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Introduction
To The Crowther Family
THE CROWTHER FAMILY OF
NORTHOWRAM, YORKSHIRE
The Makinson family is
linked to the Crowther family through the marriage of two of Jonathan Crowther's
daughters to two sons of John Makinson of Blackburn. My great-great-grandfather,
George Makinson married Sarah Crowther. There is much written
about the Crowther family. There is a book titled "Northowram, Its History
and Antiquities, by Mark Pearson and published by W.R. Yorks in 1898". This
large volume provided much of the information on the Crowther family in
Northowram. The Methodist archives at John Rylands University in Manchester
England has information that shows that Jonathan Crowther was from Northowram,
Yorkshire in England. The village of Northowram in the parish of Halifax is situated near the summit of one of the lofty hills that surround and overlook the town of Halifax, about two and one half miles to the Northeast. In the village not more than a half mile from its center, the population was less than 2000 in the year 1891.
This drawing is of the ancient chapel in Northowram where my ancestors attended church in the 1600's and earlier. Click on drawing to see a full page picture. The earliest reference to
the village is in 1203. Great multitudes of sheep were being shepherded in the
valley below the village. In the year 1379, a census showed about 112 people
lived in Northowram. In 1896 the village consisted of a few clusters of ancient
looking stone built houses and shops and a few modern structures. The village
had three non-conformist Chapels, a Church Mission Room and a Cooperative and a
Mechanics Institute. Under the surface of the ground lies large quantities of
excellent coal. Northowram is named after a
great house there known as Northowram Hall. In the year 1314, John Adam de
Whithall de N'Ouram purchased eight acres and a home in N'Ouram. Mr Joseph
Crowther inherited this home and property from his uncle Nathan Crowther in the
latter part of the 1600's. Nathan obtained the property from Daniel Hemmingway.
Daniel had spent away his inheritance and drank it all up. He turned his mother
out of the home and later his "fine sweet wife and three children". At
last he sold the property and all its belongings to Nathan Crowther. Daniel
ended his life living in an alehouse, a drunkard. After Joseph inherited the
home he tore the ancient mansion (built before 1314) down and built a sumptuous
mansion of his own in 1692. Joseph Crowther ( born about
1637) lived at the new Northowram Hall until his death on October 30, 1711. He
left his entire estate to his wife Susan (Appleyard) who died on May 29, 1717.
Susan left the bulk of her estate to her executor Joseph Wood. He fell sick the
morning after Susan died and he himself died at seven the next evening, barely
27 hours after her death. He was co-executor of the estate with his son, who was
the only surviving executor, and he a boy of about fourteen years of age. I have not determined how we are related to the Joseph Crowther mentioned above except to say there are many Crowthers in Northowram and likely all of them are related in some fashion. Jonathan Crowther of Northowram, Halifax, Yorkshire, EnglandThe earliest members of the family that I been able to find is a couple named Jonathan Crowther and Martha Naylor who are the most likely of all families that have been studied, to be our ancestors. Jonathan was born about 1688 and Martha was born about 1692. They married in 1713 and had ten children. There appears to be two sets of twins in the large family and in each case it seems that one of the twins from each set died. There were later children in this family with the same names as one of each set of twins. This would be a boy named Jonathan and girl named Sarah. It was not uncommon to name another child at birth after a deceased sibling of the same name in those earlier times.
My lineage descends from Timothy in the family shown above. These would be my fourth
great grandparents. Timothy Crowther married Hannah Bateman on the 24 October of
1751 and they had seven children, six boys and one girl. Hannah was the daughter
of James Bateman of Coley, a small town within several miles of Halifax and next
to Northowram. She was christened 18 Feb. 1729 at Coley. It would appear that
from what can be learned from the records, Timothy's father could be either
Jonathan Crowther who had a son named Timothy christened Sept. 2,1727 or a
Samuel Crowther, who also had a son Timothy christened Dec. 21,1736. Both of the
christening were at Halifax, Yorkshire. It seems likely Hannah would have
married the Timothy born in 1727. Timothy and Hannah Bateman Crowther had seven
children and six of them survived past infancy.
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