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Dicken

Do you recognise that feeling when you just have to know all there is to know about somebody on your family tree?

The person is my Great Grandfather Dicken Hinton. He was born in the village of Ightfield in Shropshire, United Kingdom, in 1842 to John and Martha (nee Darlington).

He was baptised in St John The Baptist Church in the village. Just seeing the font where it happened and realising my Great Great Grandparents and other family would have been surrounding that font in their Sunday best as he was baptised. The thought that I was touching the same font they had so many years before sent shivers through me. Not in a bad way, it gave me a lovely feeling of being connected with them.

In 1851 the census shows him living in Hollinwood in Shropshire, his father being a butcher/farmer of eight acres and Dickin, aged 8, down as a scholar along with his sisters Elizabeth, 11 and Ellen, 6.

One of the things we have learned about the Hintons is that they all appeared educated and able to read and write and sign their name. We have the signatures of all our direct line back to Richard born in 1709.

In 1861 the family had moved to Agden in Cheshire where his father farmed 50 acres and employed a labourer.

Dicken married Mary Lee on January 26th, 1863 at the Parish Church in Stockport. Mary’s father was an Innkeeper. By the 1871 census they were living in Higher Wych, Shropshire. His father-in-law had died and it shows Dicken and Mary living with her mother Margaret who is now the publican. The pub, The Wheatsheaf, is now a private home (pictured). 

Dicken’s occupation is listed as a grazier, a person who rears and fattens cattle for market. His occupations for the rest of his life are listed as farmer, butcher or cattle dealer, like most of our ancestors on the Hinton side.

Dicken had nine siblings and ten children - no tv available! His second son, John born in 1865 was my Grandfather.

Dicken died in Higher Wych on the 20th January 1920 aged 77 leaving £315/1s/6d  to his daughter Elizabeth.

There are pictures in existence of two of his brothers, John and Thomas taken in 1888, the year their father died. The photos were taken at JR Crosse Studio in Whitchurch with negative numbers ending in 26 and 31 suggesting that perhaps all the children had their pictures taken. Perhaps Dicken was among them?

We have all this detail, where and when he was born, how he lived and died and even copies of his signature. One of the things I really, really want now is a picture of my Great Grandad. When my sixth cousin Jenny visited from the United States the first thing she said was “now I know where my nose came from - it’s a Hinton nose!”

I have that nose, as did my dad, my grandad and lots of my sisters and cousins.

Did Dicken… ?

Carol

[eyeonthepast]

St Mary’s Church Edstaston, St Michael and All Angels Church Loppington, and lunch at the Dickin Arms

Last week going further back on our Darlington line, we discovered 2 more direct family names, Moreton and Walmsley. Researching these ancestors we found some of them were baptised, married and buried at St Mary’s Church, Edstaston. We thought we’d visited all local churchyards in this area but hadn’t heard of this one, so Saturday we decided to visit. The sun was shining when we set out but by the time we reached the church snow was falling and the wind was up! There were a lot of old gravestones lying down around the edges of the churchyard and we were very excited to discover a Walmsley and then another, by this time though the weather was worsening and the wet stones were difficult to photograph, so we decided to revisit another day. Before we left we tried the front door of the church and as with most village churches in Shropshire it was open. The interior was typical of churches in the area with a beamed ceiling, stone font and old organ, there was also some interesting information, the church was built in the Norman period sometime between 1050 and 1175, with some of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Shropshire.

Feeling wet and cold we decided it was time for a late lunch and did a quick search of places close by, one suggestion the Dickin Arms, Loppington.

Dickin is another direct family name, my 5th Gt Grandmother Mary Dickin married Thomas Hinton in 1772 and is buried close by in St John the Baptist Churchyard, Ightfield, so where better for lunch.

The Dickin Arms was delightful, the homemade roast butternut and garlic soup, with crusty bread, thoroughly enjoyed. On the wall was a poster listing the Owners, Occupiers and Landlords from 1694 to the present. It became an Inn approximately 1780 and took it’s name from the Dickin family, the largest estate owners in the Parish of Loppington since the 17th century. Maybe as descendants of the Dickins we should have asked for a discount.

Loppington has the only remaining bull ring in North Shropshire, a large iron ring set into the road, in years gone by the landlord of the local pub used to tie a bull to this ring, and charge people to put their dogs to fight against it! It is reported it was used for bull baiting until the 19th century. 

After lunch we walked across the road to St Michael and All Angels Church, which was also open with another lovely interior and stone font. The original stone church was built in the 12th century with the tower and south aisle added in the 15th century. Some of the first gravestones we looked at were of Dickins and then we found an Abraham Darlington too. Inside the church one of the stained glass windows was dedicated to Katherine Dickin and on the wall was a memorial plaque for the Reverend George Dickin who died 1818.

So much to see and discover but the weather was still cold and wet. We will revisit both Churches on a better day and write more about our family discoveries. No doubt we will call into the Dickin Arms for another tasty lunch too.

Linda

[eyeonthepast]

The Beginning

My maternal Grandmother’s maiden name was Boliver and some years after she passed away my Mum was given a copy of the Boliver family tree compiled a fourth cousin. A huge family tree of over 500 names dating back to 1620 and all paper scroll. 

Many times I would unroll it and read the fascinating details he had added from his research. It started with Hugh ap Oliver born around 1620 who was buried in Selattyn in Shropshire, England on the 9th April 1671.

More than anything it was the little notes he'd added that fascinated me, he'd looked at census's and added in the places they'd lived and their occupations, other notes just made me want to know more;

William Bowen Boliver born 1908, served in WW2 and was accidentally killed in Germany in 1946. Accidentally? How?

Richard Edward Boliver born 1874, married Elizabeth Taylor (not that one!) had 3 children then abandoned his family and fled to Bolivia to claim the estate of the late Simon Boliver who he believed must be a relation. There no evidence he was though! 

Two separate branches emigrated to Australia I knew I wanted to know more. 

So eventually I spent many months building a tree on Ancestry.co.uk and adding in all the information from the paper tree. As I did, I realised that there were omissions. Whenever a female Boliver married the date of marriage and spouse's name was on the tree, but their line stopped there. This meant that when my mum’s mum married my grandad, John Lee Hinton, in 1937 the line ended. So - no names of children or any further information. So with the help of mum we made our first foray into genealogy adding in these details, tracing the descendants of all the females born into the Boliver family. We were hooked, we still are. 

Following on we decided to trace my maternal Grandfather's line, the Hinton family. Our family tree has grown and grown over the years, we add in spouses but otherwise stick to blood relatives and their descendants. We are back as far as my 7th Great Grandfather Richard Hinton born in the late 1600s. 

So many direct line names, so many stories, happy and sad… and so many graveyards visited! 

Eventually we realised we needed more than just an online tree and reams of paper notes and photographs. We had so much to share with friends and our suddenly enormous family. Eyeonthepast.com is our way of doing that and we hope you enjoy the stories we have and the stories we still have to discover.

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About us

Carol and Linda are mother and daughter researching and discovering their roots