Wool Comes from Sheep

Wool by Beth, 2019

Last week, I thought about wool. It suddenly dawned on me that one of my Facebook friends who loves gravestones is a farmer! I asked her if she would take a couple of photos of wool. This Schofield/Scholfield project wouldn't be complete without it. Her name is Beth and she lives in Ohio. She tells me that she and her hubby have 370 ewes that they breed. That's a lot of wool.

They also have cattle and crops of corn and soybeans. Her great photos (shared to me via Facebook) will add a lot to my project. Thanks so much Beth.

There are always struggles when you are researching and when I looked at the History of Montville (CT) by Baker I found the names spelled quite nicely in this list:

History of Montville, page 500

My great grandmother spelled it in the most simple of ways. SCHOFIELD. I thought that was all I was going to need to know. Wasn't I wrong?

Spectacle Maker or Clothier?

Spectacle Maker or Clothier?

Internet Archive. org  Genealogical and Biographical Record of
New London County Connecticut
J.H.. Beers& Co. 1905

In this genealogical and biographical book, I have found many of my ancestors from Connecticut. It is not scanned perfectly, so I asked my friend Dorothy Hanna to look in the library and send my a clean photocopy. She mailed it to me so that I could work on this line. The above snip is from the Internet Archive, just so you can see that it states that Arthur was a "spectacle maker". If he did do that it was not claimed as an occupation because all three records I have found of his marriage to Sarah state that he is a clothier. 

It is always good to do a reasonably exhaustive search looking for records. By the way, he was 20 years at marriage and she was a spinster at 24. I have not found any evidence of the amount of money he left his children. Records like the Cheshire Marriage License and Bonds and the Boyd's marriage index at Find my Past do not give me anything but clothier as an occupation and still list no parents.

Bishop's Transcript of Arthur and Sarah Scholefield's Marriage

Earliest Church Records for Scholefield

Arthur Scholefield and his wife Sarah Wrigley were married in 1755 in St. Chads Church in Uppermill, Saddleworth, England.

Manchester, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns.

I cropped this record down from the original record found at Ancestry.com and used a graphics program to underline specific words to make sure I understand each part of this record. 

• "of this parish" means they both attended that specific church
• they married in the chapel (not in the big part of the church where worship services were held)
• married by license (not by banns) 
• this was recorded with the year written out completely. 
• he is a Clothier 
• she is listed as spinster (a never before married woman)
• their ages at marriage are not listed
• listed is the name of the man who married them and the witnesses in this narrative format.
• this is Arthur and Sarah's Bishop's Transcript (a copy of the record sent to the Bishop of the Church of England) You'll want to look at that link because you will need your spectacles) (What is a Bishop's Transcript?)

Notice that this record and the parish register doesn't list parent's names like the Scotland records. 

Disarming the Trunk from England

Peril of John Scholfield Recalled

Westerly Historical Society

"Received a trunk from England; knowing the English were very angry because of his introducing the art of woolen manufacturing in America and fearing the trunk had been sent to do him harm, he opened the trunk by removing the hinges. He then discovered a pistol so arranged that the turning of the key in the lock of the trunk would discharge the firearm and kill the person opening the trunk."

• Norwich bulletin. (Norwich, Conn.), 13 Feb. 1915. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. 

Article can be found at: 

• Disarming the Trunk from England
• <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014086/1915-02-13/ed-1/seq-6/>

Scholfield Family from Yorkshire, England

President Madison's Inaugural Suit
Broadcloth made from Wool

Ingenious and Able Mechanics

While visiting with my maternal grandmother when she lived with my parents, I took out the family Bible and went over some of the clippings that were carefully put in the pages and asked her who put them there and why. This was one that I have scanned and lightened up. There is no source of the newspaper and I have been searching for that for years. (It would have been nice if the heading wasn't cut off.) Grandmother told me that Schofields were smart and prosperous. She told me they sewed tools in their clothes and memorized the directions for the machinery they needed to make.

John Scholfield (1789-1869) was my 5th great grandfather. His wife was Hannah Fox.

Wild and Wooley English Ancestors

Scholfield Ancestors

Where is Saddleworth, England?

Photo by Midge Frazel, 10 July 2019

The majority of my English ancestors have been studied for many, many years by the Family Societies that I have joined. This surname is one that I have not found a society for. In 2014, a woman who was a docent contacted me because she was doing research about the wool industry. Her name was Gail L. Ralston and she was kind enough to send me the paper she wrote (2004-2007) and articles I probably would never have found.  One is from the Smithsonian Institution, "The Scholfield Wool-Carding Machines" by Grace L. Rogers.

When I picked this line up again, I found that maps are starting to appear at Ancestry.com. You might want to look at your tree to see if you have one. I put an arrow pointing to the word Saddleworth on the map.

Ancestry.com 4 July 2019 Arthur Scholefield of Saddleworth, England

Prickly Summer: Alternative Sources

Courtesy of B. Fallon and the Westerly Public Library, 7 May 2019

Prickly Summer: Alternative Sources

In every list of sources beyond the usual census records, family Bibles and land and house records are the mostly ignored "modern day" phone directories probably because they are not archived in places that are easily accessible to researchers who do not travel to the locations where their families lived.

My great aunt, Dorothy B. Bliven, a divorcee, led a prickly early life but managed to move above and beyond her troubles. She was my grandmother's baby sister and someone I knew and loved. 

Finding out more about her has been a genealogy mission for this past winter because she was part of our holiday celebrations and her memory is one I want to preserve for my daughter. 

I discovered this week that the Westerly, Rhode Island library holds more records past the last city directory available at Ancestry.com. (1948) and that more than one of the city directories held there doesn't contain every page that I needed. 

This is why I consider myself lucky to have my friend who can go there and look things up for me. This is one of my most rewarding genealogical experiences to have her to help me.