The Middlebrooks of Batley

 

Until last week the furthest back I had traced in the Middlebrook line was to Thomas, son of Thomas ( Butcher) of Batley. I actually was quite proud Id managed to get back to the early 18th century but little was I to know that with a bit of help – partially with an article from a newspaper of long ago, and partially from an expert in the present that I would this week have that line traced right back to the late 16th century .

 

I have been receiving scans of photos and documents from John Middlebrook in Sydney in the last few weeks, and one of the items he sent was a newspaper article about JE Middlebrook of South Africa.

 

Now In my research I had realised fairly early on that there were 2 Middlebrook families living in NZ in the early 20th century and it became a bit of a puzzle at times to work out who belonged to whom .

Id been in contact with Robin Middlebrook who was descended from the “other” Middlebrooks and we wondered if we were in fact related , however we had both researched fairly extensively and couldnt find a common ancestor. Well this article was in fact about to confirm that yes in fact we ARE related because on the back of the article  was written “ My husbands cousin” . The writing that of Julia Ann Middlebrook, wife of James Thompson Middlebrook. –

Well clearly these two werent first cousins – so where was that connection.

With the help of Ian Middlebrook, a UK genealogist who specialises in Middlebrook research we were given the answer.
It turns out that the Thomas ( Butcher ) who was top of my line  was the son of Matthew Middlebrook. ( Born 1680) Matthew had 2 sons,  Thomas  and George . J E Middlebrook of South Africa, and hence Robin and her family were descended from George, and we are descended from Thomas)

Once I had Matthew in my tree it was a fairly easy track right back through his father, John, his grandfather Matthew to his Great Grandfather Michael Middlebrook who arrived in Batley around 1600.

Michael and his family are quite well documented as Michaels daughters and their husbands Edward Wigglesworth and Christopher Todd were very very early emigrants to America – arriving there in 1639 .

(Interestingly the Todd family came from Pontefract – from where our Farrer family also hail) .

I needed to put this line of Middlebrook Men down into a scrapbook page to visualise the generations and here is the result

 

 

Journalling reads

It is thought that the earliest known Middlebrook in the Batley region of Yorkshire was Michael Middlebrook
who arrived there around 1600.  2 of his daughters married and became some of the earliest  Puritan settlers in
America , arriving in Boston on the 26th June  1637. His son Matthew remained in Batley parish and the family grew in numbers, in fact there are still many Middlebrook family members living in the Batley region today.
The first in our branch to emigrate was John Middlebrook – not shown on this page – son of Samuel the last one in the list.
Like his well documented GGGGGG Aunts before him, John and his wife Ellen made a new history in a new country on the other side of the world when they sailed for New Zealand on the Shalimar in 1862.

Michael Middlebrook c1593-1616
Born c. 1593 in what was suggested to be“Holds Mill” Yorkshire.Married Grace?  and had 4 daughters,Mary, Hester, Grace, Mercy, and 2 sons, Michael and Matthew. Moved to Batley around 1600.Died 1616 Buried at Batley All Saints, Yorkshire.
31 Dec 1616

Matthew Middlebrook c 1613-1657
Born around 1613, Married Mary  Cookeson at Batley All Saints 23 May 1637.  Is mentioned in letter by brother Michael on 6 April 1657 to Sister in New Haven Connecticut  as being very ill. Died 1657 at Batley, Yorkshire

John  Middlebrook 1650-1727
Born around 1650 in Batley, Yorkshire, and married Susan Bingly on 22 Nov 1671 at Batley, All Saints.
Had at least 4 children, John,George,Matthew & Martha . Buried on 22 Feb 1727 at Batley All Saints.

Matthew Middlebrook 1680-1761
Born 1680 and baptised on 16 June in that year at in Batley, All Saints .Married Elizabeth Coup on 13 Dec. 1703 at Batley, All Saints.  Lived at Gildersome,Occupation, Clothier .Buried  9 Sept 1761 at Batley All Saints.

Thomas Middlebrook 1724-1754
Born in 1724 and baptised on 6 April in that year at in Batley, All Saints . Married Elizabeth Mills on 23 Dec. 1745 at Leeds, St Peters.  Occupation Clothier .He died 1754 at Batley. Elizabeth remarried John Wormald, Butcher in 1755.

Thomas Middlebrook 1747-1810
Born in 1747 and baptised on 22 Nov in that year at in Birstall, St Peters . Married Mary Fisher on 30 June 1773 at Leeds, St Peters.  Took the trade of butcher from Stepfather John Wormald. Died around 12 June 1810 and buried 3 days later at Leeds, Morley ( Non Conformist)

Samuel Middlebrook 1784-1846
Born in 6 Oct 1784 and baptised on 24th Nov in that year at Low Row (Wesleyan),near Batley. Married Hannah Nicholson 19 Dec 1803 at Leeds, St Peters . Clothier, and Butcher, and purhased Black Bull Inn Millbridge before 1841.Died on 1 Oct 1846.