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Hello,

Love the story about the gun and pipe!

It's typical (of me, at least) that I can't find the notes I made about the Balshaws having to put their name on the Papist Rolls.
I did find this;
Note about Papist Rolls: The first Jacobite rebellion resulted in the passing of the Act of 1 George chapter 55 (1715), which required every papist to register his name and details of his real property with the Clerk of the Peace, to be subscribed personally or by attorney at Quarter Sessions. Catholics had a pretty hard time in the 17th and 18th centuries. Religious services were illegal, they were prevented from educating their children except in their own homes, and they were disallowed from inheriting or purchasing land. They were taxed very heavily.

There is mention of a Goore in this extract;
The Capital messuage called the Hall of Altkarr, with the Hemp Yord, Wheat Yord, Cow Pasture, Cow Hey Meadow, Sedgefield, Sedgefield Meadow, Two Ox Leasols, Sand Hey, Roberts Hey, Farrow Hey at Alt, and the Hall Meadow, part of the demesne, let to Mr. Nicholas Fazakerley, Richard Goore, Robert Heys, Richard Linacre, John Livesay, Henry Tatlock and John Tyrer, for 15 years at £63.

Caryll, Lord Molyneux rented out his land in Lancashire to fellow Catholics and his son Sir William Molyneux, Baronet, Viscount Molyneux of Maryburgh, seems to have been willing to continue the practice after his father's death. Perhaps they were sympathetic with the cause or it might merely have been a way of making money out of the situation.
I don't think these Catholics were initially poor, just heavily restricted (as suggested above) which would explain why you see the fortunes of some notable families declining through the generations. I suppose those who stuck to their religious beliefs gradually lost land and wealth, whereas those who converted were able to prosper.
Certainly, my Balshaws were not wealthy, although having 16 children by three different women must have cost Thomas Balshaw a pretty penny!

Best wishes
Jill

Hello,

Thanks for your message.

A couple of years ago I made contact with a lady who had completed a genealogy course at Edge Hill University and as an exercise, her tutor asked her to trace one of his own lines - the Balshaws. (Obviously, he had already done the research himself so knew what she should come up with!)
Fortunately, her findings matched mine, however she said it they hadn't been able to to go back much further than the mid-18th century with any certainty and I think this may have been because of the numerous 'Williams' in the lines. Very confusing! Also the various places in which the families lived have proved complicated with the boundaries between Aughton, Altcar and Ormskirk often being a bit blurred - that is to say resident in Altcar, but churchgoer in Aughton etc..
I have traced my line back to William Balshaw who was born around 1750 in Ormskirk and died in Altcar, Oct 1841.
Based on the traditional use of family Christian names which the Balshaws seem to follow through the generations - first son named after paternal grandfather etc. - I think William's father may have been Thomas Balshaw born in Ormskirk c.1718.
Possible parents for Thomas; James Balshaw born Ormskirk c.1673 and Ellen Dobb.
James and Ellen had these children (that I can find) born in Scarisbrick;
Alice 1705
Elizabeth 1708
William born & died 1711
William 1712* - possibly 'your' William?
Sarah 1716
Thomas 1718 - possibly 'my' Thomas.

There is also a record on the Lancashire Online Parish Records website of a William Balshaw christened at Ormskirk, 25 Oct 1713, father John Balshaw of Scarisbrick (brother of James perhaps?). This would also fit with the approximate date you give. There are death records available for other boys named William born around the same time so - obviously - they can be ruled out as possibilties. On the face of it, that leaves you with the two Williams mentioned above, although after more than a decade of tracing my family tree, I have found that some birth, marriage and death records seem to have vanished completely - even when you happen to have met the person you are trying to locate! So it's entirely possible that there were others.

This is partly why I use the 'grandfather's name' rule of thumb in my research - it's nowhere near foolproof, but I've found it quite useful when trying to distinguish between branches.
Before the Family Search website changed it was possible to get some idea of how the lines progressed and based on notes I made a few years ago, I have another William (born c.1639) pencilled in as the father of James. His father and grandfather may have also been called William - the latter being married to Alis Scarisbrick in Ormskirk, 16 Dec 1599. I think these two may be the 'Adam and Eve' of all the Balshaws in this area.
Obviously, I can't say for certain that this info is in any way accurate. I have realised that some records I saw a few years back have now disappeared from the online source where I collected them which could mean they were incorrect and subsequently removed, but I hope you find something here which will be of some use to you.
Let me know what you think!

Hello,

I am the grandaughter of Thomas Frederick Hankin who was one year older than George. He lived to the ripe old age of 96. I knew little or nothing about the family because he had fallen out with most of them, although I don't really know why. The only one of his siblings I ever met was Richard. Now, Grandad was six foot three, but Richard had to bend down to get throught the door - he was massive!
Thomas married twice and my uncle Tommy was from the first marriage, my Dad and his sister from the second. Amy took Tommy on when his mother died and so there were about 17 of them all living in a two up, two down in Bootle. Considering this was less than a hundred years ago, life was awfully hard for them and from what Tommy wrote in his book, they depended on help from a police charity.
 Did you know that Amy's father died just before she was born? They didn't seem to have much luck with spouses and children dying, a sigh of the times I suppose.
 I was in contact with another Hankin relative a couple of years ago - the grandson of Alice Grace Hankin - who told me that Amy's half sister was called Alice Robinson and she married a man named Daniel Callan or Calland. They have proved elusive.
I hope this is of some use to you. I'll have another read through Uncle Tommy's papers to see if I can find anything you might be interested in. Let me know if there is anything specific.
Bye for now.