Jonathan Sanderson, yeoman of Bradfield (died 1766), & the Reverend Jonathan Sanderson (died 1747) - includes the Hattersley, Furnace, Hobson and Parkin surnames

[Richard Axe]

The will of this man was written in 1761 and proved in 1767. It suggests that he was of some wealth with investments in Worrall, Sheffield Park, Storrs Bridge, Bradfield and Middlewood. The list is worth itemising with one item in particular benefitting from further scrutiny.

·       Revenue at Middlewood

·       Estate at Worrall (messuages, lands and tenements)

·       Part of Cutlers’ Wheel at Storsbridge

·       Farm at Bradfield (tenant right)

·       Dwelling houses, lands and tenements in Sheffield

·       Farm in Sheffield Park

The Cutler’s Wheel at Storrs Bridge appears in lease transactions in the records of the lands held by the Duke of Norfolk. They are detailed in a PhD thesis submitted by Julia Hatfield in 2002[1] and draw upon documents held at Sheffield Archives. The first from March 24th 1719-20 provides the following details[2].

Jonathan Sanderson, a tailor of Bradfield, and Enoch Drabble, a cutler of Langhouse, took a lease of Norfolk land in 1719-20 to 'take a convenient place upon the River Loxley in or about the place called Stubbin Pit being about a quarter of a mile above Loxley Wheele now in the occupation of Christopher Broomhead and William Ibbotson for the building of a new wheel with one or two ends and as many troughs as they shall think fitting.’

A second transaction followed on 20th March 1741-2[3] when the wheel was let to Jonathan Sanderson, a grocer of Bradfield, and Enoch Drabble, a cutler of Brookside in Bradfield; it consisted of two ends and eight troughs. Hatfield has the lessees of 1741 as the sons of the original two men. That cannot be so, at least in the case of Jonathan Sanderson. Although the occupations are different and the signatures also differ, neither point need be crucial, especially with twenty years between the two leases. A further transaction is evident for Jonathan. Listed as a shopkeeper of Bradfield, he took a lease on a garden at a yearly rent of 3s on 25th March 1745[4]. His signature here is similar to that from 1741-2. Critical, however, is the information about a son, of whom see below.

 The testator of 1767 mentions three daughters, one of whom has the unusual name Tamar. That allows for her to be identified as the girl baptised at Bradfield on 22nd June 1721 who married Thomas Hattersley at Silkstone by licence. They married on 20th September 1740. Jonathan’s wife was named as Sarah and the other daughters were Anne Hobson (entitled daughter-in-law) and Martha Furnace. Tamar’s baptism date would suggest that Jonathan had married Sara Parkin at Bradfield on July 14th 1717. Martha’s baptism probably followed on 16/6/1725 but a record of her marriage is lacking; a baptismal record for Anne is also lacking. She may be the Ann Saunderson who married George Hobson at Bradfield on 14th October 1731. If so, that might give further thought to her attribution as Jonathan’s daughter-in-law. No sons are in evidence and the transfer of benefits to daughters supports the notion that there were none living. One son appears on the pedigree of the family in FMG vol ii p737, however. He was the Rev. Jonathan Sanderson, provided with a birth year of 1719 and a death date of 18/4/1747. Jonathan was a minister at Rovel in Northamptonshire and had married a Durrard of Leicestershire.

That information can be changed and supplemented. Jonathan was very likely the son of Jonathan who was baptised at Bradfield on 13/3/1717-8. That date fits well with the marriage date for the parents – July 1717. Furthermore, a biographical sketch of the minister was written by a kinsman, Benjamin Hobson of Great Driffield[5]. It states Rev. Sanderson’s birth year to have been 1718; his father was a grocer of respectable means and the family worshipped at Stanington under the ministry of the Rev. S Smith. According to Hobson, Jonathan senior had one son and two daughters.

Hobson tells us that the young Jonathan eschewed an apprenticeship and continued his learning under the tutelage of Rev. Wadsworth, a successor to Timothy Jollie in nonconformist tradition. In due course, he attended an independent academy in London from 1737 and from then went to Rowell on 16th February 1739-40. He was ordained on 3rd June 1741.

Hobson clearly knew little of Jonathan’s wife, whom he had ascertained had the surname Durrad and came from Leicestershire. A marriage record from Rothwell (aka Rowell) gives the date of their union as 11/3/1742-3; they married by licence. Her forename was Mary. Hobson states that Jonathan and Mary produced a child (no sex or name given) that died in its infancy. Jonathan’s life was of no great duration after his marriage: he became consumptive and died in April 1747.

Tamer and Martha receive some mention in Hobson’s work alongside many more references to Jonathan’s parents. Letters between family members are quoted extensively. They demonstrate that Tamer was the elder sister with Martha a younger sibling. With only three children mentioned as offspring it is understandable that Hunter believed the Hobson marriage must have been to one of them, rather than apparently to Anne. The exchange of letters points to Tamer having been ill but recovered by 24th June 1737; another to Tamar contains advice to always consult her parents, keep good company and not talk to scandalous persons etc.. It is unclear whether this is simply brotherly advice or an attempt to keep her on a straight and narrow path. The latter might be a possibility as this letter implies she might be in or around Worrall, designated as abounding with bad company!

A man marrying in 1717 was probably born in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. The number of options from local parish records is small although one cannot disregard either the possibility of an outsider or a lost record.

·       Son of John, baptised at Bradfield 10/4/1685

·       Son of Clement, baptised at Ecclesfield 6/3/1689-90

·       Son of Jonathan, baptised at Wickersley 10/11/1692

The father of the first of these perhaps finds reference elsewhere. He was John Sanderson, of The Gate, Bradfield, and a taylor. A son of his named John was apprenticed as a cutler in 1686. Whilst only circumstantial in providing a link, one should not ignore Jonathan’s given profession of taylor in 1720, nor indeed the mention of holdings at Worrall.

Tamer died a widow in 1785 and was buried at Bradfield on 15th December. The only Jonathan known to have died between 1761 and 1767 was buried at Sheffield on 30th December 1766. That fits very well with testator’s will being proved in May 1767. It may well be a record of his tomb inscription that was recorded from the Nether Chapel, Sheffield. The inscription recorded is fragmentary and gives the year of death in December of an unknown year before 1768 (the next burial recorded). The rest of the stone has inscriptions to members of the Jennins and (mainly) Hobson families, hence the possible connection.

 

[1] Continuity and Change in a Pennine Community - Stannington 1660-1900, p88

[2] Ibid, citing ACM S 376 I, Sheffield Archives. The copy can be found on page 133.

[3] Ibid, citing ACM S 377. The copy can be found on page 148.

[4] ACM S 377, p90

[5] A Biographical Sketch of the Rev. Jonathan Sanderson, Formerly Minister of the Gospel at Rowell, in Northamptonshire: B Hobson, London, 1810 (Google Books)