C3 The Smith Family:   The Pearce-Yates line   Home Page  Family History  Smith Family Start  16 April 2007 

3.  The Pearce-Yates line

Sadly the Pearce family has not been identified in the census’s.  None even being found at the village of Marston (ED7), where Jane married Robert Willetts Smith (II).  (The difficulty of obtaining certainty in genealogy is evident, however, in that, in that same census, a George and Caroline Pearce had a 21 year old daughter named Jane Pierce living with them (ED10-15, F. 19, P7, sch 29).)

The information on this family line is cursory, though it would be worth re- surveying the  1841 census of both Stafford and the parishes given in the tree above.

 The original evidence came from a variety of sources:

Janes’ marriage certificate:               father’s name and profession: tailor

Census:                                               name and age of brother living with RWS & Jane that Jane was born at Hopton.

Samuel’s birth certificate:                  gives both parents names, his mother’s maiden name, the fact that George is a tailor and the

                                                            fact that the family lived in Friar Street.

Figure 19:  Samuel Pearce’s Birth Certificate

On the basis of the birth certificate evidence the IGI (International Genealogical Index created by the Church of Latter Day Saints {Mormons}) was studied and the marriage of George and Eliza Yates was quickly identified: Eliza Yates married George Pierce on the 28th January 1833 at Hanley.  Frustratingly, the record office had no parish records for Hanley, the reason -  the Hanley parish records were destroyed early in the nineteenth century during the Chartist riots:

       On August 15/16 Hanley Parsonage was destroyed by fire in the Chartist Riots.  Inside the Parsonage were almost all the registers and these too, were completely destroyed.  All that survived (probably because they were in their proper place inside the Church) were the current marriage and burial register, commencing 1837 and 1827 respectively and a baptismal register 1789-1803.    Baptisms 1709-1803 Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy...  HAN 925023 Birmingham Record Office

The intention of Chartism was to increase democracy in the U.K.:

The word is derived from the People’s Charter, the name given to a programme of reform submitted to Parliament in 1837 by the London Working Men’s Association, under the leadership of William Lovett and Francis Place. The Chartist movement, which the association sponsored, resulted from widespread dissatisfaction with the Reform Act of 1832 and the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, legislation that workingmen considered discriminatory.

The People’s Charter contained six specific demands, including suffrage for all male citizens 21 years of age and over, vote by ballot, annual parliamentary elections, abolition of the property qualifications for members of parliament, payment of members of parliament, and equal electoral districts.  When these demands were rejected by the House of Commons, the association launched a nationwide campaign in support of its programme, and about 1,250,000 persons signed a petition to Parliament requesting that the charter be made law.

When Parliament again rejected the charter, the Chartists planned direct action in the form of a general strike. The strike failed, but an insurrection broke out in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, in November 1839, and many Chartist leaders were arrested and imprisoned. In 1842 Chartists presented a second petition signed by three million supporters to Parliament, which again refused to listen to their demands.  Chartism suffered a period of decline until 1848, when another petition was sent to Parliament. Despite a large public demonstration, the charter was rejected because of insufficient and fictitious signatures. Although the Chartist movement gradually faded into insignificance all its demands, except annual parliamentary elections, eventually became law. (Encarta Encyclopaedia)

As a result of the destruction of Hanley’s parish records, the only information that exists are the Bishops Transcripts (details of christenings, marriages and deaths sent by vicars to their Bishop) which are kept at Lichfield.  At present the best line appears to be that via John and Jemina Yates.

 Jemina married John Yates in 1795 @ Newcastle under Lyme.  Five of the couple’s children were christened at Burslem Wesleyan Methodist Church.  One child was, however, christened at the nearby parish of Hanley (where, I suspect, the Yates’s originated).  Eliza Yates was christened on Feb.2nd 1812 and married George Pierce at Hanley on the 28th  January 1833. 

A all that is known of Eliza Yates’ ancestors is on her mother’s side.  Dorothy Adams and John Wright (a miller) married in 1773 at Stoke on Trent, lived at Bucknall cum Bagnall, and had at least seven children.  Jemina, Eliza’s mother (Nan’s greatgreat-grandmother) was christened on the 22nd  Oct. 1775.

  The major problem with identifying Dorothy Adams parent’s is the age of the only viable candidate.  This Dorothy would have had to have been christened tardily, just 11 years before her marriage, and married just 14 years after her parents’ marriage.  If this is the right Dorothy, then her earliest ancestors would have been William Adams and Ellen Simpson who married at Whitmore in 1759 and lived at Bucknall cum Bagnall in Staffordshire; they had three children (Dorothy (ch.1762), William (ch.1765),  Isaac (ch.1768)). 

C4.       The Stanton Family line

There is little doubt that the marriage certificate copied below is that of Ann Stanton’s (Robert Willetts Smith (I)’s wife’s) parents.  John Stanton and Sarah White married at St Mary’s, Stafford and are described as belonging to that parish.  Neither partner could write.  As yet, however, their Christenings have not been found.  

Figure 20     Copy of John Stanton and Sarah White’s Marriage in St.Mary’s Register.

N.B. J.Tildesley commonly acts as a witness at weddings at St.Mary’s.

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