By John Slaughter
Welcome to new member Ian Hay. Ian became aware of the Society’s existence through Richard Saul when Richard’s brother hosted a book event at Ian’s Gallery, the Saul Hay Gallery in Manchester. Ian had carried out some genealogical research on his Saul ancestry and with further research we were able to link these to the largest Saul chart that the Society holds. Ian’s grandfather was Roger Saul who married Blanche Archer in 1929 in the Gateshead area in the county that is now called Tyne and Wear. Both Roger’s father and grandfather had been coal miners and both were named David. It was the his grandfather who had moved to the north east of England from the county of Cumberland, a journey that was also taken by a good number of other folk around that time. My research has shown that none of the north east Sauls had originated there but had migrated from other areas. No doubt such journeys were undertaken for the purpose of finding work. Roger’s grandfather had been born in Maryport, Cumberland in 1826 and from census returns we can date his migration to the north east coalfields as having taken place sometime between 1861 and 1871. He was a coalminer in Cumberland so perhaps the move may have been occasioned by the running down of the mine in which he worked and a need to find new employment. The chart to which we have now been able to add Ian’s ancestry originates with a John Saul and Elizabeth Benson who married in 1697 in the Holme Quaker Meeting.