John Hoodless 1819-1854 High Head

John Hoodless is my 4 x Great Grandfather. He was the sixth child of William and Jane and his baptism took place on 12th June 1819 at High Head in Cumberland (Cumbria). “High Head” was used interchangeably as the name of Ivegill, a small hamlet close to the ancient castle of High Head. High Head castle had its own chapel built originally in 1358 which is where John was baptised. There was a church later built in 1868 in Ivegill which was called Christ Church.

In his early twenties John Hoodless appears in the 1841 Census in Stainton, working as a blacksmith with a young apprentice, Adam Gill. They reside at a pub, often smithies were attached to public houses, the landlords are Isaac and Ellen Sanderson. John’s older sister Jane had married Michael Sanderson, and this census also records their 7 year old daughter Jane Sanderson staying with Isaac (Michael’s brother) and Ellen at the pub. My guess is that this is The Kings Arms which was built in 1721 and has a long lower building attached to the main house which looks ideal for a smithy workshop.

Sometime over the next ten years John meets Elizabeth Millican. She is already a single mother to a young son (John Millican 1844-1923) and although I can find no marriage record for them, they have a son Joseph Hoodless born in April 1849. He only lives a short time and dies in July aged only three months. This information is recorded in the Hoodless family bible. During this time John’s father William also dies and the 1851 Census records John living with his widowed mother at Sunny Vale, Ivegill. Jane has a source of income as the proprietor of houses but John is now an out of work blacksmith and although his son with Elizabeth had died two years earlier, he is described as unmarried and she is not residing with him. I believe they never married but at the time of this census which was taken on 30th March 1851, Elizabeth would be approximately two months pregnant with John’s child, my 2 x Great Grandfather William Hoodless. So we are looking at a complex situation I have no doubt.

Note that Jane’s two grand daughters Jane and Agnes Sanderson are also living here. Their mother Jane had been widowed while she was carrying Agnes and had gone into service to support herself and the girls. That’s a whole other story.

John and Elizabeth’s second child, William, was born 8th October 1851 at Brampton. John Hoodless and Elizabeth Millican stayed together until his death on 25th August 1854. He was only 35. They had lost another child, John Joseph Hoodless, in September of 1853.

Progeny