by John Slaughter  

I am pleased to welcome six new members, Jo Saul, Jennie Saul, Alan Midgley, Paul Cupit, Amy Hefford and Janet McIntyre. Jo Saul is researching her husband Jeff’s ancestry.

Their starting point was Jeff’s grandfather Harold Saul from Preston, Lancashire who moved firstly to Canada and then to Nigeria, where he, together with his wife Elsie, were missionaries. Harold is known to have married and died in Canada though exact details are not known.

They had three children Edwin James, Kenneth Harold and Carolyn. From speaking to relations Jo has established that Harold was born in Preston around 1901 to John Thomas Saul and Mary Ellen Fletcher. Harold was the youngest of eight siblings and the whole family emigrated to Canada around 1911 where John Thomas worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway. The identity of John Thomas Saul has yet to be established as there are two possible candidates for him at Preston. Jennie Saul is a descendant of the Sauls at Great Yarmouth who, for many years, were in business as timber merchants. Jennie’s great great grandfather was Charles Lepard Saul who was born in Great Yarmouth in 1871. He married twice and had four children by his first wife Ella Crane. Jennie has recently visited Great Yarmouth and taken photographs of the area where the business operated and also various Saul gravestones in the Yarmouth Old Cemetery. Jennie has kindly agreed to write an article for the journal.

Alan Midgley’s great grandmother was Margaret Sawle who married Joseph Edward Clark at Ilfracombe, Devon in 1885. Margaret appears on one of our Cornwall trees. Her father, Robert Sawle, was a mariner and later a coastguard, and was born at Gerrans, Cornwall in 1815. Margaret was the seventh born of eight known children. 4 Research Reports Through parish records etc. we have traced this family back several generations. Alan has carried out his own research and I will be interested to see how Alan’s information compares to our own.

Paul Cupit has recently joined and I am awaiting details of his Saul connection.

Amy Hefford made contact seeking help in finding out more about her Saul ancestors that she understood were well known builders in Preston, Lancashire. Her grandfather Thomas Kenneth Saul was born on 7th July 1916 and I was able to advise Amy that his father was William Edward Saul whose WW1 army service was to be found on our web site.

William Edward was located on the 1891 census aged 9 years in the household of his parents at Ashton on Ribble, Preston. His father William Henry Saul was indeed a builder by trade and at this stage I was able to connect the family to one of our existing Preston charts. Several previous generations were also builders and the genealogy has to date been taken back to a Robert Saul who married Ann Helm at Preston in 1812.

Janet McIntyre’s grandfather was Thomas Armstrong Saul who I had no previous knowledge of. He was born in 1899 the second of two sons born to Faulder Lawson Saul and his second wife Elizabeth Armstrong. Thomas was born in Cumberland but later moved to Leeds. Faulder Lawson Saul’s first wife was Rebecca Davidson by whom he had three children. Sadly Rebecca died in 1894 shortly after the birth of the third child. This Saul family can be traced back many generations and is the largest chart that we have for the Cumberland Sauls.

Amongst the new enquiries that have been received was one from Debbie Brogan who has indicated that she intends to join the Society. Debbie connects to the Byfield Sauls by virtue of her 4 x great grandmother Mary Saul who married Thomas Lawrence at Byfield in 1772. Mary was the daughter of James Saul and Rebecca Brooks, who are believed to be the parents of the infamous John Saul(l) who was wanted for murder and about whom several articles has previously appeared in this journal.

Finally an enquiry from Peter Lilington in Australia informed me that one of his ancestors was an Isabella Saul who married John Whelpdale at Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland in 1828. Isabella was known to us and had been baptised at Cartmel in 1803, the second of nine children of William Saul and Martha Hodgson of Cartmel. This is another Saul family that has been extensively researched by members and others. 

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