Notes for Hannah THORPE
Kerry Kirk
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Dry Ridge, Ky 41035
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Notes for Hannah THORPE
The following two messages were posted on the Ancestry.com Thorp message board. This family legend tells of how many of the Thorp family came over, lists Thomas and Williams father and gives some background on other family. While some of the place names don't fit the actual Christening records, I have not found anything to disprove any of this. I have tried contacting the author of this message but all of the email addresses I could find bounced.
Boards > Surnames > Thorp
URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=an&p=surnames.thorp&m=86
Subject: Thorp-Wood-Merryweather (part 1)
Author: Jeff Thorp
Date: 03 Jul 2000 12:28 AM GMT
Email:
From "Notes on the Ancestry of Robert William and Grace Marshall (Woodmas)
Merryweather" by Leonard Thorp.
Jane Sherwood,who was born in western Yorkshire, has already been
mentioned as one of the three English grandparents. the other two were
born in eastern Yorkshire, one of them in Driffield, near York. The
birthplace of the other is not known to me, but may have been Garrowby,
Yorkshire, where the wood family had an estate.
One of these families, that of Driffield, eas named Thorp, and the
earliest member of whom we have record was George Thorp, whose son, George
Thorp, emigrated with his family to Wilmington, Delaware in 1830 and after
a short stay, proceeded to Navarre, Ohio. Their voyage from England was,
of course, by sailing ship, and required six weeks.
Accompanying them was the widow of the elder George (who later became Mrs.
Henry Penrose), John Lidster, father-in-law of the emigrant George,
together with John's wife and at least some of his children. John Lidster,
according to one of two conflicting records, was our longest lived
ancestor of record, having lived to the age of 96. The other account
allows him merely a mediocre 86. There is some reason to believe that the
greater age is correct; we have the second from the account of an elderly
great-granddaughter, who may have sufered an error of memory.
Lidster, incidently, is a peculiarly Yorkshire surname. It derives from
the old English verb "lidden" which means "to dye". Except in Yorkshire
people of the dyeing trade became known as "Dyer". In many cases Lidster
was softened to Lister.
George Thorp's wife was Rebecca, Daughter of John Lidster. Rebecca was the
twin sister of Hannah, who died in infancy. She had a second sister
Hannah, twin of Moses Lidster, who also died in childhood.
Fourteen children were born to George and Rebecca, including a pair of
twins. According to family tradition, pretty well substantiated in this
case, one of the older daughters, Hannah, was an unusually pretty and
charming girl at about the age of 16. She became acquainted with a younger
son in a family of the English nobility which had an estate near
Driffield. Knowing that his family would not consent to his marriage with
Hannah under any circumstances, the young man induced her to attempt an
elopement to Scotland, where they could be married without his family's
permission. But members of his family persued and overtook them south of
the border, and returned them to their respective homes. AS a result of
this escapade, Thomas Thorp was born in 1825.
In 1829 the young man returned to Driffield and resumed the courtship.
This time they decided to elope to Liverpool and take ship for America,
and be married by the ships captain on the high seas. But his family
suceeded in intervening again. In 1830 William Thorp was born to the unwed
Hannah.
Sensing possibilities of more trouble, the young man's family offered to
pay the passage of the whole Thorp Family to America. The latter seem to
have been glad to accept the offer. They sailed from Hull in the summer of
1830, accompanied by a young Welshman named William Merryweather (who was
born, however, at Frodingham, Yorkshire).
They landed at Wilmington, Delaware, where the men of the family worked at
unloading Brazilian rubber. In 1831 Hanah apparently gave up hope that her
lover would follow, and married William Merryweather. With him she moved
to Farmland, Indiana, while the rest of the Thorps and Lidsters went to
Navarre, Ohio.
Hannah never told her sons who their father was,and she also persuaded her
family to keep the secret. From some of the latter, however, it was known
that he was the son and younger brother of titled men, and that either his
older brother or his uncle was a cabinet minister of Great Britain.
The rest of the story became known by sheer coincidence. In the spring of
1949 I (Leonard Thorp) was employed as a reference librarian at the
Washington State Library in Olympia. There came to the library one day a
young woman from the town of Elma, who asked what information the library
could supply concerning the family of the Earl of Halifax. Trying to
determine just what information she wished, I questioned her about the
matter, whereupon she told me a story which was the exact counterpart of
that of Hannah Thorp. Her great grandfather was the lost lover!
[MORE TOMMORROW]
Boards > Surnames > Thorp
URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=an&p=surnames.thorp&m=87
Subject: Thorp-Wood-Merryweather (part 2)
Author: Jeffrey Thorp
Date: 05 Jul 2000 12:53 PM GMT
Email:
As she told the story, a few years after the departure of the Thorps from
Driffield, the former lover had broken away from his family, and followed
the Thorps to America. Coming to Hannah's home eventually,he had found her
already married. Thereupon he left Farmland, and settled in the
northeastern part of Indiana, dropping the family name, Wood, and calling
himself from that time on "Mr. English" as my informant put it; English
was her mother's maiden surname.
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One researcher, [Lyle Walter Carlton - 9325 Dalewood Ave - Downey CA - 90240] submitted info to the LDS Ancestral File that placed Hanna's death and burial place as Farmland, Randolph Co. IN.
The same researcher submitted info on two marriages for Hannah. The first to Samuel Francis Wood abt 1829 in Driffield, Yorkshire, England and the second to William Merryweather abt 1831 in Wilmington, Delaware. It should be noted that both men were from Yorkshire, Francis from Driffield and William from Frodingham where Hannah was christened.
This researcher listed two children for Hannah, Thomas (Moses' cousin from the Civil War Pension file) who's birth was listed as 1930 and William (Thorp) Merryweather) also listed as being born in 1930. We know Thomas was actually born in 1925 via cemetery records. It is assumed that Thomas was born out of wedlock prior to any marriage as he was christened Thorpe. If the dates are fairly close it can be assumed that Hannah and Thomas (and possibly others) came to the U.S. sometime between 1929-1931.
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I could find no record in the IGI listing the marriage for Hannah and Francis Wood anywhere
in Yorkshire. A christening record was found for Thomas in Kilnwick and William in Nafferton,
both born to unwed Hannah. I also found a William Meriweather, wife Hannah, children including
son William in the 1850 Randolph Co. IN census. Son William's birth place was listed as Delaware and he was listed as a Meriweather. This seems to support the ancestry post above about the marriage and the fact of keeping the boys' father a secret. It also agrees with the Randolph co. connection listed by the Ancestral file submitter.
I have had no luck yet locating Thomas in the 1850 census. The fact that he went by Thorp leads me to wonder if he was raised by other family members in Ohio.
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Christening/Birthplace via
Int'l IGI at familysearch.com Extracted Parish records
Batch No.:K107152 Dates: 1725 - 1812 Source Call No.:0919454
HANNAH THORPE
Gender: Female Christening: 27 DEC 1807 North Frodingham, Yorkshire, England
parents: GEORGE THORPE & REBECCA
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