#579_Ann Heckels RamsayAnn Heckels
Matriarch of the Ramsay family of Illinois, USA.
Ann
Heckels was born on 20 May 1816 at Percy Main, North Shields,
Northumberland. She was the second of fifteen children of George
Heckels and Rebecca Dawson. In 1829 her father George was
appointed as Viewer (engineer) to the Hibernian Mining Company in
Ireland and the family moved to live in County Tyrone. While there Ann
met William Ramsay who worked at the colliery. He was also a
Northumbrian; born Newburn in 1809, the son of Joseph Ramsay and
Margaret Allsop. Ann and William married on 23 Apr 1835 at St. Anne’s
church, Drumglass, Co. Tyrone.
Their
first three children Joseph, Margaret and William Taylor were born in
Ireland before the family returned to England where, in 1841, William
was working as an overman at Wingate Grange Colliery, County Durham.
Soon after their return Joseph died at the age of four but in the next
ten years four more children were born Richard, George Heckels, Mary
Ann and another Joseph. During this time William was employed in a
number of collieries in County Durham gaining advancement at each. It
is possible that his career was assisted by Ann’s brother Richard
Heckels, the chief viewer to the Earl of Durham’s collieries, an
influential man in the Durham coalfields.
By
1851 William was viewer at Blaydon Burn Colliery at Ryton. Two further
sons, John and Thomas, were born there but then William died in 1854 at
the age of forty four leaving Ann a widow at the age of thirty seven.
Soon afterwards her son Thomas died, only one year old. The family then
all moved to Trimdon Colliery, Co. Durham where the eldest sons
followed the family tradition, becoming miners. In 1860 William Taylor
married Mary Pratt in nearby Hartlepool and in the next two years two
sons were born bearing the family names William Taylor and Thomas.
At
this point the events occurred which were to transform the family
fortunes. William Taylor travelled to the USA arriving in New York on
22 Jul 1863. This was apparently a reconnaissance trip because on 21
Dec 1863, SS Heda arrived carrying not only his wife and sons but also
his mother Ann and all her surviving unmarried children. The family
travelled to Morris, Illinois where the sons all became involved in the
coal trade. The family prospered with the sons becoming operators and
owners of coal mines in Illinois and Iowa and respected members of
their local communities.
Ann
Heckels Ramsay died at the age of fifty eight on 26 Oct 1874 at
Streater, LaSalle County and was buried , Illinois, USA, at age 58
years, 5 months and 6 days. She was buried on 28 Oct 1874 at Streater,
LaSalle County, Illinois, USA. Ann is the matriarch of the Ramsay
family in the USA with several hundred descendants.
Sources
UK Census & Civil Registration Records
Ramsay Family Newsletter (Privately Published)
Past & Present of Mahaska County, Iowa (1906) by M. Hegge (available online here)