Ben Brown. The Harry Burn Family History Site

Joseph BROWN junior. My great great grandfather was also a farmer; he seems to have spent most of his life at Moorside, Bucknall although the censuses shows he was born at Horton.

He married twice. The first marriage was to Joice SIMMS and took place at St. Peters Church, Stoke-on-Trent on the 2-7-1810. His second marriage was to Elizabeth BRASSINGTON at Christ Church, Fenton. There address was given as Moorside. Elizabeth was a widow and her father, William BADDERLEY was a farmer. The witnesses to this marriage were William and Elizabeth WOOD.

From information shown on the 1851 and 1861 censuses he seems to have had a fair sized farm of about 120 acres and employed three people, either as servants or farm workers. The 1851 census shows him as married and his wife as Elizabeth. However they did not marry until 1854!

The 1861 census shows him as married, but at the time the census was taken, his wife, Elizabeth was not living with him; She may have just been away temporarily, although from a copy of his will, he did not seem to be on the best of terms with Elizabeth since he only left her one shilling. He left the following bequests( Note by Harry Burn; only leaving her one shilling may not have ment that they did not get on. It could have ment that see had indipendant means and did not need a large bequest).

Job his son £50. Hannah MAYER his daughter £60. The remainder of his estate to be sold and the proceeds to be divided equally between his children: Dinah BENTLEY, Hannah MAYER, Jane DEAVILLE, Enoch, Joseph, Eli and Jeremiah

His executors were Enoch, Joseph and Eli. He signed the will X on the 18th July 1862, only nine days before he died. His effects were under £450. At the time of his death Enoch was living in Eaves Lane as a farmer, and Joseph at the Ivy House as a labourer.

Job BROWN Snr. My great grandfather was born at Bucknall on the 21st July 1822 and married Hannah Clews on Christmas Day 1843 at St. Peters Church, Stoke.

The marriage details give his address as Hanley, and his occupation as farmer. He was farming at Eaves Lane in 1851 where he had a farm of 14 acres. According tothe 1861 census he was farming at Bankend Farm Longsden on 43 acres and in 1881 he was farming 57 acres at Nether Stanlow, Longsden. He had five children Joyce, Enoch, John, Job and Dinah.

My grandfather Enoch BROWN married Rachel HEATH on the 21st September 1868 at St Luke's Church, Endon. They had nine children, Rachel, Ellen, Job, Samuel, Ruth, Fredric, Enoch, Dinah and Herbert (my father). He was born at Kerry Hill, Eaves Lane on the 17th January 1846, and according to the 1871 census was farming at Bradshaw Farm, Longsden. It is reputed that he failed on two occasions with the same farm due to excessive intake of alcohol and moved to a tied cottage in Park Lane, Endon in 1872. Where the last seven of his children were born. He spent the remainder of his working life as a Stonemason, sinking wells, and as a general contractor to the local farming community.

Herbert BROWN. My father was born on the 19th December 1890 the youngest of nine children whose births were spread out over a period of eighteen years. He married in January 1922 at 34 years of age and these two facts account mainly for the disparity in age of most of my paternal relatives and myself.

He attended St Luke's Parish Church School on Endon Bank leaving there in approx 1902. His early working life was spent at various farms including Stanlow, The Ashes and The Gatehouse Farm. He went to Canada in approx. 1908 and worked on a large farm as a Bailiff, for a farmer named MOORE.

In 1916 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the Lord Strathcona Horse Artillery and came to England for training prior to going to France on active service. Coming through army service successfully he was demobbed in 1919 back in Canada. He continued to work in Canada with the intention of making enough money to buy a farm of his own, he had by this time met his intended wife who was still resident in England. However their plans received a setback in late 1920 when he had to return to England to buy the two cottages in Park Lane, Endon which had been the family home since circa 1870.

These cottages were tied to the adjacent Corn Hayes Farm and because their then owner Mrs BOWERS of Caverswall Castle was being pressed for death duties following the death of her husband was forced to sell many of her properties in the Moorland Villages. This included the farm and it's tied cottages.

My father naturally did not want his parents to be without a home and as none of his other children were able to help he eventually bought the cottages in Feburary1921. His address at this was shown on the conveyance as. Dropmore, in the province of Manitoba in the Dominion of Canada. He then married Ethel HANCOCK in January 1922 and took her to live in one of the cottages next door to his parents.

By this time most of his savings had been used and he was forced to abandon the idea of returning to Canada, and instead obtained work where he could. Mainly as a stonemason, sinking wells, and for a time was engaged on shot blasting work on the (new) cutting at corkscrew, Longsden and at Leek New Road, Milton.

In 1933 he leased land at Park Lane and opened a stone quarry, mainly supplying Leek District Council with various aggregates and stone. This was not too successful and in 1936 when a landslide covered all his tools and equipment, he then abandoned the quarry and took a position with Brittains Paper Mill at Cheddleton. Where he worked until he retired with shingles in 1950 approx.

My mother was a city girl being born and reared at Cobridge, and worked as a nurse in the Psychiatric hospital in Derbyshire, and later worked as a waitress in various hotels and cafes in and around Hanley and Stoke. This did not go down too well with my dad's mother who associated drink with grandfather Enoch's downfall, and I know relationships were always a little strained to say the least. However, they did have a reasonably happy life having three children including myself and two younger sisters Nora and Joyce, without ever having too much money.

My dad was quite well educated, being mainly self-taught via his wide range of reading habits. He was always fair in his judgement, and had a great capacity to see all points of view. They were both proud and independent and would ask no one for anything.

Mother died in February 1961, and dad died in August of the same year and I know we had lost not only loved parents, but also true friends and mentors. They share the same grave in Endon Churchyard, it being adjacent to the north, eastern hedge and next to the grave of my father's lifelong friend Albert HEATH.

Dedicated to the late Ben Brown.