© 2016 David E. Spencer
In the main Calverley page I started with James and Susan(nah) as the "apex" of the Calverley family tree. My own researches of marriage bonds, wills, deeds of administration and the published Parish Registers of nearby Downham allowed me to take the family history of the Calverleys at least another three generations back into the past.Our "starting James", husband of Susan(nah) was the eldest son of a large family with many sisters but with only two brothers.
James's father also called James (1701-61) was the husband of Mary Read. They married in 1723 at Newchurch-in-Pendle. To add to the confusion both his father and grandfather were also called James!. This gives me five successive generations of ancestors all called James Calverley!.
James (1701-61) had made the move with his parents from Downham Eaves to Well Head. Although the distance between these places is not great "as the crow flies", the two places are on opposite sides of the summit of Pendle Hill.There would be sound motives for the move - possibly better or easier land to farm or perhaps the availability of a copyhold property.
James and his wife Mary had at least nine children - the eldest six were daughters and the three youngest sons.
The girls were Elizabeth (born 1724), Mary (born 1726, later Mrs. John Haworth), Martha (born 1728, later Mrs. James Haworth), Margaret (1731-31), Margaret (born 1732, later Mrs. Robert Hartley) and Jane (born 1735, later Mrs. James Dickson). For all but Jane I know no more than whether or not they married. Jane's descendants include those living today. The best documented of their descendants are the Cryer family.
The eldest son of James and Mary was James, the husband of Susan(nah) Nutter, the focus of the main Calverley page of this website. His younger brother William (1741-1821) married Elizabeth Atkinson in 1765 - they had 8 children. The youngest brother was John (born 1744) who married Margaret ("Peggy") Bailey. Their descendants are well documented in the census records etc. for several generations. These descendant families include living descendants. The family names include Holden, Sagar, Walmsley, Cryer, Buckley and Calverley itself.
James (1701-61) left a will, now preserved in the Lancashire County Record Office in Preston. It lists his tenancies, the rents he paid on them and the sub-tenants living in them. It also lists his children and their inheritances. James was the third child of his parents - he had an elder sister called Martha who lived from 1687 to 1719. His elder brother was also called James and died in infancy in the year before James's birth.
James's father was also James, Yeoman of Well Head. He lived from 1657 to 1715. He and his wife, Elizabeth Brashaw were married in 1685 at Newchurch-in-Pendle. He had a sister, Jane born in 1659. He also had two brothers, both called Stephen - one born in 1661 and the younger Stephen born in 1666. Stephen lived until 1758, married Elizabeth Greene and had several children aand many descendants, some alive today. The subject of Stephen's descendants are beyond the scope of this part of my website. I will willingly check my database for those I have on record. Please email me for any enquiry.
The father of James and Stephen was James Calverley who in 1656 married Mary Barber at Gawthorpe Hall near Padiham in East Lancashire. They were married by Colonel Shuttleworth, the local commander of the Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War.