| We often thought that it would be good to be able to speak to just one of them, and we wondered which one to talk to, if there could be just one chance. I would have to choose Sarah, she went through so much. She could tell us about Aaron and why he died. She would have known Aaron's parents and maybe his brothers, the shoemakers. She could have told us about the Church, which she cleaned, and about John and Charlotte, possibly even James and Phoebe. She could have told us about the filth and squalor of Shelton, and about her dreams for her children. Poor Sarah! Come back Sarah....come and tell us!...If only! Barbara would have chosen Aaron, and I can understand why....to learn his dark secret! We realised that without the name of Aaron's father, our journey may have been coming to an end, but it was not to be. Help arrived from an unexpected place.....The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints....the Mormons! The Mormons have for years now been collecting information from parish records and other sources and have amassed a vast database of genealogical information. They have not yet completed every single parish, so luck does play a part, if they haven't done the parish concerned, then you are out of it! We set about what was to become a nightmarish jigsaw. There were dozens of John Hawkins, dozens of James Hawkins, was Aaron a less common name? We hoped so! We were in luck, there was only one Aaron who seemed to match, Aaron Hawkins, born in 1796, to James and Ann Hawkins, at Eccleshall, which rang a bell for some reason. We needed more information though, and as Eccleshall seemed familiar I began to check all my notes from the census returns. I found that there were two other shoemakers in the Hanley area, Robert and Moses, both named Hawkins, and both born in Eccleshall! I then saw that in 1841, Robert's mother, Ann, aged 85yrs., was living with him in Market Street, now Huntbach Street, Hanley. Ann?....Aaron's mother was named Ann....coincidence?...Back to the Mormon files... We needed to know if there was any connection between Aaron, Robert and Moses, there most certainly was!! The said James and Ann Hawkins had three sons....Aaron, Robert and Moses, they were brothers! All shoemakers!! All from Eccleshall. Just to confirm this I searched everywhere until I found the death of Ann Hawkins and Barbara obtained the certificate. Ann Hawkins died in Hanley in 1843,aged 89 years, the widow of James Hawkins, yes, he was a shoemaker!! Remarkable! Before we leave this particular time I should mention more about Aaron's brothers. In 1841 Robert, the eldest, was 60 and living in Market Street, Hanley, with his wife, Mary, nee Boot, aged 50yrs. Their children were Maria, 21...James, 18....Robert, 10 and, as I have said before, his mum, Ann, 85yrs., was living there also. Robert's occupation was described as a shoemaker, employing men and boys, so he had a little business going. The last reference to Robert was in 1861, when he was 84 and still working as a shoemaker! Robert married Mary Boot in 1818 at Norton in the Moors. They had seven children, three of which were boys, so they would also have carried the name on....more relatives! Living in Well Street, Hanley, in 1841, was Moses Hawkins, 40yrs., with his wife Elizabeth, nee Price, 35yrs., and two children, Mary,15, and William, 10. The last record of Moses was in 1871, when he was 74, and Elizabeth was 72. Moses married Elizabeth Price in 1822, at Stoke Church. They had three children, two of which were boys.....MORE relatives...I wonder where all these people are...they must be all over the place! So the Hawkins shoemakers had come to Hanley and each had gone to a different part of the town....we had it surrounded! In actual fact we did find another brother, James, named after his father, also born in Eccleshall in 1783, but we could find no trace of him. James and Ann also had a daughter, Ann, named after her mother, also born in Eccleshall, in 1786, but we couldn't find her either. |
| From Inner Tube to Shoemakers...part 12 |