Westmorland County Records

The 1881 Census

Stephen Wrathall (1864 - 1954), the grandfather of Eleanor Wrathall Smith of Nova Scotia was believed to have been born in Barbon, England. This is probably the village of Barbon in the old county of Westmorland ( see MAP ). Census records are available for this county for the years 1841, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, etc. The first one I have looked at is 1881, which contains 10 Wrathalls. If the birth year of 1864 is correct, Stephen would have been 17, old enough to hire out as a servant or farmhand, or to seek other employment on his own, but not old enough to be head of household.

The records show the 8 members of the family of the married head of household Anthony Wrathall (age 54) living in Casterton. He was a farmer, born in Thornton-in Lonsdale, YKS. His wife Jane (41) was born in Slaidburn, YKS. The six children were John (19), Lucy E. (18), Thomas (15), Anthony (13), James (11), and Mary Jane (8). All six were born in Chapel-Le-Dale, YKS., indicating any other children not in this list were also born there. Brenda's Stephen would have been born between Lucy and Thomas, also in Chapel-le-Dale, not Barbon. As shown in Roy Wrathall's findings below, Anthony was the father of Brenda's Stephen.

There are two other Wrathalls in the 1881 Westmorland census. Thomas P. Wrathall (32), an unmarried blacksmith lodger in Isabella Wildman's house in Kirkby Lonsdale, was born in Burton in Lonsdale, YKS. Stephen Wrathall (15), an unmarried servant living in John Rigg's house in Middleton, was listed as being born in an unknown place in YKS. So this last is probably Brenda's ancestor, and the incorrect age in the census may be related to the minimum age of conscription or just bad arithmetic or copying. Since Casterton, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Barbon are three villages within about 2 miles of each other, I think it is likely that Thomas P. (32) was also a close relative of Brenda's Stephen.

BARBON PARISH RECORDS

An examination of baptisms. marriages, and burials for Barbon in old Westmorland showed no Stephen Wrathall born in the year 1864, or any year near that. In fact, the surname Wrathall or variant did not occur in the records. So it looks like the birthplace of Stephen Wrathall can no longer be given as Barbon.

Brenda Heinsma's Comments on the Casterton Records

On this page [above] I found the following and they match. It starts with the 1881 Census in which you found Anthony Wrathall (age 54) living in Casterton. He was a farmer, born in Thornton-in-Lonsdale, YKS. His Wife Jane (41) (1 just sent Roy a copy of the card tonight) was born in Slaidburn, YKS. Then there is a list of children. It is possible that Stephen is a younger child of this couple. I'm not finished examining all my material which fits this time slot by any means but thought I'd get back immediately to you after seeing it. Stephen may also have been born in Sedbergh but hopefully I will have photo copies of his birth certificate, I hope, and a bit more info from Harry Wrathall in Upper Sackville, NS.

[Brenda has in her possession the death announcement of Jane, widow of Anthony Wrathall. Click HERE to view her scan of it.].

Harry E. Wrathall, Q.C. is a first cousin of my Mom's and I have never spoken to him. I did however open an invitation for a Testimonial Dinner for a Nova Scotia Judge (Supreme Court) when I was working for Judge Hugh MacDonnell in 1985. Harry was at that time President of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society.

His father Harry Norman established "the general insurance agency of H. N. Wrathall Co. Ltd. in 1930. In 1952 he incorporated United Security Insurance Company and retired in 1970." This was taken from his obituary which was taken from the Herald in the 1970s I believe. I visited with him and his 2nd wife, Amanda in 1960 to 1962, only a couple of times but he was exceptionally nice to me. I'll never forget he took me for a drive around the area to places I hadn't seen and the one I was most taken with was a view of the ocean where you saw nothing but and to this day I can see it in my mind. His son's name Harry E. came up last night when I was looking for Stephen's phone number.

Roy Wrathall's Comments on the Casterton Link

Anthony Wrathall (age 54) lived in Casterton in 1881. He was a farmer, born in Thornton-in Lonsdale, YKS. Roy's roots and some of his family's research center on the latter village. In 1999, Roy mentioned the following:

Cathy Sibbick is the closest relative to the Casterton link that I know of, and she does have a Stephen in her records though his year of birth is different from the one Brenda has on her data. I know Cathy was going to try and do some more work on that generation over the winter. I don't know if she has uncovered any more data.

Roy had a chance to do more research on Stephen Wrathall in Sept. 1999.

I've been speaking with a very helpful lady in the Kendal record office this week re Stephen Wrathall b. Aug 13 1864.

She has searched the Barbon records for his birth without success ... however his marriage to ANN WAIDSON on June 3rd, 1885 at Tebay is recorded (ref. WPR/20/2). Stephen is listed as aged 21, a bachelor farmer of Casterton. His father is recorded as Anthony Wrathall - again a farmer (ran in the blood until recently !). ANN WAIDSON is recorded as 21, spinster, a domestic servant of Tebay. Her father William was a plate layer (railways ?). They were married by banns at St James, Tebay and both signed the register. Witnesses were Thomas Wrathall and Isabella Waidson.

The researcher then turned to the IGI with no success however in the 1881 census she found Anthony and Jane Wrathall farming at Bullpot, Casterton (Bullpot is the name of the farm I gather). His place of birth is listed as Thornton in Lonsdale, and their children living with them then are listed as born in Chapel le Dale.

Her recommendation was to contact Northallerton record office to see if there was a Stephen born in Chapel le Dale. I will try to look into my tree as one of my ancestors was married in Thornton and I think he lived in that area ... This also links to the death card for Jane on my web site at which Brenda sent me some time back.

Chapel le Dale is in the western corner of North Yorkshire, next to the Ingleton Fells, about 20 miles northwest of Linton and 40 miles northwest of Harrogate. Roy obtained from the Harrogate records office a copy of a birth certificate as follows :

When & Where born : Thirteenth August 1864, Southerscales, Ingleton Fells
Name : Stephen
Sex : Boy
Name & Surname of father : Anthony WRATHALL
Name, surname & maiden surname of mother : Jane WRATHALL formerly DOWNHAM
Occupation of father : Farmer
Signed : A.Wrathall, Southerscales, Ingleton Fells
When registered : Twenty seventh August 1864
Signature of registrar : William Thompson

Roy pointed out that the Anthony mentioned above could be the same one who appears in the descendancy of John Wrathall and Anne Pickersgill of Linton

Cathy Sibbick's data has an Anthony b. approx 1827. Could this be Stephen's father? The previous generation has children born from 1778 to 1796 which would make it possible for Stephen to have been the youngest, or one of the youngest, child of Anthony & Jane. It also seems reasonable that this is the family from the 1881 census listed on James' site [above]. All we need now is to link the two for sure !

If the two Anthonys are the same person, then we have Brenda's lineage back to 1562.

In Sep. 2008, Derek Wrathall of Skipton , who can be reached at dwrathall(at)totalise(dot)co(dot)uk, sent the following about Bull Pot Farm (see above):

[Here are] a couple of photos, taken in the winter, of Bull Pot Farm which figured in correspondence a few years ago as a Wrathall home at one time. It is now semi-derelict in parts, but the main house is used as a club house and depot for the caving fraternity, Bull Pot being one of the caves in that area. The longer view gives some idea of the wild moorland around the farm. It must have been a desperate place in severe winters; Percy Wrathall would have found it even more desolate than Bordley and Upper Wharfedale. We travelled from Dentdale to Bull Pot via Barbondale and in one and a half hours saw only two other vehicles, one being the school minibus.

E-MAIL: wrathall(at)rawbw(dot)com

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