19.2.3 Jonathan Stoney (1743-1808): Son of 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney

John Stoney was possibly my 6xgreat grandfather – grandfather to my 3xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney, who was (also possibly) the illegitimate son of Mary Stoney. He died in April 1771 and was buried at Kettlewell, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where he owned property and land which, as a Yeoman, he worked for himself. He may also have been resident earlier in his life at Hartlinton (parish of his first wife Alice Stainforth) and Grassington, both close to Kettlewell. At the time of the 1741 general election, poll books at FindMyPast show that he was resident at Grassington, but that it was his freehold property at Kettlewell which entitled him to a vote.

His will was written a few days before his death. While his second wife Ann Pawson was the sole executrix and granted leave to stay in their ‘dwelling house’ with garden and turfhouse attached for the rest of her widowhood, and his surviving teenage daughters were bequeathed a guinea each, the main legacy was to his son by his first wife, Jonathan Stoney.

Jonathan was baptised at Kettlewell on 6 February 1743:

In his will, his father gives and devises to his son Jonathan Stoney:

“… that my messuage and my dwelling house wherein I reside together with the appurtenances thereunto belonging and all other my estate situate within the township of Kettlewell aforesaid which is of the nature of freehold … Also I give devise and bequeath unto my said son Jonathan Stoney all my lands tenements and premises with their and every of their appurtenances situate in Kettlewell aforesaid which I hold by term of years and which is of the nature of leasehold to hold the same unto him my said son”.

Jonathan would have been about 28 years old when his father died, leaving a widow and five unmarried daughters aged 9-19. Nothing more is found of him in the online records until he is recorded as a voter at Kettlewell in the 1807 poll book at Ancestry:

The same year, his burial is recorded at Kettlewell on 14 December 1807, aged 63. His surname is transcribed as Stona. Probate of his will, written on 26 June 1804, was granted in January 1808. He does not seem to have married, and leaves legacies to his spinster sister Ann Stoney, and his nephew (son of his late sister Mary Stoney). This nephew may be my 3xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view