Our main interest is in the ancestry of
Thomas, born, we assume in 1827 certainly baptised on Christmas Day that year in
Tunstal Parish Church. He was the son of
John Stead, the village shoemaker in Tunstal. We are not sure about his mother's name We transcribed it from the original record in Lancs RO as
Margaret We assumed that there must have been a second marriage; censuses show John's wife as
Betty. However the Lancashire Parish Clerks' Project
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/index.htmlhas the name of Thomas' mother as
Elizabeth, which could be the `niceness` of the Curate in charge. He was the notorious Carus Wilson. If Charlotte Bronte's description is at all like the real life parson, it would be consistent with his character to insist on "Elizabeth" even were she always known as "Betty"
There appears to be an elder daughter whose earlier life we have not been able to trace. Her name was
Nancy, and it appears that she was born at Wrayton about 1822, who has returned to look after her widowed father by 1861. By 1871 and after his death, Nancy, still unmarried is living in the household of a (retired?) draper, John Mansergh in Slyne-with-Hest for whom she is cook.
Thomas married
Agnes Parker and her daughter, described her own son, Fred, born in 1901, as being
A typical Stead, a dour lowland Scot Stead appear to be rooted in North Lancashire, Betty was born in Arkhole, in the same area and we always believed Margaret must have been Scottish
Anyone with any information? We would be most grateful
