Robert BLACKSHAW was baptised in Beckingham, Lincolnshire on 29th April 1770. He was the eldest child of Edward BLACKSHAW and Hannah BAILEY who had married in Hannah's parish, Beckingham, on 16th May 1769.
Soon after this the family must have moved to Stubton and their daughter, Mary was baptised there on 9th June 1771. A son, Samuel, followed in 1773 but he was not to survive childhood. Another son, Edward was baptised on 29th October 1775 and another, Samuel, on 20th August 1780.
Within a few years, Edward BLACKSHAW died and Hannah, his widow, remarried to Richard SINGLETON in Stubton on 17th May 1785.
In 1791 Robert married Sarah SNEATH in Caythorpe. Sarah had been born in Leadenhome, Lincolnshire in 1768. Their first child, Robert, was baptised in Stubton on 31st October that year.
After this the family moved to Claypole and their next son, Samuel, was baptised there in 1794. On 17th August 1796 Robert & Sarah baptised two sons - Edward & John. Their next child, baptised on 7th April 1799, was called Samuel - presumably following the death of his older brother. Their youngest son, Thomas was baptised on 21st August 1803.
By 1805, two of Robert's brothers felt ready to marry. Edward married in Donington to Frances GENDERS and they moved to Wigtoft. Sadly, Edward died and was buried there on 28th February 1810. Less than nine months later, Frances, his widow, remarried on 13th November to Joshua SHARP.
Samuel also married in 1805. He married in Stubton to Sarah WADSWORTH on 31st October. Their son, Samuel, was baptised there on 22nd February 1807. By 1817 it is presumed that Samuel had been widowed and on 13th February he married Mary LAUGHTON in Stubton. Samuel and Mary* went on to have at least four children.
To return to the family of Robert & Sarah, their five sons were now grown up. Their eldest son, Robert, became a brick layer and stone mason. He was the first to marry in 1815 when he married Rebecca TWELVES in Navenby on 7th November. Rebecca had been born in Navenby in 1788 and she and Robert remained there and went on to have six children. One of these, a daughter, Hannah, married George CLARKE in 1846 and they ran the King's Head public house in Navenby. Robert was buried in Navenby on 20th December 1871 while Rebecca was buried there on 24th August 1873.
Their second son, John, married in Lenton/Lavington on 28th August 1820 to Sarah WARRENER who had been baptised there on 10th July 1801. The marriage was witnessed by John and Mary BRIGGS. John and Sarah had two sons; Robert baptised 26th August 1821 and Joseph baptised 10th May 1823 who both eventually settled in the parish close to their widowed father. John eventually died there in 1867
Edward BLACKSHAW married Maria DAYBELL in Wigtoft on 3rd July 1821. Maria had been baptised there on 26th June 1802 and was the eldest daughter of Samuel DAYBELL and Rebecca HAM who had married in Horbling on 29th March 1800. Their first child, Rebecca, was born in Millthorpe where Maria's parents were living at that time and was baptised at nearby Aslackby on 25 January 1822. After that, the family moved to Wigtoft and then to the Drayton area of Swineshead. In all Edward and Maria had twelve children with only the youngest dying in infancy in 1844.
At some point Edward's family became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) and this was to change completely the course of their lives. It is thought that in 1847 their eldest son, Samuel, emigrated to the USA where he worked in St Louis, Missouri. Just two years later he was followed by the rest of the family, leaving behind only the eldest (married) daughters, Rebecca and Sarah Ann, and their brother, Edward.
The family sailed from Liverpool on the 29th January 1849 on board the Mormon ship, the 'Zetland' as part of a group of 358 Saints. Also on board was Maria's brother, Joseph DAYBELL, his wife, Alice WRIGHT and five of their children. The voyage lasted 63 days and the passengers arrived in New Orleans on the 2nd April. Three days later they boarded the steamship 'Iowa' and headed for St Louis but cholera broke out soon after leaving. Edward BLACKSHAW died from cholera within six weeks of his arrival in St Louis but the rest of the family went on to make a new life for themselves within the Mormon church.
Robert and Sarah's son, Samuel, married on 4th February 1923 to Hannah COOK witnessed by Ann DAYBELL and James BUTLER. The marriage took place in Southwell in Nottinghamshire where Hannah had been baptised on the 18th April 1801. Samuel and Hannah had nine children. Samuel worked as a higgler selling coal and they lived in the Easthorpe area of Southwell until Hannah's death in 1867. Then Samuel went to live with his daughter, Sarah who had married in 1852 to a draper called Samuel GRUNDY and by 1871 they lived in Stapleford in Nottinghamshire with their six children. When Samuel died he was buried in Southwell on 3rd May 1872.
Robert himself died some time before 1823 when his widow, Sarah, remarried to James OGDEN in Claypole on 4th August. She was widowed again before 1841 when the census shows her still living in Claypole along with her youngest son, Thomas BLACKSHAW. Sarah was eventually buried in Claypole on 11th August 1853 having lived with her son, Thomas, for many years. Thomas never married and was himself buried in Claypole 24th January 1879.
As for Robert's brother, Samuel, he and his wife, Mary, settled back in Beckingham where they had two acres of land. Samuel died in 1860 and his wife followed in 1862.
(* page created by Susie Coles)
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