Place Named "Hough Hill" is in Chester, Cheshire 1688

In Roger Whitley's Diary on the date of 16 April 1688, Roger records:

"Monday, I went to Chester; dined at Jackson's with the Sheriffe, Brandon, Bellot & many other gentlemen (& one Ensigne Gaywood) then I went with 2 Lees to Dr Angells; then we went in my coach to meete the Judge at Hough hill; soe to the Castle; I & Swetnam went to see Mrs Shakerly, she was abroad; saw her husband, 2 Mrs Hurlestons &c; ..."

Quaker Pemberton Burial in Lancashire in 1674

The following: "George Pemberton of Aspull belonging to Blackrod Meeting was buried the 31st of 11 month 1674" found in Register of Births, Marriages and Burials from the Monthly Meeting of Lancaster, Lancashire from 1644 to 1691, British National Archives RG6/1004. Aspull is in Wigan, Lancashire and 29 miles (as the crow flies) from Chester, Cheshire. Blackrod is about 5 miles NE of Wigan and is a chapelry in the Parish of Bolton le Moors (now Bolton) in the Salford Hundred. Bolton was a "hotbed of Puritanism". See or download a pdf of the archive here. Note that these "non-conformist" documents cannot be viewed on the National Archives web site, but are available at http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/bmdr/ but you must be a logged-in subscriber.

George Pemberton Wills in Cheshire

Found these four wills on Lancashire Wills Search for George Pemberton. The numbers are for LDS microfilms reels and the places are all in Cheshire.

1683 Norbury 89651/89652

1686 Wallasey 89664

1684 Wrenbury 89656

1731,2 Norbury 89764

These are all in Cheshire.

Early Land Records of W. Virginia

Searched for William Hall on Ancestry.com in the book Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia, Edgar B. Sims, State Auditor, Charleston, West Virginia, 1952
"The land grants listed herein were made by Lord Fairfax prior to the creation of the Virginia Land Office, by the Commonwealth of Virginia, of lands now embracing the State of West Virginia; and, by the State of West Virginia, under its first Constitution. "

Found:

William Hall 486 Acres near Elk Branch, 1756 see book 1 pg 234

William Hall 2,236 Acres near Howard's Marsh, 1764 see book 2 pg 477

Cheshire Pemberton Burials 1560 -1871

I have published my extractions of the Pemberton burials of Cheshire from the Cheshire Parish Record data base. The file is in burial date order and I stopped extracting the details after 1759 except for a George buried 3 Sept 1785.

Interesting History of Pemberton Surname

Read here and here.

The crest at left is from the latter "here".

It seems that the three buckets always appeared on the Pemberton's. I have seen a couple crests in a Pemberton family church south of Cambridge and they both have the chevron with three buckets. I wonder what's in them.

Baptists & Quakers in Cheshire, 1650 - 1690

Reading A history of the Town and Parish of Nantwich or Wich-Malbank : in the County Palatine of Chester, printed for the author James Hall, Willaston, Nantwich, 1883. Found on ancestry.com here.

"On the 20th Nov. 1682, orders were published in the Churches of Ceshire to present all that come not to Church and to the Sacrament if above sixteen. (Philip Henry's Diaries, p. 319); and for a few years the Dissenters here, as elsewhere, were silenced; but when the Toleration Act of 1689 was passed, there were two distinct congregations of Protestant Dissenters in this town; namely, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists." pg 384.
"The Quakers suffered severe persecution in Charles II reign; and in 1685, it is said no less than 1,460 were imprisoned in England and Wales; and great numbers sailed to America, and settled in the newly founded Quaker colony of Pennsylvania, amongst whom were many from Cheshire, who probably built the city of Chester in that State... In 1721 there were thirteen Quaker families in Nantwich.–(Notitia Cestriensis)." pg 398.

The index of the book lists the following, which did not add anything exciting -

Middleton, Elizabeth, 341

________John, 202, 341

________Sir Thomas, 154-157,178n., 193

Pemberton, Ann, 362

_________John, 350

_________Richard, 341

_________William, 228

Searched the Domesday Survey of 1086

No Pemberton's, a couple Pembridge's. No Myddleton's. Many Middleton's, none in Cheshire. There are a number of ..berton's, including a Roger Emberton in Buckinghamshire.
See email to Dixie of this date for more.

To Do's

See if you can find anything in
GenealogyLinks.net/Lancashire or in Lancashire Parishes.

Email Online Parish Clerks of Lancashire about few Middletons and Pembertons in Middleton Parish church, St Leonards AND who was this Mrs. Pemberton from Middleton Hall.

Email Cheshire Parish Register Transcription Project about viewing baptisms in original records of Chester, St Mary for 1634 - 1660.

Read emails from Cheshire Parish Register Transcription Project director - comments about Pemberton/Middleton

Check for some good data here: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/england/lancashire/parish-registers.htm

Seaching OriginsNetwork and Norfolk

Spent the afternoon looking for any Pemberton's, Middleton's, Brooks in Wisbech, Norfolk. Subscribed to originsNetwork to access their records. Nothing today.

Did get some nice maps of Cheshire and Lancashire.

George Pembertons' Events & Wills, Cheshire 1652 - 1711

Dixie found a George Pemberton, feltmaker, 1652, in the Cheshire Extracted Parish Records in Marton Marriages, Addenda Et Corrigenda (Marriage) located in the Collection: Cheshire: Chester - Freemen of The City of Chester, 1392 - 1700.

Also a marriage on 29 May ca 1709, of George Pemberton of Marbury, Co. Chester, agric. and Beatrice Twiss of St. John's parish in the city of Chester, spr., aged about 30 years. Bnd in the same Marton Marriages in Cheshire: - Marriage Bonds of Archdeaconry of Cheshire, 1707 - 1711

Also a list of wills, see her email of today.

Map of Middleton, Lancashire with Hall & Churches

Here is an 1848 map of Middleton, Lancashire. St Leonards church's label is right on top of the big "O" in the center of the map, Middleton Hall is about 3 of these "O's" below the "O", and St Michaels is between the black, bold "T" and "O" lower right. This "TO" is the beginning of Tonge. If our work proves that we are in the right place here, I will purchase this map on nice parchment paper.
Middleton is shown three times on this map because (I think) we are looking at Middleton town in Middleton Township in Middleton Parish.
Middleton Hall was torn down in 1845 and a large cotton mill built on the site. In the map we see a Cotton Mill: go north from the East end of the Hall, around the turn, take a left to the Mill.

Four Middleton Events in Middleton Parish???

Dixie points out that there are only four events in this Parish's entire history with the name Middleton attached! Also, there are only two Pemberton events. A real curiosity - maybe the transcription process is only partially complete there?

I sorted the Pemberton records I have extracted, and the predominant parishes in Lancashire are St Mary the Virgin, St Peter, All Saints, and St Michael. I have having a "Dickins" of a time figuring out just where these are.

Finished Lancashire Pemberton Extractions

I completed the extraction work for all Pemberton events from the Lancashire Parishes. Now to examine what I've got.

Historical Background of Pemberton and Middleton

From British History web site a rich information source including gazetteers:
"Coal-mining is the principal industry. There are stone quarries, boiler works, iron foundry, cotton mill, and brick-making. The soil is loam and clay, with subsoil of clay, stone, and coal; potatoes and oats are grown, and there is some pasturage."

Apparently Lancashire was once named Lancaster.
Footnotes talk at some length about the Pemberton's beginning ca. 1200AD, including a George son of John.
A curiosity: "Roger Lowe records that on 1 June 1665 he went to see the burning well at Pemberton, 'and we had two eggs which was so done by no material fire'". This is probably natural gas. It is coal country.
A wonderful book, A Topographical Dictionary of England (by Samuel Lewis, Editor, 1848) talks of Middleton Hall, St Leonard church (where "Mrs Penberton from Middleton Hall" was buried), etc etc.

A Penberton - Middleton Connection before 1720

While extracting records from the Lancashire Parishes (go here, click on the Middleton Parish, on the resulting search screen enter Pemberton and notice a pull down menu with St Leonard pre-selected) , I see this entry:

Burial: 21 Oct 1720 St Leonard, Middleton, Lancashire, England
Mrs Penberton from Middleton Hall

As shown here, St Leonard would be the name of the church in Middleton Parish, between Manchester and Rochdale, Lancashire.

I did a little checking and it looks like there was a well known Middleton Hall there once owned by the Assheton's. The Hall takes its name from the city rather than a prior owner. The salient fact in all this, is that "Mrs. Penberton from Middleton Hall", places her firmly in the Parish of St Leonard's church.

Here is the web page for the church . It is a very unusual one, I have never before seen a church in England with a wooden cap to its always stone tower. The list of Rectors on that page begins with a Middleton (13th Century) and shows a number of Assheton's between the sailing of Columbus to the birth of the parents of our George and Sarah.

Thursday, February 11 - What a wonderful example of my "genealogical handicap"!! It never once crossed my mind last evening, that this could be our Sarah Pemberton, a widow (Mrs Penberton) gone home to finish her days. Truly I am Jack the Knerd, social connections are virtually invisible to me.

In regard to the spelling "Penberton", there are only 2 other Penberton spellings in the 3,123,753 entries of the Lancashire Parish Records project, viz.

Baptisms: 15 Jul 1838 St John, Preston, Lancashire, England
Mary Penberton - Child of Thomas Penberton & Esther

So this is not a family spelling - just a clerical one.

An interesting insight into old England in general and the word "Comoditye" in particular

In a "Transcript of the contents of a Bound Volume of Documents Dated 1 Jac. 1603", "Compiled and Edited by J. C. Dewhurst, F.R.I.B.A., (Ret.) 1943" now in the Cheshire Archives, I found this entertaining and enlightening discourse, to wit:

... "And being accompanyed with the L. Strange, the L. Mountegle and Sir John Savage, attended with Sir Richard Sherborne and some fewe others, men of speciall choyce and place in his secret counsailes, hee came again to the Cittye. And sitting in person in the Exchequer hee sent for the Maior and Sherifes to come unto him, who hereupon appeared in Courte; unto whome the Earle then spake as followeth:--

THE ORATION OF YE EARLE

"FORASMUCH as yt hath pleased the Queene's most excellent majestie to appointe mee Officer in this Charge and form w'ch hath gouvernmente not only of the county palatine of Chester, But also of the countie of the Citye of Chester, being parcell and w'thin the same countye palatine, as a Chancelor or Head Officer in Equitye, to mainteyne the Just and to reforme the wronge. Wherein, nevertheless, bee divers and sundrie officers and ministers to execute the Lawes committed to their Charge and authoritye as you Mr. Maior, the Sherifes, Coroners, Constables and others, verie necessarie in every yor offices and Degrees. The well doinge whereof tendeth to your Comoditye [advantage] and mainteineth the estate of the Citye, by the Queene's Majestye's noble progenitors, Earles of Chester, founded and made. And contrariwyse the abuse and evill doinge of any yor officers procureth yor owne Discomoditye and Hindrance and provoketh the overthrowe and Distruction of yor Estate and authoritye, which I rather wishe to bee mainteyned then otherwise decayed. And hearing of some disobedience or disorder practized by you the Officers of the Citye now in my tyme of being Officer, otherwise then before hath bene used or donne and otherwise then Duetye requireth to dooe. ..."

Note that "[advantage]" appears in the text of the publication I have in my hand. I presume that Mr. Dewhurst was the inserter, but prior publications are listed inside the back cover so I cannot be certain.

One Peter Middleton is listed later in the document as an "Attorneye" in the "offices of the Exchequer of the Countie Palatyne of Chester".

Extracting Pemberton's from Lancashire Parishes

I started working the Lancashire Parishes source today. I am extracting all parish records of Pemberton in all its various spellings from the earliest records up to 1750 (or when I wear out of the task).