The Midgley's'of Almondbury, west Yorkshire

of Almondbury
with Heptonstall and Overthong.

Almondbury Church Roland Haigh has had the L.D.S. construct a pedigree for the Midgley's of Almondbury which can now be downloaded here as two zipped pdf files.
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The Midgley Almondbury files:
mid1.zip mid2.zip
John says that the second sheet is already slightly out of date as he has found two children of John and Lucy Lodge from other files.
There are also Haighs in Lockwood, Overthong, Holmfirth, Almondbury, and St. Peter, Sheffield "of Ead."("of Elland?")
There are also connections to Midgleys' in Heptonstall in the early 1600's Overthong in the mid 1600's and Almondbury in the 1700's, with marriage into the Sykes' of Thornhill.
Contact: Roland Haigh
Also download a zipped data base of Midgley's of Almondbury 1841 census or a zipped file of Midgley's of Huddersfield from the 1851 census, both extracted by Roland Haigh.
Roland has also supplied four maps of the Almondbury area which show field boundaries and road names from 1844. They can be printed off and enlarged on a photocopier. Download the maps in a zip file here.

Midgley of Almondbury - Download a zipped file containing an updated gedcom

Castle Hill and tower which overlook Almondbury.

DAVID MIDGLEY- ALMONDBURY REPUBLICAN
Radicalism and Parliamentary Reform, following the American War of Independence.

"On 24th of August 1802, Radcliffe, an Almondbury magistrate, gained a fuller picture of the underground movement in Almondbury when he received a visit from Edward Harling, an Almondbury merchant, who had been suspicious for some time about the activities of some of his neighbours, and Mark Haigh,an Almondbury yeoman farmer, who had actually been drawn into those activities. They came to a Milnsbridge house to volunteer information, probably at the suggestion of another magistrate, George Armytage, with whom Harling was acquainted. Haigh told Radcliffe 'that he had strong grounds to suspect the seditious meetings are held frequently at the houses of David Midgley and Samuel Buckley…that five or six Sundays past, eight or ten people who are strangers in Almondbury have come to the Houses…and stayed there during the whole of the afternoon service' and that he had been informed 'that the Books or Accounts of a seditious society are kept at the house of Midgley', an Almondbury cordwainer. Haigh also revealed that Robert Lodge, an Almondbury clothier and part-time barber, was implicated. On the 28th of August, Radcliffe had Lodge arrested on suspicion of being a member of a seditious society. Lodge denied the charge, but acknowledged that around June 1801 he had been persuaded by Buckley to subscribe a penny for 'a paper', in return for which he was given a small numbered card bearing the initials 'D.M.' which Radcliffe's information suggested were those of David Midgley, the treasurer of the Almondbury section of the United Britons. Some time later Thomas Sykes, an Almondbury clothier, had demanded a further twopence from him, but he had handed over only three halfpence, giving him a shave rather than the other halfpenny. Radcliffe wrote immediately to the Home Secretary for advice on how to proceed, but then decided to raid the house on the 29th of August before waiting for a reply. By the time a military detachment arrived at the house, however, the occupants had had time to remove or conceal any incriminating evidence and Radcliffe regarded his seizures, two songs of liberty, including the song written by citizen Gledhill for Bastille Day in 1800, and a manuscript on democratic organisation as 'of little if any consequence'. After the raid, Radcliffe received the reply to his letter from the Home Office, which advised that there appeared to be insufficient evidence for a raid. In the circumstances, Radcliffe chose not to notify the Home Office of his actions, but remained determined to investigate further the provenance of the documents that had fallen into his hands. However, his attention was diverted to other matters when industrial unrest arose among the croppers in 1802 following similar disturbances in the West Country."

See notes on the Almondbury Republican Movement.

Note: The persons bearing the names Sykes, Midgley and Haigh appear to all have become intermarried at various times [see Roland Haigh's zip files above].

Midgley of Almondbury and Salt Lake City, Utah.

There is plenty of evidence to indicate that some of the Midgley's from Almondbury emigrated to the U.S.A. and became part of the push west to Salt Lake City. The means by which they did this was arduous and dangerous. Many of these pioneers pushed handcarts in their attempts to reach their goals of a new life in a new land. Further description can be obtained from the University of Utah Mormon History site.

A book which is difficult to find is "The Midgleys - Utah Pioneers"by Kenneth Eardley Midgley. Another by the same author called "The Eardleys - Utah Pioneers", pub. U.S.A. 1978. This book is on a CD-ROM and contains one page on the Midgleys' of Utah.

Terri Ann [Midgley] McLain
Descendant of John George Midgley b. 20th Dec. 1857 Salt Lake City, son of Joshua Midgey b. 1822 Almondbury and Jemima Rushby Hough b. 1834 Woodenbox, Lancashire.
Roland Haigh is trying to re-contact Terri Ann, please contact Roland direct.
contact updated 25th Jan. 2008

Further evidence of Midgley of Almondbury and Salt Lake City, Utah.

William Midgley married Frances Wilkinson they had three children: Grace, William and Jeremiah. Jeremiah married Susanna Firth they had two children : Jeremiah and Michael. Jeremiah married Alice they had three children : Jeremiah, Martha and John.
John married Mary Kilburn they had five children : Elizabeth, Maria I, Johannes, Maria II, and Jonathan I Midgley.

Jonathan I was born 21st September 1727 in Almondbury, Yorkshire. He married Susan North on 22nd October1753. Susan was born abt. 1729. Jonathan I died at Elland, Yorkshire. They had seven children : John, David, Jonathan II, Mary, Susan, Thomas I and John Midgley.

Jonathan II was born 30th March 1760 at Elland, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire. He married Martha Beaumont on the 26th August 1782. Martha was born 2nd September 1762 at Heath, Saddleworth, Yorkshire. They had ten children : Suzy, Nathan, Samuel, William, John, Thomas II, Joshua, David, Joseph and Kezia Midgley. See Midgley-Beaumont page Also: https://midgleyfamily.wordpress.com/family-tree/

Thomas Midgley was born 2nd April 1798 in Almondbury, he married Ellen Hinchcliffe on the 30th September 1821. She was born 24th December 1801. Thomas died 9th September 1870 in Nephi, Juab, Utah. Thomas and Ellen had eleven children : Ephriam, Martha, John, Joshua, Elliot Ann, Jonathan, Benjamin, Hannah, Mary Ellen and Thomas III Midgley.

Thomas III Midgley was born 30th December 1834 in Almondbury. He married Mary Ellen Andrews. Mary was born 19th August 1841. Thomas III died 25th December 1909 at Salt Lake City, Utah. They had twelve children : Mary Ellen [Nellie], Hannah May, Earl Vaughn, John Elliot, Joshua Andrews, Elizabeth, Charles William, Ephraim Andrews, James Andrews, Thomas John, Benjamin Andrews and Ann Elizabeth Midgley.

Benjamin Andrews Midgley was born 8th November 1870 Nephi, Juab, Utah, he married Charlotte Gosforth on 14th December 1892. Thomas died 25th December 1909 at Salt Lake City, Utah. They had a child, Benjamin Geno Midgley born 18th February 1897 at Salt Lake City, Utah. He married Eleanor Tranter Robinson on 12th June 1919 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They had three sons one of whom was Benjamin Midgley, Melisa's grandfather. Contact: Melisa

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Sources:
1. Arrington, Leonard, J. Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies.
2. Hafen, Leroy & Ann, Handcarts to Zion.
3. Roland Haigh emails