Thursday, May 28, 2015

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 264: 1830 Petition for Removal of Jane Morley from Little Bolton to Blackburn in Lancashire

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the  1830 Petition for removal of Jane Morley and her twin daughters from Little Bolton to Blackburn in Lancashire, England:


The petition for Jane Morley and her daughters is the bottom one on the right-hand page:


The transcription of this record is (handwritten portions in italics):

         Upon the Appeal of the Inhabitants of Blackburn
                                       in the said County                       to
the Order made by  William Allen and Ralph Fletcher
         Esquire two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace and Quorum in and for the
said County of Lanceaster, under their Hands and Seals, bearing Date the twenty ninth
                          Day of  November                       last, for the Removal of
Jane Morley Widow and her two twin children Leah and
Rachael each aged eleven years
poor Persons out of the Township of  Little Bolton          in the said county of
Lancaster, into the Township of  Blackburn          aforesaid, the same Order
is by this Court  ratified and confirmed as to Jane Morley the Mother and
by consent of both the said Parties quashed for want of Form as to
Leah and Rachael her children.

The source citation for this removal petition is:

"Lancashire, England, Quarter Session Records and Petitions, 1648-1908," indexed database and record images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 May 2015), Salford, Lancashire, 29 November 1930 Session, Reference QSP 2941/1-254, Petition for Jane Morley, Little Bolton to Blackburn; citing Lancashire Quarter Session Records and Petitions, 17th - 19th Century, Microfilm, Lancashire Record Office, Preston, England.

From previous research into Jane Morley (1780-1834), who is my wife's third great-grandmother, I know that she had Leah and Rachel Morley out of wedlock.  The daughters were christened on 25 December 1821 in St. Peter's Church in Little Bolton, Lancashire.   This is the first record I have found of their continued existence after the christening record.  

For some reason, the citizens of Blackburn want them to be removed from Little Bolton to Blackburn, a distance of about 24 miles.  The question becomes "Why would they be removed from this place?"  Jane and her daughters were baptized in Little Bolton, and had probably lived their whole lives there.  Was this removal voluntary on Jane's part, or involuntary?  Did Jane have relatives in Blackburn who would take them in and provide for them?  Was Jane reconciling with the father of her daughters and he resided in Blackburn?  Was Jane concerned about her failing health and wanted care for her young daughters?  Had Jane removed to Bolton between 1821 and 1830, and then moved back to Little Bolton without authorization?  There must be a good reason.  Unfortunately, this record does not provide enough information to determine the reason that Blackburn requested the removal.

There are several more records of this type from 1830.  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/05/treasure-chest-thursday-post-264-1830.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

3 comments:

T said...

More than likely the town didn't want to support them. If they had ANY previous residence there they would be sent back.

okielois said...

I think T may be right. You probably need to get someone who has a knowledge of English poor houses in history to find out for sure.

Horrocks Genealogy said...

Hi Randy,
Just a minor correction, St. Peter's is the Bolton Parish Church. It is located in Bolton, not Little Bolton. Little Bolton and what was called Great Bolton or just Bolton was separated by a creek that they called a river. My 3rd great-grandfather and his brother owned about half of Little Bolton in 1831, the same time frame as your story. Keep up the great Blog..........