There must be a record somewhere - Thomas Hawdon

[shawd]

The Thomas Hawdon I am looking for was married to a Sarah Turner.  They married on 1 Dec 1726 at All Saints Church, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland England.

Sarah (likely born in 1693 to a Thomas Turner) died in 1756 and was buried on 24 Feb 1756 at All Saints Church.

Together, Thomas Hawdon and Sarah Turner had the following children:
- Thomas Hawdon (1727 - 1728)
- Jane Hawdon (1729 - 1733)
- Thomas Hawdon (1731 - 1787)
- Matthias Hawdon (1732 -1788)
- William Hawdon (1734 - ?)

The thing is, Thomas Hawdon was parish clerk of All Saints Church.  It seems to me that there should be some more records for him, but I cannot find his date of birth or of death.  I would think that his death would have been recorded in All Saints Church, and he would have been buried there, but cannot find any records.

I also would expect to see his name on Church documents.  It appears that he was still Parish Clerk in 1740 at least, according to a Newcastle Courant newspaper on 26 Jul 1740. 

What am I missing here?  Once I move down the lineage to his son Matthias (my next ancestor), there is quite a lot of information.  I know part of it is because less documents exist the farther back you go, but I really feel like there should be more ... some record/information on his death and burial at least.  I have no idea when he was born, when he died, how old he was, if he married anyone else before Sarah or after ...

[mckha489]

There is a 16 Jan 1769 burial Newcastle upon Tyne, All Saints

record set "Northumberland Burials"  on FindMyPast  transcription only
and National Burial Index For England & Wales  also transcription only

[goldie61]

The Thomas Hawdon died 1769 left a will.
You can access it here through this site - The North East Inheritance Database.
http://familyrecords.dur.ac.uk/nei/data/neisearch.php
He is a corwainer - shoemaker.
I had a quick look - he has a son Thomas and a son Matthias........

I see there are other Hawdon names for wills on there - including a Matthais who is an organist - is this your ancestor?
The others may (or may not!) give you some clues to the ancestry of Thomas.

[mckha489]

I thought the name was familiar.

Other threads

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=823599.0
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=826692.msg6904824#msg6904824

[goldie61]

I thought the name was familiar.

Other threads

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=823599.0
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=826692.msg6904824#msg6904824

It would have been helpful if you had said you had already been given links to the wills of this family as I see in your other posts (thanks Mckha).
It would have saved me some time and effort looking up things for you which I thought would help you on your way.
It is impossible for everybody to read every post ever posted on this website, so if you have pertinent information when making a request, you should include it in your post, or at least post a link to the previous posts as Mckha has.

[shawd]

My apologies, yes, I have quite a bit on his son Matthias and down the line.  Thomas was where I was really struggling.  I will check out the burial notes for 1769.  Thank you everyone for the help!

Is it possible that Thomas was both a Parish Clerk and a cordwainer then?  I wonder if Parish Clerks also had additional jobs.

[goldie61]

Is it possible that Thomas was both a Parish Clerk and a cordwainer then?  I wonder if Parish Clerks also had additional jobs.

See here for some info on parish clerks
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=531163.0

By the way, it's not just 'burial notes' as you have written, it would appear to be his actual will in the NE Inheritance Database, which is a very important find for anybody. And a search of the other Hawdon wills on that site may give you leads for your research.

[theviolinist]

I'm reading this thread with intrigue and delight! I was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and have been recently looking for composers from the region whereupon I came across Matthias Hawdon. I am in the process of arranging one of his compositions and will record it for my Youtube channel very shortly.

I like to put some information in my recording about the composer. Do you have any further information about Matthias Hawdon that may be interesting to share? The information I have to date is based on the Wikipedia entry but also a very interesting book called "Newcastle's Musical Heritage - An Introduction" - see here: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/33934520/newcastles-musical-heritage-an-introduction-by- (details of Matthias are on p22)

Ideally, I'm looking for a portrait of him... any luck?

[shawd]

Wow, I haven't come back here in some time, so this is a really late reply ... but I do have quite a bit more info on Matthias now.

I'll direct you to a thesis written by Rosemary Southey in 2001 that I found online, which has a great deal of information about Matthias' career: ‘COMMERCIAL MUSIC-MAKING IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NORTH-EAST ENGLAND: A PALE REFLECTION OF LONDON, Volume 1: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/153775804.pdf

The basic details of Matthias' life are:
- He was born to Thomas Hawdon (cordwainer and Parish Clerk of All Saints Church) and Sarah Turner in 1732 in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
- He was baptised on 24 October 1732 at All Saints Church in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
- His half siblings (from Thomas' first wife, Ann Halleywell) were Thomas (b. 1717), twins Margaret and Ann (b. 1719), and Mary (b. 1720) and his full siblings were Thomas (b. 1727), Jane (b. 1729), Thomas (b. 1731), and William (b. 1734).  The first two Thomases died in infancy, as did William, and Jane died in childhood.  So, Matthias' siblings who survived to adulthood were Margaret (who married William Lowe), Ann (who died a spinster), Mary (who married George Douglas) and Thomas (who became a surgeon and never married).
- Matthias apprenticed under Charles Avison.
- He became the first organist of Holy Trinity Church (Hull) in 1751 after Charles Avison recommended him for the post.
- He married Mary Browne at Holy Trinity Church in Hull on 6 March 1760.
- Matthias and Mary had at least three children: Matthias (1761), Thomas (1765), and William (1767).  Their son Thomas also became an organist.  Their sons Matthias and William became surgeons (apprenticing under their uncle Thomas).
- Matthias became the organist of Beverley Minster (otherwise known as the Parish Church of Saint John and Saint Martin) in Beverley, an East Riding of Yorkshire in March 1769.
- Mary is thought to have died in Beverley in 1769, but needs to be confirmed.
- Matthias became the organist of St Nicholas Church in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne at the end of 1776/beginning of 1777.
- Matthias was a freemason.
- Matthias ended up bankrupt by 1781, but had recovered enough by his death to leave an estate worth 300 pounds, as per his will.
- Matthias died of "a lingering illness" in March of 1789 according to the Newcastle Advertiser published 21 March 1789.  He had been unwell for some time, having withdrawn from all forms of work six months earlier.

I hope that helps!