John Watkinson is my 3 x Great Grandfather, Joseph Watkinson’s Grandfather (who is written about elsewhere on this blog). John was the son of John Watkinson and Sarah Green and was born in Nottinghamshire in 1764 and was the fifth of their five children.

John was married twice, firstly to Sarah Nixon. This wedding took place on 5 November 1787 in Strelley, Nottingham. They had three children Elizabeth, born 27 November 1788, Charles Nixon born 7 January 1790 and John born 23 October 1791. I have however been unable to trace a record of Sarah’s death.

A couple of years after the probable death of his first wife John married Hannah Smith on 24 November 1795 at the same church in Strelley. Interestingly one of the witnesses at this wedding was Charles Nixon, possibly a relative of his first wife Sarah Nixon.

On 24 November 1995 I was able to visit the church on the two hundredth anniversary of John’s second marriage. I was able to locate someone with a key to the church so I could see the interior. The interior was probably the same in appearance as two hundred years before. The screen is from 15th century and Family Tomb is dated approximately 1405.

John and Hannah had seven children Joseph, in 1797, Henry my 2 x Great Grandfather in 1800, Sarah in 1802 who died in 1819, William in 1804 who died in 1812, Isaac in 1806, Hannah in 1807 and Ann in 1809.

John’s second wife Hannah died in November 1833 and by the time of the 1841 census John, aged 75, was living with his son Henry, Henry’s wife Amy and their three children Ann, aged 3, Mary, aged 2 and William, aged 1.

Both John and Henry’s occupations are noted as bricklayers on the census and my grandmother, who was not born until 1880, always remembers the family talking about them both as being involved in the construction of the very substantial walls at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham. They would have been working for Lord Middleton’s estate as the family owned the property for many years until the 11th Lord Middleton sold the property to the City of Nottingham in 1924. Today (March 2019) there is work going on to restore some of the walls at Wollaton Hall.

John died on 2 June 1846, aged 81.