William Slaymaker (changed last name to Sargent before moving to the US in 1870)
I’m not sure where our family line’s Slaymakers fit in with others of that surname dwelling in England in the late 18th century/early 19th century and prior to that. But I did recently stumble on an 1841 Census record that provided some more clues about my 2nd great grandfather William Slaymaker (who changed his name to Sargent prior to emigrating to the US in 1870).
Funnily enough, the way I came upon the record was by doing a search of the Wills line on Family Search. Up popped a record for a “Geoe Wills”. I found that spelling odd so I clicked it open, and through findmypast.co.uk was able to view the original record. Here I found not only our 3rd great grandfather George Wills and his second wife Elizabeth living at the Stoneworks in Blisworth, Northamptonshire, but also William Slaymaker and his parents, John & Mary, and siblings–Elizabeth, John, Sarah, and a female whose name may have been Harriet. For some reason, the census taker abbreviated many of the first names: George was “Geo e”; Mary was “Ma y”; William was “Wm”, Richard was “Rich d”. Those abbreviations had the last letter input as a superscript. I guess whoever transcribed all these records for Family Search simply left them “as is”, which I suppose was the right thing to do, but it would take a lot of creativity for anyone searching to think of looking for names in such a way.
Stoneworks in Blisworth, circa 1935
In any case, William’s father John (34) is listed as a laborer; Mary is 36; William was 12; Elizabeth 10, John 8; Sarah 6; and Harriet [spelling ?] 3. All lived at the Stoneworks (mentioned in previous posts, most notably this one).
Stoneworks, Blisworth, Northamptonshire, ca. 1910
When I compared this census record with the 1851 record, I could see that John the father had remarried someone named Esther who was born in Blisworth. Son John (18) was living with them as was a son by this new marriage: Joseph, age 4. So John’s first wife Mary must have passed away in or before 1847. William was 21 and by then had married George Wills’ youngest daughter Mary; William and Mary were living with George Wills and his 2nd wife Elizabeth.
I found John and Esther Slaymaker in the 1861 and 1881 census records. In 1861 they were living with son Joseph in Boughton, Northamptonshire, a small village north of the city of Northampton. John was working as a railway gateman. In 1881, they were living in “Needles” in Litchborough, Northamptonshire, a tiny village to the west of Northampton. He was 74 and working as an agricultural laborer, poor old chap. I “googled” Needles and up popped a fancy 22-page real estate brochure on a property in Litchborough called Needles; I gather this was once a substantial estate with multiple dwellings and buildings, farmland, etc. It would seem that John Slaymaker and his second wife Esther may well have lived and worked here. The 1881 census shows a granddaughter Beatrice living with them. She was 6, born in Belgrave, Leicestershire (some 40 miles north of Northampton), and may well have been a daughter of son Joseph, who by then would have been about 34.
As you can see from the below family tree, John Slaymaker, who was my 3rd great grandfather, had siblings named Sarah and Thomas. There were probably others, but these are the only ones I have found so far. All were the children of Thomas and Elizabeth Slaymaker who were probably born in the late 1760s or thereabouts.
So that’s a bit of a glimpse into our Northamptonshire Slaymaker line. We surely have numerous Slaymaker cousins out there in the UK and beyond; hopefully they’ll stumble upon this blog someday and drop us a line! Anyone new to this blog can find more posts on the Wills line and Slaymaker / Sargent line by searching under the relevant surnames in the Categories section (right side of blog; you may have to scroll down a bit; best to read them in chronological order).
Slaymaker Family Tree – 1st three generations
(View the Sargent line by going to the S-U tab above)
1-Thomas Slaymaker
+Elizabeth
|—-2-Sarah Slaymaker c. 20 May 1792, Weedon and Floore, Northampton, England
|—-2-Thomas Slaymaker b. 3 May 1803, c. 6 Jun 1803, Weedon and Floore, Northampton, England
|—-2-John Slaymaker b. 19 Apr 1807, Weedon Beck, Northamptonshire, England, c. 21 Jun 1807,
|——-Weedon and Flore, Northampton, England
|——+Mary b. Abt 1805
|———3-William Sargent b. 2 Sep 1828, Weedon Beck, Northamptonshire, c. 10 Dec 1829,
|———–Weedon and Flore, Northamptonshire, England, |————d. New Jersey, United States
|————+Mary Wills b. 11 Nov 1829, Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, England, d. 6 Dec 1877,
|————–Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey
|———3-Elizabeth (Betsey) Slaymaker b. 11 Oct 1830, c. 30 Nov 1830, Weedon and Floore, Northampton
|———3-John Slaymaker b. Abt 1835
|———3-Sarah Slaymaker b. 1836, Weedon, Northamptonshire
|———3-Harriet Slaymaker b. Abt 1838
|——+Esther b. Abt 1814, Blisworth, Northamptonshire, England
|———3-Joseph Slaymaker b. Abt 1847, Blisworth, Northamptonshire, England
|———-+Unknown
|————-4-Beatrice Slaymaker [daughter of Joseph?] b. Abt 1875, Belgrave, Leicestershire, England
