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James HARDAKER

Male Abt 1827 - 1902  (~ 75 years)


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  • Name James HARDAKER 
    • See note below.
    Birth Abt 1827  Eccleshill, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • Birth place and date from various census records.
    Gender Male 
    1841 Census 6 Jun 1841  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    1851 Census 30 Mar 1851  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    1861 Census 7 Apr 1861  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [3] 
    1871 Census 2 Apr 1871  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    1881 Census 3 Apr 1881  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    1891 Census 5 Apr 1891  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [6] 
    1901 Census 31 Mar 1901  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [7] 
    Death 21 Mar 1902  Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    • Hardaker, James, of 4 Grange Terrace Undercliffe Road Bradford. Probate to Elizabeth Hardaker, widow.
    Person ID I3356  Hardaker One-name Study
    Last Modified 17 May 2020 

    Father Joseph HARDAKER,   b. 1781, Eccleshill, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 Sep 1830, Farsley, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 49 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Lydia THORNTON,   b. Abt 1783   d. 10 Dec 1843, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 60 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage 13 Sep 1801  Tong church, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [9, 10, 11] 
    • Joseph Hardaker & Lydiah [sic] Thornton, both OTP. Joseph signed, Lydia made her mark. Witnesses were John Thornton and Joseph Langley.
    Family ID F266  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Sarah HEDSON,   b. Abt 1826, Grassington, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Nov 1856, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 30 years) 
    Marriage 6 May 1848  Calverley St Wilfrid, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [11] 
    Type: After Banns 
    • James Hardaker, 22, Bachelor, Painter, residing Farsley, father Samuel Hardaker a Clothier. Sarah Hedson, 22, Spinster, residing Farsley, father John Hedson a Tinner. James signed, Sarah made her mark. Witnesses were Betsey Hardaker (we think this may be the daughter of James's older brother John, she was about the same age as James) and John Kirk.
    Notes 
    • James recorded his father's name as Samuel. Obviously this is inconsistent with our assignment of him to Joseph and Lydia. We have failed to find a likely set of parents for James and his confirmed brother Charles with the father named Samuel. We do have some evidence that James' mother was named Lydia (1841 census in particular), and the only known candidate is Lydia née Thornton who married Joseph Hardaker. We think that James' father died when James was very young (about 3 years old), so he will have had no memory of his father, and may not have been certain of his name.
    Children 
     1. William HARDAKER,   b. Abt 1850, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Sep 1852, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 2 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Family ID F1133  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 May 2020 

    Family 2 Elizabeth HARDAKER,   b. Abt 1840, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 14 Aug 1879  Bradford Moor Chapel, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [12] 
    Type: By Certificate 
    • James Hardaker, 49 years [he was 52], Widower, Confectioner, residing Undercliffe Lane Bradford, name and occupation of father not given. Elizabeth Hardaker, 38 years, Spinster, residing Undercliffe Lane Bradford, father Charles Hardaker a Furniture Broker. Both signed. Witnesses were Samuel Rankin and Mary Hardaker [Elizabeth's younger sister].
    Notes 
    • This marriage between James and his niece Elizabeth is known as an avunculate marriage. It is certainly illegal in the UK these days, and probably was in 1879. The fact that James did not report the name of his father for the marriage register perhaps suggests that he realised that this was socially inappropriate at the very least, or he simply could not remember. Elizabeth's father Charles does not seem to have been unhappy with the union. He had his brother as a co-executor of his will, and several of his other children evidently lived with James at different times during the late 1800s. We have to date found no evidence of any children born to James and Elizabeth.
    Family ID F1134  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 May 2020 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - Abt 1827 - Eccleshill, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1841 Census - Wapping - 6 Jun 1841 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Type: After Banns - 6 May 1848 - Calverley St Wilfrid, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1851 Census - Wapping Road - 30 Mar 1851 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1861 Census - North Wing - 7 Apr 1861 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1871 Census - 1 Fernbank Terrace - 2 Apr 1871 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Type: By Certificate - 14 Aug 1879 - Bradford Moor Chapel, Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1881 Census - 4 Grange Terrace - 3 Apr 1881 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1891 Census - 4 Grange Terrace - 5 Apr 1891 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google Maps1901 Census - 4 Grange Terrace, Undercliffe Lane - 31 Mar 1901 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 21 Mar 1902 - Bradford, Yorkshire, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • We know of James from census and marriage records. To date we have not been to find a birth/baptism record for him. In the census records from 1851 onward James reported his place of birth as being Eccleshill, and was fairly consistent about his year of birth being about 1827. We have an 1841 census record that is most likely the same James Hardaker living at Wapping in central Bradford with a Lydia Hardaker (aged 50-59) and a Joshua Hardaker (20-24). We can't be certain, but it seems likely that Lydia was the mother of the two younger males. We are reasonably confident that Lydia is the Lydia Thornton who married Joseph Hardaker in 1801. Living close by (almost next door) is a family named Smithies, including a Joseph Smithies aged 25-29. A Joseph Smithies was a witness to the marriage of Charles, confirmed brother of James, in 1836. Could this be the same person? We know that Charles (married with two children) was living only a short distance away from Lydia, Joshua and James at Wapping in 1841. This allows us to be a little more confident that this 1841 record of James Hardaker is the brother of Charles, and is the James who later became a painter and confectioner living in Bradford through until the early 1900s.

      Contradicting this, we have James reporting that his father was named Samuel (a Clothier) when he married Sarah Hedson in 1848. Exhaustive efforts to find a Samuel Hardaker, perhaps married to a Lydia, have been made, and the only known candidates (there are several, all recorded in our database) have been eliminated for various reasons. We need to consider whether the register entry could be an error. James's father died when he was around three years old, so he will have had no memory of him. His mother Lydia died five years before he married Sarah. A Betsey Hardaker was a witness to his marriage. This could have been James' older sister (baptised Betty), but she vanishes from the records following her birth in 1805. Betsey may be James' niece, daughter of his older brother John. She was born in 1826, so very nearly the same age as James. Like James, Betsey would not have remembered her grandfather, and quite probably would not have known his first name. In addition, she was illiterate (signed with a cross), so quite probably could not read what was written in the register. Under these circumstances it is easy enough to see how an error might be made. For now, and until any other evidence supporting an alternate theory comes to light, we are assuming that the marriage register was an error and that James is the son of Joseph and Lydia.

  • Sources 
    1. [S138] 1841 Census, 1841 Census (Reliability: 0).
      Class: HO107; Piece: 1293; Book: 5; Civil Parish: Bradford; County: Yorkshire; Enumeration District: 12; Folio: 15; Page: 23; Line: 14; GSU roll: 464253

    2. [S122] 1851 Census, 1851 Census (Reliability: 1).
      Class: HO107; Piece: 2307; Folio: 396; Page: 15; GSU roll: 87518-87519

    3. [S191] 1861 Census, 1861 Census (Reliability: 1).
      Class: RG 9; Piece: 3320; Folio: 50; Page: 14; GSU roll: 543113

    4. [S228] 1871 Census, 1871 Census (Reliability: 1).
      The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1871 England Census; Class: RG10; Piece: 4459; Folio: 37; Page: 26; GSU roll: 848462

    5. [S115] 1881 Census, 1881 Census (Reliability: 1).
      Class: RG11; Piece: 4447; Folio: 70; Page: 1; GSU roll: 1342063

    6. [S363] 1891 Census, 1891 Census (Reliability: 1).
      The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 3625; Folio: 22; Page: 2; GSU roll: 6098735

    7. [S457] 1901 Census (Reliability: 1).
      Class: RG13; Piece: 4153; Folio: 34; Page: 17

    8. [S521] Calendars of Probate, (Accessible in the main via Ancestry.com, in full at the National Library, Canberra.) (Reliability: 2).
      Probate Date: 10 Jun 1902; Probate Registry: Wakefield

    9. [S303] IGI M107658, IGI M107658.

    10. [S304] Brian Jones transcription of register, Brian Jones transcription of register.

    11. [S479] WYAS via Ancestry.com.

    12. [S285] West Yorkshire Non-Conformist Records 1646-1985 (Reliability: 1).
      Reel Number: Bradford, Stephen Road (Later Bethel Methodist); WC 5; Reference Number: C111/143


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