What follows attempts to summarise the main threads in the Henderson family tree, when and where they were and concentrates on the direct line. However there were of course brothers and sisters and to some extent these are mentioned with some information as well.

As regards the direct line, subject to the fact that it has emerged that my grandfather (George William) was illegitimate and none of us after 1872 may be true Henderson’s at all but Potts (!), the direct line through to me is currently:

Originally I had traced the Henderson family back to John Henderson born in 1818 and with his Marriage Certificate determined that his father was Thomas Henderson.  

I used a professional researcher, Ann Brooker, to try and trace details of Thomas Henderson and this is the finding of her research which shows that we are now back to our earliest ancestor so far traced who was Edward Henderson born 1745. Many many thanks Ann.

In addition to what Ann has found out about our ancestors I found out some things about Bedlington where the family lived. In the Locations section of the Henderson section you will find information about the village and this includes  

Edward was born in Rothbury in Northumberland in 1745. 

Edward married Francis Kirsop on 15^th June 1775 (MC) at Longhorsely. Francis was born in 1749. Both signed the marriage which show they were literate. The witnesses were James Henderson and Henry Kirsop.
Edward and Francis had the following children:

Ann has found in the Overseas Poor Account Book 1734-1783 the following entries in March 1780:

 “We whose names hereunto subscribed and [1][4]seals affixed, two of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, of the said County whereon is the quorum do hereby appoint Anthony Wilkins and Edward Henderson, being two substantial householders in the Township of Bedlington, in said County to be Overseers of the Poor of the said Constabulary for the space of One Year next ensuing dates thereof.
Gateshead – 27 March 1780”.

Edward Henderson was responsible for paying the following amounts into the common fund for disbursement to the poor. 

He was listed with 8 farms at 6 shillings = £2-8-0 in the Township of Bedlington.
Under this (but not attributed to anyone) 27 farms at 6 shillings each = £8-2-0.
There is no location but these could be Edward’s too. 

It is unclear whether the sums are those, which have been collected from the owners of the farms, or if the farms were Edward’s. But money would have been collected from sources other than farmers e.g. landowners, landlords and others would probably be eligible to pay up. This does not show. 

Francis died on 8^th April 1802 (DC) in Horton by Blyth. She was aged 53. As you can see her husband Edward was noted as a farmer which backs up the above. 

Edward died on 31^st May 1818 in Bedlington.

Ann found also out that Thomas’s younger brother Edward married Margaret Wood on 2^nd September 1804 at Bedlington. Mary was from Ponteland. 

They had at last the following children: 

Thomas Henderson (1781 -  ?)

As noted above Thomas was born in 1781 In Bedington.  

He married Isabella Kirkup on 6^th May 1804 at Horton by Blyth. Isabella Kirkup was christened on 27^th January 1782 at Bedlington, daughter of William and Dorothy Kirkup. 

An Isabella Henderson of Bedlington died on 8^th March 1818 aged 36. This is almost certainly her. It is the same date that her last son (our relative) was christened. Could she have died in child birth and her son christened on the same day. 

We know from an entry in Parson’s and White’s Trade Directory of 1828 that Thomas Henderson was the proprietor of the Dunn Cow. He would have been about 48 years old.  

He had plenty of competition as there was also the Black Bull, Blue Bell, Free Masons Arms, Red Lion, Turks Head and the Swan Inn. Pub names have not changed a lot in nearly 200 years. There is no information in which Public House John Henderson was in before he fell in the river in 1804! 

In the 1841 Census Thomas was living in the High Street in Bedlington (as was his son John and wife Eve). He was termed a widower (Isabella had died in 1818). He was noted as aged 57 which would mean born in 1784 which is quite close. At the time living with him was a grand-daughter Catherine Atkinson aged 12 and a servant Ann Joice. 

In the 1851 Census Thomas was noted as 70, therefore born 1781 which is correct (he must have lied in the 1841 census). In this census he had grand-daughter Isabella Atkinson aged 26 living with him. Isabella was his wife’s name. Also living with im was Hannah Lamb a 29 year old servant. He was not traced in the 1861 Census and therefore presumably died in those ten years.

The above information obviously raises more relatives being the other children of Thomas, including the brothers of our direct relative John Henderson. I have not followed these. 

John Henderson (1818-1885)  

John was born to Thomas and Isabella on 8^th March 1818 in Bedlington  in Northumberland

Twenty years later John was recorded as living in Pilgrim Street in the center of Newcastle when he married Eve Harvey at St Andrew’s Church in Newcastle on 3rd July 1938 (MC).  

This may however be actually Eve’s address as they were both recorded as living there in the Marriage Certificate.

We find John and Eve Henderson in the 1841 Census living in the High Street of Bedlington with their daughter Isabella who was recorded as aged one. John was described as a millwright. What emerges from this census is in 1841 Bedlington was part of Durham, although from the 1851 census it was in Northumberland. 

I researched this and found that Bedlingtonshire was effectively in County Durham at the time. Apparently as a consequence of the constant warring between Scotland and England, the Bishop of Durham was the King’s appointed representative in the English borderlands. He ruled in both civil and ecclesiastical matters. 

The Act of Union over a hundred years earlier between the two countries effectively killed the reason for these few enclaves including Bedlington to remain in Durham but it was not until 20^th October 1844 that legislation was introduced by which the so-called “parcels of the County Palatine of Durham” were transferred to the County of Northumberland. 

In the 1851 Census John and Eve were living in Bedlington with the following children:

John aged 33 was called an Engine Wright which I subsequently ascertained would be an engineer.  

John Harvey, our direct ancestor, was the seventh born in Bedlington on 4th May 1853 (BC). The “Harvey” obviously came from his mother’s maiden name and this was later passed on to one of his sons when he married.  

However soon after John Harvey was born the family moved to Benwell in Newcastle and the last child William was born there in 1856.  

In the 1861 Census, John, Eve together with Frances, Margaret, John Harvey and William were living with their parents at Scotswood Road in Benwell. As you can see this is just outside Newcastle and right on the river Tyne. John was now 43 and an engineer.

Thomas had married Mary Hunter and was living at 260 Sycamore Street, Elswick (next to Benwell) with Mary and his mother-in-law. Thomas was also an engineer.  

Isabella and Mary were working for the Naylor family. Isabella aged 20 was the cook and Mary aged 17 was a general maid. Mr. Naylor was a Civil Engineer and living at 6 St Thomas  Square in Newcastle.

No trace of Jo(e) who would have been 10 so possibly she had died. 

By the 1871 Census, John, Eve, Margaret, John Harvey and William were living at 38 Heigh Road  in Benwell.  
 

By this time John was 53 and again recorded as an engineer. John Harvey aged 17 was an apprentice engineer.  William only 15 was also an apprentice engineer. They would probably be working in the mining industry. Margaret aged 24 was a schoolmistress and Frances aged 26 was a servant working for the Grey family at 29 Mulgrave Terrace in Gateshead. Benjamin Grey was a Public Notary. 

I have lost Isabella and Mary by 1871 and guess they had got married.  

Thomas now aged 32 was now living in South Blyth with his wife Mary. His mother-in-law is still living with them! They now have 3 children        

   Mary    b. 1862 in Newcastle  
   John Joseph    b. 1865 in Gateshead  
   William Henry   b. 1869 in Blyth  

On 19^th December 1872 (BC) George William, my grandfather was born in Delaval Benwell to Mary Ann Potts. No father is recorded on the birth certificate .  

Mary Ann was the daughter of the Delaval Benwell colliery manager Thomas Potts and this is recorded in Mining Records  as explained in the Locations section. 

On 5^th October 1874 (MC) John Harvey Henderson married Mary Ann Potts  at St James Church in Benwell.  

This raises the issue of whether John Harvey was the father of my grandfather or whether he adopted George William. My grandfather always used the name Henderson and this is recorded in subsequent censuses and also his marriage and death certificates.  

John Harvey and Mary Ann then had Harvey born 18^th July 1875 (BC) at Greenhow Place, Benwell and Tom John born on 24^th September 1876 (BC) at 21 Curvers Row, Benwell.  

Eve died in Newcastle in 1880, aged 63 

In the 1881 Census Mary Ann and the boys were living at 81 Paradice Row, Benwell. John Harvey was not recorded in that census. We have a photo of Paradice Row in the 1920’s although this is 40 years later. There was a coal pit behind the houses.

This area was where The Blaydon Races, written by George Ridley, was based – which explained a bus trip from Newcastle to the races at Blaydon Island in 1862. The story can be found in The Blaydon Races Heritage Trail which has maps of the area in 1859 and mentions amongst others Scotswood Road where the family was living in 1861. Under verse 4 you will find mention of Paradice and in the narrative it says that Paradice Row was located between the west pit of Benwell Colliery and Benwell Brickworks.  

At the time of the 1881 Census, John, the father, aged 63 was still living at 38 Heigh Road with Margaret one of his daughters who was an unmarried schoolmistress. 
He died on 27^th May 1885 (DC) at 71 High Cross in Benwell, aged 67. His occupation was recorded as a Fitter in Elswick Works. He died from Sanguineous Effusion (Cerebal) Hemiplegia (a stroke). His death was reported by Alice Boriner (? Spelling) of 15 Bevan Terrace, Stockton on Tees.  

What had happened to Thomas? We had left him in 1871 with his wife and 3 children in South Blyth. In the 1881 Census, aged 42 he was still in Blyth at 23 Eldon Street, with Mary his wife and the 3 children. He was recorded as an Engineer for a dredging machine. Mary the eldest child of 19 was now a milliner.

Sometime between April 1881 and February 1883 there was a major move for John Harvey and his family as they moved to Norfolk. The three boys born in Newcastle were all less than 10. More children were then born in Norfolk.  

Arthur was born on 24^th February 1883 (BC) in Walsoken, Ethel Mary on 14^th May 1884 (BC) also at Walsoken; Emily May born in 1886 in Wisbech and lastly John Edward born on 5^th September 1887 (BC) at 36A Bedford Street, Wisbech.  

Information about the Norfolk towns are to be found in the Humphrey Synopsis as it was the Humphrey’s that had the long history in the area. 

In the 1891 Census the family was living at 55 Colville Road Wisbech St Peter. At this time John Harvey at 38 was a Foreman in a Timber Saw Mill. 

How and why John Harvey took his family from Newcastle to Norfolk is of course unclear. However it was a nicer area of the country in those times and presumably it was a better job. George William, my grandfather, aged 18, was in 1891 a Draper’s Assistant. 

It was at this time that the Henderson brothers, George William and Tom John met the two Humphrey sisters, Ada Mary and Bessie Louise who were daughters of a local farmer. More information on them and the sister’s lives can be found in the Humphrey synopsis.  

In 1891 Thomas now 52 was still in Northumberland, in Blyth. He is now a Dredging Superintendent. Mary aged 29 is still living at home and single. William Henry aged 22 is also at home and is a Marine Engineer. John Joseph now 26 is also a Marine Engineer and boarding with a family in Oak Road Woolston near Southampton. Mary A Reed an 81 year old aunt is also living with them. 

In 1898 John Harvey’s daughter Emily May died aged 12

In the 1901 Census, aged 48, John Harvey was living at Treville House, Princes Road, Wisbech St Peter with his remaining family – Mary Ann (50); Arthur 18; Ethel Mary 16 and John Edward aged 13. John Harvey was now a Saw Mill Manager and Superintendent Engineer. Arthur was working as an Ironmongers assistant and Ethel was a draper’s assistant. John Edward was still at school.

Of their other children the three elder boys, born in Newcastle, had left home in 1901.  

George William was not traced but he married my grandmother Ada Mary in London eighteen months later, in August 1902.  

Harvey was a grocer’s assistant in Bideford Devon. Again we have a little information about the mysterious Harvey later. 

Tom John was living with a married sister of Bessie Louise Humphrey and her husband (Bessie Louise who was also there at the time of the census) and they married later that year. What we know about this couple is described later but we hope to add more information which we hope will be provided by their grandson John Graves.  

And what of John Harvey’s brother, Thomas?  I have a record in the 1901 Census. If this is him he is now 60 and living at 4 Old Stone Row, Cramlington in Northumberland. With him his wife Margaret (it should be Mary) who is noted as being born in Scotland (Mary was born in Durham). He is shown as a Colliery General Labourer. This all looks a little strange although he is noted as being born in Bedlington and I have no other Thomas Henderson’s born in Bedlington at a similar time in the earlier censuses. Also I can find no trace of the two sons, John Joseph and William Henry – this needs looking at again. 

This then is the first chapter to bring us up until the beginning of the 20^th Century.    

I have however just dipped into the 20^th Century as I was keen to find out about Mary Ann Henderson nee Potts who was for sure my direct ancestor. 
I found out that she had died on 2^nd August 1905 (DC) from Diabetes and gangrene of the right foot which she had for 15 days and then in a coma for 36 hours. They gave a lot of information sometimes! 

However what was particularly interesting was that they had gone back to their roots after 20 years in Norfolk where the two sons had met the Humphrey sisters. In 1901 they were still in Wisbech but John her husband reported her death in 1905 and they were living at 183 Norfolk Road, Byker, in Newcastle. So did the children who were living with them in 1901 also return to Newcastle?

The next step for me is to bring the Humphrey, Bussicott and Batchelor families to London in 1901.  

Then we need to take each family onwards. In the case of the Henderson family this will be recording George William and Ada Mary’s family:  

Also my grandfather’s brother, Tom John Henderson, who married Bessie Louise Humphrey and their family. 
Also perhaps try and trace the other male family members other than Thomas and his sons what of  the mysterious Harvey and the two youngest sons of John and Mary Ann being Arthur and John Edward who we “lose” in 1901.

Legend: 
BC= birth certificate
MC= marriage certificate
DC= death certificate 

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