in 1705 and 2s 0d in 1706.
LOWER HORSEDGE
So far there is no indication where Moses, and family lived, but it could have been at Lower Horsedge. This is where Daniel's son John lived and brought up his family, together with Moses’ son James who was baptised in 1649 and was buried from Lower Horsedge in 1684. Luke Dunkerley, who was Moses youngest son also lived at Lower Horsedge. Luke was actually two years younger than John, but if he was Daniel's younger brother he was therefore John's uncle. This is complicated, but families did stay together, which is why I think that this is an important clue to Daniel's identity. Luke married Hannah Hardy on the 31st July 1679. His family continued to live at Horsedge, but, as has been already related, John's sons eventually moved to Broadbent. There is still a Horsedge Road in Oldham today. There is also a very rural picture of St Mary's Church viewed from Horsedge in the published diary of William Rowbottom, dated about 1780.
MARTHA DUNKERLEY’S LINE
Although Martha Dunkerley herself had a hard life, through her son Daniel she established a wide spreading line of Dunkerley’s, see Chart 6. Her grandson John Dunkerley of Sholver was a fustian weaver who left land and property in his will, dated 1750
There are other known Dunkerley lines emanating from John senior and from Martha, through her son Daniel, and from Luke, son of Moses. However, as a working hypothesis I am going to assume that we are descended in an unbroken line from Daniel Dunkerley. I think he was the grandson of James Dunkerley, who would therefore be our first named ancestor. Unfortunately neither Daniel’s baptism nor his burial was recorded.
JOHN DUNKERLEY (1653 – 1701) OF LOWER HORSEDGE – 7 X GREAT GRANDFATHER
John is the only known son of Daniel Dunkerley, although there were probably several other children. The entry for Daniel's marriage has been lost so we do not know his wife's name. Before 1700 only four Dunkerley marriages were recorded in St. Mary's Register. The eldest Dunkerley son was usually called John, so he could well have been the eldest son. He was about two years older than Luke, Moses' youngest son, who was likely to have been his uncle. John's wife was called Susan. Luke's wife was Ann, or Hanna, as variously recorded in the baptismal register. If John and Susan were the pair who married in Manchester Cathedral on 24.4.1669, John would have been aged 16. Both families lived at Lower Horsedge, which was close to the centre of Oldham. The two main clues as to the various John and James' identities are the Christian name of the wife, and the name of the location where they lived. Between 1691 and 1722 the baptismal registers did not name the child's mother. Fortunately the Bishop's Transcripts, which were copies of the registers made for the Bishop of the Diocese, showed the location of their abode. The International Genealogical Index rarely gives this information.
I think that both John and Luke had at least one child before 1681, but there is a gap in the B.T.'s between 1672 and 1681. Although there is no baptismal entry I feel sure each had an eldest son, who by family tradition, they called John.
JOHN AND SUSAN DUNKERLEY’S PRESUMED ELDEST SON JOHN
As has been outlined above John's presumed eldest son John, married Elizabeth, whose surname is unknown .He was probably the first one of his generation to move to Broadbent, which is north of Horsedge, halfway between Oldham and Sholver. John and Elizabeth were the parents of James, born in 1700, who became a taylor in Glodwick, and Mary, born at Broadbent in 1703. Elizabeth died in 1710.
In 1711 John moved from Broadbent to New Earth where he married Ann Taylor. The following year, at New earth they had a son called Joseph who, as local historian Edwin Butterworth remarked, had become one of the principal ratepayers in Oldham by 1757, he died at Mumps in 1788. I have a copy of his Will. John and Anne then moved to Hopkin Ffould, which is quite close to Horsedge and had three more children, John, baptised and died 1715, Daniel, baptised 1716, and Enock, baptised 1719. The family then moved to Pittbank, where another John was born in January 1726. This John was buried in 1740. His father was described in the burial register as "Old John Dunkerley of Fowleach." Another son, Daniel, was buried in 1738, also "of Fowleach", and Anne, his wife, was buried in 1742. There is no record of Old John's death unless, incredibly, he lived until he was over 90 and died at his son's family home at Mumps in 1773. Edwin Butterworth described John's son, Joseph Dunkerley of Mumps, as a relative of Joseph Dunkerley of Rhodes House. This was so, they were second cousins.
LUKE AND HANNA'S PRESUMED SON JOHN
This John Dunkerley was, like many of his family, a weaver. He was probably born in that period between 1665 and 1680 when the baptismal records were lost. He was living in Lower Horsedge when he married Mary Holland in 1704. They had two sons and five daughters.
On February 24th 1703/4 another John Dunkerley, of Sholver, married Ann Buckley. He was the son of Martha Dunkerley's illegitimate son Daniel. He died on 6th January 1750, leaving a will.
JOHN AND SUSAN DUNKERLEY OF HORSEDGE had six more children, three boys and three girls. Sara their elder daughter was baptised in 1681. She may have married James Knott in 1707, (or the marriage entry may have referred to Luke's daughter, also called Sara.) The other two girls, Martha and Rebecca, both died young. Their second son, David, died in infancy. The two youngest boys, MATHEW, baptised 1693, and JAMES, baptised 1695, survived into manhood. They moved to Broadbent, which is my main reason for believing that John, who had already moved there, was their elder brother. Both James and Mathew are direct ancestors of ours through different lines.
SOURCES
The research for this article was first done several years ago and depended heavily on the films of St. Mary’s parish registers and Bishop’s Transcripts made by the church of the L.D.S. They have also filmed many of the extensive parish records for Oldham. It is easy to access these records. At every Mormon Family History Centre they have a fiche index for all the films, fiche and books stored at Salt Lake City, it is arranged by county, and then alphabetically by town, each item has a number. Most of these can be ordered for less than £4.00, the centre will inform you when the item arrives, normally you have three months before they are sent back. They must be viewed and stored at the centre.
The films I used were-
FILM NO. O9624020 ITEM I This was a transcript of the registers of Oldham church from 1558 – 1661 edited by Giles Shaw, Oldham 1889.
FILM NO. 1545705 ITEM 4 – 6, includes BT’s 1604, 1622 -1641, 1665 – 1732.
FILMS NO. 18445 – 1484968 – 1484969. overseers of the Poor Records from St Mary’s, Oldham.
Recently I have purchased the LANCASHIRE PARISH REGISTER SOCIETY’S transcript of The Registers of Oldham 1558 – 1682, Vol. 157 which also includes the 1641 Poll Tax assessment which lists "all persons , male and female, of the age of 16 years and upwards dwelling in the townships of Oldham, Chadderton, Royton and Crompton."
The transcript makes research much easier but you do not get that thrilling feeling of contact with a man writing more than 300 years before.
I have also seen in print, or had the information given to me by fellow researchers, the following –
The Muster Roll for Oldham of 1569.
Manchester Constable’s Accounts Vol 1.
Protestation Roll for Oldham of 1642
The Hearth Tax for Oldham 1664.
THE ACCESS TO ARCHIVES WEBSITE www.a2a.org.uk is always worth checking. For me it yielded THE HOPWOOD MANUSCRIPTS from the
LANCASHIRE RECORD OFFICE. I simply keyed in the word DUNKERLEY.
BACKGROUND READING
Historical Sketches of Oldham 1856 by Edwin Butterworth.
A History of Oldham by Hartley Bateson
Oldham The Formative Years by K McPhillips.
The History of Oldham Churches by John Beever.
MY THANKS TO
The staff of Oldham Local Studies Library who are unfailingly helpful, also many fellow researchers whom I have met there who are prepared to give time and effort to help.
The late Colin Dunkerley who generously shared with me the research for which he had paid professional researchers.
Dr. Peter Rathbone, who is a very experienced and knowledgeable family historian, whose article on the Dunkerley Family can be read in The Manchester Genealogist. Vol 35/3 P.195. This article, entitled "The Dunkerleys of Oldham," was highly commended for the prestigious Earwaker Prize.
Philip Dunkerley, who is researching his own family line of Dunkerleys of Oldham. His thoughtful, descriptive articles about his ancestors’ lives really put flesh on the bones of family history. They can be read on his website – http://dunkerley-tuson.co.uk | |
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