19.2.6 6xgreat grandparents John Stoney and Ann Pawson: early years?

Previous research shows that my (presumed) 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney married his second wife, Ann Pawson, in 1748 in Kettlewell, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His first wife, Alice Stainforth, had died two years before, having given birth to four children, two of whom died in infancy. He married Alice in Burnsall in 1736, and was eligible to vote in the General Election of 1741 due to his owning property in Kettlewell, although at the time he was living at Grassington. He is described as ‘of Kettlewell’ at both his marriages, and seems to have lived or worked in nearby villages, including Burnsall, Grassington and Hartlinton Moorside. 

He wrote his will a few days before his death in April 1771, leaving everything to his only son Jonathan Stoney. To his five surviving unmarried daughters, he left a guinea each, and directed his son to allow Ann Pawson to continue living in his ‘dwelling house’ while she remained his widow.

But what of his origins? We know nothing of him before his first marriage in 1736, although from his will we know he had at least two brothers – Robert and James. He was likely to have been at least 21 years old at the time of that marriage, which would suggest a birth year of around 1715. A search at FindMyPast reveals no baptisms at that time in Kettlewell or nearby. There is one potential candidate in the Kettlewell Parish Register some years earlier:

John ye son of Jonathan Stona baptised July ye 4^th 1703

The original register is very faded, but the Bishop’s Transcript is clear:

The surname spelling is of course different, although when his son Jonathan was buried in 1807, his surname is also given as Stona, even though his will clearly shows it as Stoney. There are other Stona records in the late 1600s/early 1700s at Kettlewell at FindMyPast which I explore here.

If this is the correct baptism, then he would have been 33 when he married Alice Stainforth, and about 68 when he died in 1771. Did this Jonathan Stona/Stoney also have sons Robert and James?

FindMyPast has baptisms for James, son of Jonathan Stona, at Kettlewell in 1702 and another James in 1715, and for Robert, son of Jonathan Stona at Kettlewell in 1710. The first James Stona was buried at Kettlewell in 1710, a few months after Robert’s birth. Not conclusive, and more research is needed into these Stonas as there seem to be other families of the same name in Kettlewell around that time.

What of his second wife Ann Pawson? She was probably younger than John Stoney when they married in 1748; he would have been 45 at the time. She is recorded as a spinster in the marriage record; a search of FindMyPast for the baptism of an Ann Pawson at Kettlewell 20 years either side of 1710 reveals only two possibilities:

• ·       Ann & Alice daughters of William Pearson Junior Cordwainer baptised privately 3 April 1714
• ·       Anne daughter of Joseph Pawson Labourer baptised 5 February 1720

The Bishop’s Transcript of the second baptism above gives the father’s occupation as Labourer. I have not found burials for either of these girls as infants. If the second – which has the correct name – is for ‘our’ Anne Pawson, she would have been about 28 when she married John Stoney. There are no marriage records for a Joseph Pawson at Kettlewell. So her parentage for now remains a mystery.

There is a burial record for an Ann Stoney/Stona (transcripts vary) in Kettlewell in 1798, aged 78, which would match the baptism date of Anne Pawson, daughter of Joseph Pawson. She is described as ‘widow of John Stoney’. There is also, however, another burial for Ann Stona, widow of John, in Kettlewell in 1778. The records need more unpicking to determine which of these burials 20 years apart might be ‘our’ Ann.

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