Hi all
Can I add that I am still hanging on in there, hoping that a positive connection might be made to my Dobsons. Jonas 1819 married to Sarah ? is my earliest. In 1881 he was a pit manager living at Keelham Hill. He died 1882 in a pit accident.
Dave
Hi Dave: Consider "Keelham" to be your lucky word today. That's where my 3x great grandfather Joseph Dobson (circa 1801) lived side by side or a few houses away from John Dobson (b. circa 1795) for almost 40 years. I remember seeing a Jonas Dobson in one census or another in Thornton, so as soon as I read Keelham in your reply, I checked my census files.
In the 1851 census I found Jonas Dobson (32 years old) married to Sarah and enumerated in Keelham with children William, Thomas, Dinah, Jane, Daniel, and on the next page, another son, Sidney and a lodger, Elizabeth Wood. On either side of Jonas Dobson a John Dobson (and family) was enumerated. One John Dobson was 55 years old; the other was 27 years old and was with wife Elizabeth and sons Jonas and Richard.
I looked at birth records for the Kipping Independent Chapel but didn't find a Jonas Dobson. But I did confirm from those records that John Dobson (age 27 in 1851) was the son of John Dobson (age 55 in 1851).
What I didn't do was look in the records for the Bethesda Wesleyan Chapel (another Nonconformist chapel in Thornton) because I didn't remember, from previous searches, finding any Dobsons christened there.
Instead I went to the IGI. That's where I found your Jonas Dobson. He is the son of John Dobson born 1795, I'm sure) and Betty Dobson. The IGI has him born 17 JAN 1819 and christened 09 MAY 1819 at Bethesda Wesleyan, in Thornton. I should have ignored not remembering Dobsons at Bethesda Chapel.
In my defense (pardon my use of The President's English, rather than the Queen's), though, I have to say that John Dobson and wife Betty had children christened at three different places near Thornton: Kipping, Bethesda, and Mount Zion Methodist New Connexion chapel in Ovenden.
In the 1861 census, Jonas Dobson is enumerated living at Sandel (should be Sandal) Hill with Sarah and children Dinah and Jane, and spilling over to the next census page are children Daniel, Sidney, Grace, Margaret, and George. The next enumerated family on this second page is John Dobson, age 67 and working as a tax collector. On the same page as Jonas Dobson is his brother John Dobson with wife Elizabeth and children Jonas, Richard, Mary Ann, William, and Emma. Next door to John (two doors from Jonas) is my 3x great grandfather Joesph Dobson.
I still have no direct evidence that John Dobson (born 1795) and son Jonas are related to my 3x great grandfather Joseph Dobson.. But if they are, then you and I would be fourth or fifth cousins.
The places noted here are in an area called Black Carr, which is in the middle and western part of the valley that runs east-west to the south of the center of Thornton. Keelham Hill should be read as Keelham Hall. Keelham Hall is on the Brighouse-Denholme Road, where it intersects Deep Lane. Sandal Hill must be in the center of Black Carr, where adjoining farms are called Upper Sandal Farm and Lower Sandal Farm.
On the U.K. National Archives site I found an entry for a Jonas Dobson leasing a coal mine in 1702 in Thornton, probably in Headley, which is in the same valley a short distance east of Black Carr. I've also seen a mention of an Isaac Dobson leasing a coal mine in Thornton in the 1690s.
Regards,
John
