We met William Hoodless (1679-1759) and his wife Jane the earliest or “founding” members (that I can find) of the Parkhead Hoodlesses who are DNA linked to the Wetheral Hoodlesses somehow way back. I share 10 cM of DNA with a descendant of the Parkhead branch and for now, I am assuming it is via our Hoodless missing link.
Parkhead is little more than a cluster of farms nestled between the village of Caldbeck and Sebergham in the township known as Sebergham High, which encompasses Serbergham, Warnell and Parkhead. Sebergham Low is the area bounded to the north of Sebergham and includes the village of Welton. Very little has changed in this area over the past two or three hundred years apart from a quarry business is now operating nearby at the foot of Warnell Fell. The River Caldew still winds it’s way from Caldbeck to Sebergham delineating the southern boundary.
The people living here were principally hill farmers, farming a hardy breed of sheep for their wool and meat. The combination of moving the sheep between the lush, fertile, grassy valley floor in summer to the the high fells in the winter months grew healthy and strong lambs. There was also lead and copper mining in the area and by the 1800’s bobbin turning was a common trade.
An extract from the UK Land Tax Redemption register for the year 1800 and for the Township or Quarter of Sebergham High details a William Hoodless and Thomas Hoodless as land owners. Part of William Hoodless’s property is occupied by a Henry Hoodless. This is almost certainly original William’s sons, Thomas (1718-1801) and William (1745-1817) and his grandson Henry (1756-1830) and the land concerned is likely to be that small packet of farmland known as Parkhead.
This is before the first national census of 1841 and before the legislation that brought in civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1837, so documentation is limited and we are relying much on parish records and hand written registers such as this.
The DNA link travels down via the William mentioned in this land tax register, who marries Elizabeth Workman 8th April 1744 at St Kentigern Church, Caldbeck, a couple of miles as the crow flies from Parkhead. Then via William who was their first child, baptised on 21st March 1745 at the same church. Caldbeck and the church of St Kentigern played a large role in the lives of the Parkhead family.
William and Elizabeth had four other children.
- Margaret Hoodless baptised 23 August 1748. Margaret married Joseph Jackson on 4th December 1774 at St Kentigern, Caldbeck. They had no children as she died at the young age of 27 just over one year later and was buried on 17th January 1776 at that same church.
- Jenny Hoodless was baptised 8th May 1754 and died aged 6 years on 14th July 1760.
- Henry Hoodless was baptised 9th March 1756. In 1800 he was occupying his father’s land at Parkhead. Unable to confirm a marriage, it seems he died childless and was buried at Caldbeck 20th October 1830.
- Betty Hoodless was baptised 19th December 1759. She marries Jonathan Nicholson on 25th May 1779 and they have six children.
It looks like the descendants of the Parkhead branch from here descend from three sources – Sarah Hoodless who marries Thomas Jacques, William Hoodless and Isabella Atkinson who had nine children and Betty Hoodless and Jonathan Nicholson. These are the lines I will be exploring next naturally. And I am still keenly seeking the elusive common ancestor link! See how the latter two sets of couples connect over the property at Parkhead – click here.