Loxley/Munsey

Welcome to the Loxley / Munsey section of the website

 



http://www.ancestry.com/search/SurnamePage.aspx?html=b&ln=Loxley&sourcecode=13304

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lane/8771/loxley.html
http://www.townofloxley.org/history.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxley,_Alabama


http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/kirk6479/mycustompage0002.htm

http://www.dcrump.freewire.co.uk/html/robin_hood.html




James Robert Loxley, as a young man


The Loxley family lived at 12 High Salters Road, Coxlodge, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne at the time of the 1901 census and comprised Elizabeth Grace Loxley nee. Walker (b 1866) the 35 year old head of the family, a self employed Stocking Knitter, 7 year old Robert James
(b 1894), 5 year old Constance M. (b 1896) and they also had lodging with them James Maughan (b 1882) 19 years old. Is this James the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Grace when she fell from grace at the age of 16 ? Does he now live with his Mother and half bro and sis now that Henry Loxley, Elizabeth's estranged husband has been shipped off to Australia, for a crime, and later joined by eldest daughter Henrietta
Well it's possible since according to the 1891 census, 10 years earlier, young James Maughan, then 9 was living at James (68) and Mary's (66) home,( his Grandad and Grandma ) at 11 Shiney Row Kenton along with Thomas Maughan then 34 and single...is
Tom the Dad ?...Is Elizabeth Grace the Mum ?


 Here's Elizabeth Grace Loxley.

Nothing else is known of Henry Loxley but it is known, by way of a letter from a friend in Australia after her death, that Henrietta lived in abject poverty

A little further background on Elizabeth Grace;

She was born in Middlesex
to Scottish parents Ralph Walker (b 1839) and Mary Ann Walker (b 1839), who obviously couldn't settle since oldest son Ralph was born in Sussex,
Elizabeth Grace, Ellen and James were born in Middlesex and the youngest Mary Ann (Polly) was born in Scotland before they all settled in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne, first at 52 Denmark Str (1881) and then 98 Tynemouth Road (1891)
Our Mother Eva tells us that when she was young and asked her Grandmother Elizabeth Grace where Grandad (Henry) was, she received the reply "In Hell, I hope"
Elizabeth Grace went to work for Thomas Elliott who had a Gents' tailors shop in Chester-le- Street and then Sacriston. She was his family's live-in housekeeper and the children were with her... Mam says her Dad, Robert James was virtually brought up by Tom Elliott. (Tom's two sons (per William Elliott, the grandson of one of them) both won scholarships to the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and then went to University, so would have been away from home most of the time- perhaps then, Tom took special interest in Grace's children....indeed, per Mam, Tom wanted Robert James to work for him in his business but the lad declined) When old enough Robert James and sister Connie moved out and got lodgings in Sacriston.
Eventually, presumably after her retirement, Elizabeth Grace went to live with my Nana & Grandad, Robert James & Francis in Selbourne Ave in Low Fell and died in 1946, service in St Helen's Church and cremated at Birtley or Saltwell

Not certain but it is likely that James Walker (Elizabeth Grace's brother) married and had daughters Lily and Florrie. From anecdotal stuff from Mam, Lily married Stan Harlow, a graphic artist who worked for Fenwick's Dept Store. They had a daughter June Harlow who never married and worked in a bookshop. They lived at 6 Mayfair Road, Jesmond, Newcastle
Florrie married a chap who was a lamplighter on Newcastle Quayside
Mary Ann (Polly) was unmarried. She had an illegitimate child, who went on to live in Consett. Eventually Polly went to live with niece Lily in Mayfair Road


And on that note, we turn to the Munseys



Find out more about the name Munsey




This is Frances Munsey as a dark haired young woman. Her hair was white most of her adult life Frances was only 2 at the time of the 1901 census.


Here's the entry

 
 14 Railway Street, Langley Park ( previously at Quebec St, )



* John R Munsey (b 1863) Coal Miner-Hewer born Waresley, Huntingdonshire.

(His father, a stone digger, and mother were Joseph & Mary (I kid you not) each b 1844 from Wrestlington in Bedfordshire who moved north and in 1881 were living at 26 Dyke Row, Quebec, Co Durham. Joseph's father and mother were John b 1815 and Mary b 1816 of Bedfordshire )

* Wife Mary J Munsey (b 1869), born Ecomb, Durham of parents George Rutherford (b 1833) from Durham & Elizabeth (b 1837) (nee Younger from Northumberland)

* Louisa (Louie) b 1891, 10 years old
* Thomas A (Tom) b 1893, 8 years old
* Elizabeth A (Lizzie) b 1896, 5 years old
* Florence (Florrie) b 1897, 4 years old
* Frances b 1898, 2 years old
* John R (Jack) b 1900, 9 months old



Born after the census, Alice let's say b 1901/02
and Ernest (Ernie) say 1902/03


To see more of Langley Park go to Cameron Gordon's shamelessly self promotional, (and why not?) but very nice site by clicking HERE


This is Frances with younger brothers
Ernie (L) Jack (R)


Tom married Edith and had no children
Elizabeth Ann Munsey became Annie Oakley and begat Thomas, Robert, Jack and James.
Louisa became a Danforth and begat Alice and Millicent
Alice became a Snowball and had Jean
John R married and had Jack, Noreen, Gwen, Frank and Nick
Florrie married Jack Cooper and had Millie, Jack and George
Ernie married Mary Charlton

Mary J, the Mother when she was 22 and still Mary Rutherford had an illegitimate
daughter she called Mary Rutherford. She was sent to her relatives in Northumberland to have the baby


So perhaps that's what drew Robert James and Frances together.
"My mother had an illegitimate child"
"So did mine"



Robert James at 14 left the school at St Peter's ("they couldn't teach him anything more") and went down the pit



 this pit Sacriston Colliery which at it's peak employed just under 1,000 men. For more details click HERE


To get a flavour of what life was like living and working in the Durham coalfieds I can do no better than recommend you grab a cup of tea and take a half hour out bowsing Dick Fawcett's very entertaining and moving website. If interested click on DICK

When old enough James Robert and his sister Connie went into lodgings, James with the Chapmans in Eliza Street and Connie lodged up at Heugh Edge. She met and married a Catholic lad Jim Tomney and had son Jim and daughter Joan.
James Robert was 20 at the outbreak of World War I and he fought at the Battle of the Somme where a record breaking 58,000 Allied troops died on 1st July 1916, the first day of the 4.5 month battle. He was wounded and thankfully sent home and rather than going back down the pit he worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Birtley. He met Frances at a dance in Langley Park and they married on Christmas Day 1917





They lived in Sacriston, raising their ever increasing family, at a succession of tiny houses,  5 Davison Tce., ("between the churches" with RC at one end of the street and C of E at t'other) was the first and where Connie (b 1921) Betty (b 1923) and Eva (b 1924) were born. In about 1928 James Robert went to work at the Colliery again and they moved into a colliery house, Kelsey's Buildings


This is the back yard of the Rickerby's home at 1 Kelsey's Buildings
(from Memories of Sacriston by Dorothy Rand and George Nairn
For details CLICK HERE )
By now Lily (b 20th Feb1928) was added to the brood

In about 1934 they moved into another colliery house




No 185 Staffordshire Str.,(Street "B")2 rows of streets built about 1860 to house miners from Staffordshire
You can see the end of "A" Street between the men standing outside the Co-Op and the Memorial Institute (with clock).

Street "B" is on other side of Institute. Between the two streets from the back of the Institute onwards was a wide open space where shows and hoppings were staged. It was at this house that Joan (b 1931) Mary (b 1933) and Freda (b 20th Feb 1937) became yet more pattering feet. Connie was 14 and left to work in service in Manchester


In about 1936 James went to work at the Ordnance Factory again and they had to move out of the colliery house

They moved to 28 Victoria Str., rented from Ushaws. By now with the arrival of baby James (b 1938) there was 8 kids and Ma & Pa making 9 (minus Connie) which must have been a bit cosy in a house designed for 4



Before leaving Sacriston this is the school that all the Loxley girls attended

To see more of canny Sacriston go to Helen Britteon's site by clicking HERE

For several reasons it was time to move to Low Fell
1 Low Fell is God's country
2 They needed a bigger house and, through Ushaws, a large 3 storeyed home in Low Fell became available
3 Frances wanted to get James away from Sacriston Club
4 The next two oldest girls Betty and Eva were working and there wasn't much work in and around Sacriston





And so in 1941 they moved to  8 Selbourne Ave Low Fell Gateshead

They must have been delighted that at long last they could swing the cat..the cat wasn't so delighted and scarpered back to Seggerson
And now the offspring




Connie Loxley had gone into service in Manchester, but then returned to Low Fell to work at the Ordnance factory. She was transferred by them back to Manchester and met Tom Bairstow, a naval man based on the Manchester Ship Canal. Connie married Tom, settled in Bradford and had one child Margaret, who became Mrs Margaret Hallam and has now married again. There are several photos of Margaret as a bridesmaid




Connie Loxley and Navy man Tom Bairstows' Wedding
Back right Robert James and Frances
Bridesmaids
Front L to R
Betty Eva
Next to Eva  seated is her paternal
Grandmother Elizabeth Grace

********

Betty didn't get married and, sadly, died in 1962, at the age of 39 with heart disease. There's lots of pictures of Miss E.G. Loxley (Betty) being her sisters' bridesmaid

********

Eva was a sweet girl ..she worked at Horner's in Chester-le- Street...She married John Steel Bratton (Jack) in 1946


Left to right
Best man Jack Cordner, Sylvia Bratton, Eva Bratton, Jack Bratton Freda Loxley and Betty Loxley


Eva and Jack have 4 boys- more of them later

**********

Lily married Dave Thomas and had 3 girls, Brenda, Anne and Christine b 7 Nov.60



Here they  are on their Wedding Day.
In Nov 1963 they emigrated to Canada. These two pictures are of Patricia's birthday party which kinda doubled as a Good-bye Party for the Thomas cousins at Selbourne Ave



Starting with Jim in the bottom right, and going clockwise there's Jon, Anne, Rob, Susan and Derek


Left click image to see it enlargedLeft click image to see it bigger
Left click image to see it bigger
Starting with Rob at bottom centre and going clockwise there's Susan, Patricia, Nana holding Derek, Lily holding Christine and Brenda.
Rob, Susan and Derek picked the best seats that day and Patricia got the worst



Lily, sadly, died in March 1986 aged 58 years. Dave died 18 Feb 2007



Eldest daughter Brenda Thomas married Len Palchynski on 17 Mar 72. Len,sadly,died in 2004
This photo of a very handsome couple is included as a tribute to Len who gained and lost riches several times. Constantly battling with Crohn's Disease, he achieved so much, while retaining his "very nice fella" status.
Sadly missed by Brenda and mutual daughter, Jennifer b 31 Dec 74, and daughters to Len, from his previous marriage, Maureen Dean b 20 Dec 65 and Charlene Marie b 1 Jul 1967 (St. Catharines' Centennial baby receiving gifts from local businesses in congratulations for being born on the 100th birthday of Canada 1867 - 1967. She had her birth announcement and photo in the local newspaper.)
Maureen married Marty Walker. She has two daughters MacKenzie born March 5, 1988 and Mykel born December 2, 1991





Charlene married a widower David Van Tol August 21, 1999. Dave has a son Brady Van Tol who was born Oct 21, 1994. He and Charlene had a son Carson Riley Van Tol born November 16, 2000.




Jennifer married Ryan Mather May 18, 2002 and have two sons Gavin Jacob Mather and Connor Patrick Mather. Gavin was born Oct 16, 2004




and Connor was born December 10, 2005.





Anne Thomas remained single for many years but in Oct 2003 she married. Here with hubby Earl Baker, Mrs Anne Loxley Baker lives in British Columbia, Canada. Brenda is on the right



Christine eventually married Jeff and became Mrs Cook and now they live in Maynooth,Ontario,Canada.



Children are Craig (1982)



Brittany (1991)


Chelsea (1994)


plus
Grandchild Leighton

********************************





Here's Mary Loxley who went on to............




....marry Dave Bowman in 1954 ....



...and they have one daughter, Patricia Anne Bowman b 7.Nov.59 
Patricia married Andrew John Wilkinson in Sept 1985
Adam and Laura are their offspring and via Laura the family tree grows another generation with Erin Grace
This is they

Mary passed on in 2010 and Dave in 2013

***************************************


Joan Loxley married Joe Lawson in 1966... and they had one son, John. Joe died when John was still young



John
hasn't married but he and his partner have children...
...details to follow


**************************************



Freda Loxley married Les Coulson and have 2 chidren Susan and Derek ...Derek's birthday is 20th Feb which is shared by his mother and his Aunt Lil
They also emigrated to Canada.
Susan and Derek are shown as small children in the goodbye party for Lily, Dave and family. More recent photos to follow


Susan married
John Ross and their children are Alyson Adele Ross born Sep 4 1987 and John Derek Alexander Ross born April 26 1990.
The photo below is also Les and Freda's wedding and is included because it has all the siblings together



50 years on, here's Freda, Les, Derek and Susan gathered in Jan 2008 for the 50th Anniversary . Sadly, Freda died in 2009




That photo is also Les and Freda's wedding and is included because it has all the siblings together
L to R Back Robert James(Dad) Lily Eva Freda Joan Betty Mary Jim
Front Connie Frances (Mam)


Jim Loxley married Doris and had son Stephen and daughter Christine.
Details of grandchildren are awaited. Stephen has recently signed in to this sites' guestbook

And here's a photo of five of the siblings in more advanced years...


L to R Joan Lily Eva Mary Jim



L to R Freda Eva Doris(in Law) Betty