Notes on William Hartley

My line backward from William Hartley born Ovenden in 1792 and died 1868 in Haworth

---

William was born in Ovenden and baptised at Warley Independent Chapel in Warley Town.

His parents were Barnard & Betty (née Brigg)  married 1770.

Before moving to Haworth circa 1816-1818, William was in Wadsworth (using Birchcliff Baptist) but when he married the first time in 1814 to Betty Asten at Halifax he was in Northowram. He & Betty Asten already had a daughter Mary in 1812, before their marriage, and a Grace soon after marriage. William's brother Barnard was already in Wadsworth and had the same occupation as a tinner.

The family start out at Upper Oldfield in Warley using Mixenden Independent Chapel. Barnard & Betty die at Haley Hill, Northowram and were buried at Salem Methodist in Halifax in 1828 & 1837 respectively.

There is a newspaper article that mistakenly suggests the 1828 death is Barnard Hartley the bridge builder of Pontefract. You can't even believe the papers in 1828!

I don't know what happened to the graves at Salem Chapel when the road was altered in the 1960s but fortunately a record of the inscriptions exists in Halifax Archives.

I say all of this to demonstrate how the family moved about the district and also their use of various Nonconformist chapels. I must point out that the Northowram Independent Chapel is listed on the LDS IGI under New Malton, York!

Having looked at the register entries on BMD registers it looks like the register may have been taken to Malton from Northowram by someone, possibly a Heywood connection here. Apart from the register entries, the links between members of this family have been substantiated by various newspaper family notices in the Leeds Mercury and Halifax Guardian. The fact that John & Joseph, 2 of the siblings of my William, were involved in book binding, printing and newspaper publishing must have contributed to the newspaper entries. This follows later with an indirect link from the aforementioned John to a John Hartley who starts the Brighouse Echo.

The use of Nonconformist chapels was a bit of a surprise to me given that they descended from a curate of the Church of England, namely Rev David Hartley, who was school master at Oliver Heywood's Northowram chapel and must have been sympathetic towards Nonconformism.

Going back a generation from Barnard, he was born circa 1751 the son of Barnard Hartley & Betty (née Hyde) who marry at Halifax St John in 1735. They have children locally; John 1736, Hannah 1738, Thomas 1745, Mary 1747, Sarah 1749, Barnard 1751 and possibly Joshua 1754. Latterly they are in Warley Township and using Luddenden. In the gap between 1738 and 1745 it seems that Barnard & Betty were possibly in Leicester & Loughborough where they had Elizabeth 1741 (died an infant & buried there) & David 1742.

I have not yet been able to bring forward with all certainty the lines of John, David & Thomas. Not forgetting the female lines which may give rise to illegitimate male Hartleys.

There is information online but, also from my own research, about Barnard's [b 1716] older siblings and half siblings that show how they moved away from Halifax. Elizabeth marrying Francis Booth and going to Birstall, David the philosopher to Cambridge (at university), Newark, Bury St Edmunds, London and Bath and John who was an Excise Officer being firstly in Halifax where he marries Mary Holker/Howker and has a son David in 1732 baptised Illingworth, then he is in York and finally Dorking, Surrey.

Family reasons may well explain Barnard being in Leicester in 1741/42 but it may have also been connected to his work. Barnard was also in Stockport at one time around 1740 as this is referred to in a letter (Halifax Archives) from his half brother Dr David (the philosopher) to his friend John Lister and mentions sending 5 guineas when Barnard's wife leaves Halifax to join her husband in Stockport. The line forward from David [b 1732] son of John, is not complete either but if he survived that line may be in the south.

There seems to be so many Davids around in the mid 18th century, I have not been able to separate them and see where they link in.

Of course there is the coiner "King David" as well.

One of the incomplete lines will I am sure connect Brian's (firefox1960) David Hartley of Binns Hole, Ovenden that marries Sarah Whitley of Moor End, Ovenden in 1791.

Can anyone clarify where Binns Hole (or Binns Owl) is? I have found suggestion that it is near the present Nursery lane in Ovenden which is very close to Bleakbrough (Blackburn?) where the first mentioned above Barnard & Betty (née Brigg) are living circa 1785 to 1788. It is possible that Sarah Whitley was not David's first wife and he is the one born in Leicester.

Back to Rev David Hartley. There is suggestion on a very good Hartley website (hartleyfamily.org) that Rev David has another son James by his wife Everald. Rev David Hartley first married Evereld Wadsworth at Halifax St John on 12 May 1702. Their first child died unnamed as an infant and was buried at Luddenden on 30 Jan 1702/3. Their next born was Elizabeth who was baptised at Luddenden on 22 Feb 1703/4. Their last child was David born April 1705 and baptised at Halifax St John on 21 June 1705. David's wife Everald died and was buried at Luddenden on 14 July 1705. There is simply no time for another child but it may just be possible to squeeze another child into those from David's marriage to Sarah Wilkinson. Having said that, there is no James on the tree submitted by someone to the College of Arms. The story of James comes from an American line of Hartleys that originated in Cockermouth, Cumbria from a Robert [b 1736] son of James. It seems they have a story of descent from a Hartley the curate of Armley. I have suggested to them it may be from a Robert Hartley curate at Armley 1673 to 1675 but I may well be proved wrong. I disagree with some of the dates on hartleyfamily.org website for the births of Rev David's children. I have taken mine from the registers.

Other possible lines of research are from Rev David Hartley's siblings and half siblings. David was the son of Barnard Hartley (see Oxford Alumni and Halifax Baptism 1673). His siblings were Mary 1658, John 1662 (born at Ovenden), Thomas 1668, (born Halifax)  Samuel 1669, Sarah 1671 and possible Barnard 1679 and Martha 1685. Barnard first married Margaret Wood at Hartshead on 28 March 1658 and secondly Maria (or Mary) Collison at Halifax on 16 Nov 1667. I now think the marriage of Barnard Hartley to Elizabeth Brigg says of Haworth. I think the last mentioned Mary (or Maria) marries Andrew Hartley in 1683 and amongst others they have a son Andrew. There is a record at Halifax Archives of a memorial inscription at Halifax St John of Barnard Hartley buried 4 Aug 1696, his wife Mary buried 17 Nov 1711 and his grandson Andrew, gardener, buried 10 Jan 1752 aged 59. The burial for Andrew gives him of Southowram. Andrew has amongst others a son David in 1724. Another potential line!

The stone and burial do not give an age for Barnard in 1696 but Oliver Heywood records it in his register and says he is aged 62. There is no stone where it shows on the plan and therefore if anyone knows the whereabouts of the Halifax St John gravestones please let me know. I would like to see this stone as the inscription also includes B. (Heart) H. I guess this means there is a heart shape between the letters B and H. This is intriguing as it is a very similar format to that used on the coiner's grave of King David at Heptonstall.

Still lots of lines to bring forward and also the question of Barnard's birth circa 1634. It may be local to Halifax but also there is the civil war in between his birth and marriage and therefore due to the upheaval and movements that occurred it could well be in Haworth, Colne, Barnoldswick, Marton in Craven, Carleton near Skipton, Manchester, Gisburn or virtually anywhere, even Derbyshire or London!

I have used Barnard throughout, though Bernard is recorded in some cases