The Sauls of Stubbs Walden
Aunt Sarah's Family History
By John Amos
This article was originally published in the December 2000 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society.
Recently I was fortunate to meet my third cousin whose grandfather, Joseph Hirst, had researched our family history some eighty years ago. Amongst Joseph Hirst’s records is a note by his Aunt Sarah, the daughter of Isaac Hirst and Elizabeth Saul. Sarah’s mother was born in 1805 at Stubbs Walden, a township in the parish of Womersley and a few miles north of Doncaster.
The following is based on Sarah Hirst’s record - I have used italics when copying from her notes, and normal print where I have added information to them.
My name is Sarah Hirst daughter of Isaac Hirst.
My great grandparent’s names on mother's side were Charles Edward Saul and Catherine Heptonstall, and John Addy and Mary .... of Norton. According to traditional sources, Charles’ parents were John (or Joseph) Silvester Saul and Irene Nicholson, but I have found no primary records to support this. A Joseph Silvester Saul, died on his birthday, 11th April 1799, aged 74. John Addy is possibly the John Addy who married Mary Camplin, 8th January 1782 at Campsall. Norton is a township in the parish of Campsall, and is only a mile from Stubbs Walden.
Charles and Catherine Saul had 2 sons and 3 daughters:
Thomas married Elizabeth Addy. In the parish register for the Catholic mission at Burghwallis (near Campsall), held in the Public Record Office, there is a record (in Latin) that “Thomas Saul was born 11 June 1779, being in peril of death was baptised the same day without ceremony.” His godmother was Catherine Saul, possibly his mother.
Charles became a priest. Charles was born 2nd August 1767. He studied in France, fled the Revolution, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1796. He was a missioner at Carlisle and later Bishop Thornton, Yorkshire, where he died in 1813.
Sarah then mentions the three daughters for whom I have found no further information: Elizabeth, not married; Mary, married; Hannah, not married.
John and Mary Addy had one son and one daughter, John (and) Elizabeth who married Thomas Saul.
The young John is possibly John Addey, aged 64, a master wheelwright, recorded in the 1851census for Campsall.
My grandfather and grandmother were Thomas and Elizabeth Saul, who had 3 sons and 7 daughters. Thomas Saul, age 21, married Elizabeth Addy, age 19, on the 24 July 1800 at Womersley parish church. From traditional sources Thomas was a farmer, but on his death certificate in 1845 he is a labourer in 1845. One story is that he lost his farm playing cards. He died from “mortification of the arm”. I have not found his entry in he 1841 census. In the 1851 census Elizabeth is a pauper at Stubbs Walden. She died at South Milford in 1852.
Sarah then goes on to list the children of Thomas and Elizabeth:
Mary, married R. Waddington, Campsall, (she) died aged 41. Mary Saul was born 17 August 1801 and married Richard Waddington at St Martins, Coney St, York, in 1832. She is possibly the Mary Waddington who death is register in the 1842 at Doncaster, but there are another three Mary Waddingtons whose deaths are registered in Yorkshire in 1843.
Charles, married, died at Campsall 1883, aged over 80. I believe Charles to be the Charles Saul, a wheelwright, who married Mary Seniour 24 July 1827. They lived at Brotherton and later at Norton. Mary died in July 1882, and Charles died at Norton in November 1883. They appear to have had a large family including John (born 1828), Charles, Elizabeth, George, Thomas, Joseph, William, Richard, Jane, Henry and David. A letter from Mary Jane Morgan of Illinois to Eddie Saul (both descendants of Charles Saul) mentions William, born in 1838, who emigrated to the States and became a pillar of society in his adopted county in Illinois.
Elizabeth married Isaac Hirst of Milford. Isaac married Elizabeth Saul in the 1825 at Leds[h]am Church. He died 29 December 1877. The Hirsts lived at South Milford between Leeds and Selby. Sarah was their eldest child, born 18th January 1826. Sarah remained single and in the 1881 census she is living with her mother, still in South Milford. Elizabeth, Sarah’s mother, died at South Milford, 2nd February 1890. Isaac Hirst worked for the railway for 40 years, probably as a labourer, retiring on a pension, aged 80. . The Leeds to Selby railway was opened in 1834. The children of Isaac and Elizabeth in addition to Sarah were Isaac (my great grandfather), Elizabeth, William (his son, Joseph Hirst, was keeper of the family history), George, Thomas and Charles. Thomas was the driver of an excursion train involved in a fatal collision with a derailed goods train at Newark in 1870. According to the local newspapers he left a widow and six children, but the rest of the family appear to have had no contact with them, I think they moved to Lancashire.
Thomas Saul went to America and died there. Thomas was born 10th February 1819, I have no other information on him.
John, went to America when he was about twenty, he was living in the year 1877, he is the only son living of the family and he will be 73. He may be the John Saul who is mentioned in a web entry, and who entered the United States via Canada and is buried at Great Bend, Kansas.
Hannah married Edward Naylor of Barnsley. In the 1851 census there is an Edward Naylor, a gardener at Skelbrooke (near Campsall), and his wife Hannah, age 45. They have two children, Charles, 14, and Mary, 12.
Ann, married Nathan Greenwood of Burnley, {she ?} died 7 January 1869. They are buried at Burnley. In the 1841 census Nathan Greenwood is a stonemason at South Milford. Ann, is ‘30’ and they have six children, Elizabeth 12, Mary 10, Ann 7, Emma 5, Nathan 3 and Hannah 3 wks. Ann’s death is registered registered at Burnley in 1869, she was 59.
Catherine, married James Laycock of Pontefract, (she) died 1868. She had a son and a daughter, both went to America. In the 1851 census James Laycock and Catherine, age 35, are living at the Commercial Inn, Brotherton. James is a shoemaker. They have two children, Mary Ann, 5 and John, 3.
Sarah married Thomas Hinsley and is buried at Carlton. Her monument is in the Catholic churchyard at Carlton: “Sarah, wife of Thomas Hinsley of Camblesforth, died 31 oct 1877, age 55”. Thomas, a farmer, and Sarah married in 1858. The Catholic priest at Carlton for46 years was Canon George Heptonstall, possibly related to Sarah Hinsley’s grandmother Catherine Heptonstall. I don’t think Thomas and Sarah Hinsley had any childen.
Harriet, not married, died at Milford 4 Feb 1867, aged 40. Harriet Saul died age 40, her death is registered at Castleford.
Sarah Hirst (Centre)
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