BAXTER

The following is a preliminary sketch of the Baxter family of Mansield, Nottinghamshire, which we believe to be ancestral to Mary Baxter, wife of John Jarratt, of Sheffield, Yorkshire, who is known to have been born at Mansfield about 1817. We begin with Thomas and Ann (____) Baxter, who had a daughter of exactly the right age, then briefly treat some unplaced, but possibly related, Baxters of Mansfield. By looking at all the men who were married, or baptized any children, at Mansfield from 1790 to 1830, we believe we have eliminated these other candidates as her father with a fair degree of probability. There was in fact only one other man who was married early enough, and was still bap­tizing children so late as 1817, namely another Thomas Baxter with wife Frances Pollard; and although there is a gap in their family which would accomodate another child born in 1817, there is no child credited to them for that time period in the IGI. But as we have not had access to a sufficiently complete or definitive copy of the original baptismal register of Mansfield, and have been forced to rely on frequently-illegible Bishops’ tran­scripts, we can only offer our proposed identification of the parents of Mary (Baxter) Jarratt as the most probable one which fits the data available to us.

1. Thomas Baxter, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was born 1784-85 (aged 56 in 1841, 66 in 1851) in Nottinghamshire, and was still alive at the taking of the 1851 census. He married by 1807, Anne ____, born 1790-91 (aged 50 in 1841, 60 in 1851) in Nottinghamshire, also still alive at the taking of the 1851 census. They were perhaps the Thomas Baxter and Ann Cottrell married 8 February 1807 at Sutton-in-Ashfield, a mere 3½ miles southwest of Mansfield,^[1] but the marriage record is devoid of any other information, and proof of this connection has not been found. They are enumerated with their sons John, William, and Samuel in the 1841 census of Mansfield, in which Thomas is called a wood sawyer.^[2] They are enumerated with their son Samuel (and the latter’s wife and child) in the 1851 census, in which he is called a labourer, and it is mentioned that he was deaf, and blind in one eye.^[3] We have not found either of them in the 1861 or 1871 censuses. Thomas Baxter and his wife had the following children, baptized in the parish church of Mansfield (per IGI unless otherwise stated; the record of the eldest children is probably not complete):

1. Mary Baxter, baptized 6 November 1807, died by 1817, when another daughter was given the same name.
2. Isaac Baxter, baptized 5 November 1811.^[4]
3. John Baxter, baptized 24 May 1815, still living unmarried with his parents in 1841, when his occupation is given as “brush m____” (sic).
4. Mary Baxter, baptized 24 August 1817. We presume her to have been the one of this name who married 27 April 1835 in the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, Sheffield, following publication of banns (neither the ages of the parties, nor their fathers’ names, being stated in the record), John Jarratt, of Brightside, Ecclesall Bierlow (a suburb of Sheffield), in the West Riding of Yorkshire, born probably in 1813, between April and November, at Birmingham, co. Warwick (now in the modern county of West Midlands), died 2 November 1885, aged 72 years, at Buckenham Street, Brightside, Ecclesall Bierlow, of “senile decay [and] paralysis, 14 days,”^[5] and buried 5 November following in St. Thomas Anglican church­yard, Brightside, Sheffield.^[6] At the time of their marriage they were evidently residing at Sheffield. Neither could write their name, and both made a mark in lieu of a signature in the register; the witnesses were George Smedley and Rebecca Smedley, who have not been further identified. This connection is at least chronologically likely, because the Mary Baxter who married John Jarratt was born ca. 1817 (she was aged 35 in 1851, 43 in 1861, 63 in 1881, 73 in 1891, and 83 at her death and burial in 1900) at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire; this woman died 20 September 1900 at no. 4 Buckenham Street, East Brightside, of “senile decay,”^[7] and was buried 24 September following in St. Thomas Anglican churchyard, Brightside, Sheffield.^[8] See JARRATT for further details.
5. James Baxter, baptized 25 April 1819, of whom no further record has been found.
6. Sarah Baxter, baptized 27 June 1821, of whom no further record has been found.
7. Henry Baxter, baptized 20 April 1823, of whom no further record has been found.
8. William Baxter, baptized 9 June 1824, living with his parents in 1841, when he was a wood sawyer like his father.
9. Samuel Baxter, baptized 20 September 1826, living with his parents in 1841, when he was a stone mason (at the age of only 14!), and still living with them in 1851, when he was a labourer. He married by 1851, Mary ____, born 1823-24 (aged 27 in 1851) in Nottinghamshire. Only known child:
   1. Eliza Baxter, born around November 1850 (aged 4 months at the taking of the census on 30 March 1851) at Ald… (place-name illegible), Nottinghamshire.

Other Baxters of Mansfield, from the eighteenth century onward

Thomas Baxter married 27 December 1756 in Mansfield parish church,^[9] Elizabeth Mycroft

Thomas Baxter married 30 June 1778 in Mansfield parish church,^[10] Rebecca Downing.

William Baxter, called of Mansfield in his marriage record, living 1796; married (by licence) 28 August 1783,^[11] Martha Ward, called of Mansfield in her marriage record, living 1796. Only known child:

1. Elizabeth Baxter, baptized 16 June 1796 in Mansfield parish church.

Thomas Baxter, living 1820; married 30 November 1803 in Mansfield parish church,^[12] Frances Pollard (called “Fanny” in some records), living 1820. Known issue (all baptisms at Mansfield):

1. James Baxter, baptized 2 August 1809.
2. Reuben Baxter, baptized 9 June 1815.
3. Eliza Baxter, baptized 4 October 1820.

Henry Baxter, born 1785-86 (aged 24 at his marriage); married 9 June 1810 in Mansfield parish church,^[13] Mary Hutchinson, born 1788-89 (aged 21 at her marriage). In their marriage record, he is described as a bachelor and she a spinster, both of Mansfield; the wit­nesses were Tho. Langstaff and Elizabeth Hutchinson (who signed with a mark). We have not discovered issue of this couple.

James Baxter, living 1823. He married 8 November 1818 in Mansfield parish church (IGI), Martha Lupton, living 1823. Known issue (all baptisms at Mansfield):

1. John Baxter, baptized 1 December 1819.
2. William Baxter, baptized 14 November 1821.
3. James Baxter, baptized 1 October 1823.

George Baxter, living 1833; married by 1831, Mary ____, living 1833. Known issue (both baptisms at Mansfield):

1. James Baxter, baptized 22 June 1831.
2. Thomas Baxter, baptized 20 December 1833.

Notes

                                born in county?
Thomas Baxter 56  wood sawyer   y
=== (page-break) ===
Ann Baxter    50  ----          y
John    "     26  brush m [sic] y
William "     17  wood sawyer   y
Samuel  "     14  stone mason   y

Thomas Baxter* head   66  labourer  Notts.: Mansfield
Ann Baxter     wife   60            Notts.: Mansfield
Samuel Baxter  son    24  labourer  Notts.: Mansfield
Mary Baxter    wife** 27            Notts.: Mansfield Woodham
Eliza Baxter   g.dau. 4mo.          Notts.: Ald... [illegible]
----
 * deaf; blind [in] 1 eye
** This should evidently read “son’s wife”

Some Sites of Related Interest

• Baxter Family Genealogy Forum
  <http://genforum.genealogy.com/baxter/>

From the Genealogy Page of John Blythe Dobson
URL = johnblythedobson.org/genealogy/ff/Baxter.cfm
This page written 19 August 2006
Last revised 13 February 2010