Hawksley occupations

If I understand Chris' research correctly, the conundrum is did George Hawksley of Sheffield have 3 sons, George, John and Thomas? Did George stay out of the British Army, unlike John or Thomas, but did George move from Sheffield to the Shinrone in Ireland because John and Thomas were both stationed nearby at Birr? It is an interesting hypothesis that deserves more follow up research. A dna test may be the quickest and simplest way to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
 
I don't know when George Hawksley wrote his Will, usually it is at the last minute, but the 1810 date is the probate date, which matches the year when he died. If he writes in the Will, to George eldest son of my son John, it is game set and match. I very much doubt he knew about his Canadian grandchildren.

You may not match with me on an Ancestry, but if you match with any of half a dozen names on Ancestry who I know are John Hawksley's descendants this will prove that your ancestor was John Hawksley. I think this is a distinct possibility. I can then give you what I know about his Sheffield ancestors.
 
We don't know when John Hawksley went out to Ireland. It could be any time after 1795 when he joined the army. We know there was an Irish rebellion in 1798. We also know that it was no later than 1799, if the date of his wedding in Birr is correct. Obviously you have a much better idea of what is plausible than I do, but I do know that within a short time after his arrival in Canada he got a local girl pregnant.
 
Hi Chris, found my John Hawksley research on Topdogs under the thread "Where was George Oxley/Hawksley of Shinrone born and where did he die", so I suggest you have a read of that. My research did not pick up the Canadian children of John Hawksley, but his Irish family is a match to your research. I suspect George is not John's son but do wonder whether he could be Thomas Hawksley's son. Will need to get back home before I can investigate that thought bubble though. George can only be John Hawksley's son if he was illegitimate as George was born circa 1795 to 1796. It seems unlikely that John would name an illegitimate child after his own father, but who knows?
 
Code: 
https://www.offalyhistory.com/family-history

This non-profit site helps people trace families in Offaly county. It might be worth asking them for some help, because they have access to local records. Although Fancroft and Shinrone are close to Birr (and are all in Offaly county) and the Oxley surname does seem to be Hawksley, which is an unusual name in Ireland, I agree with you that the fact that George Oxley was born c1796, and is living with a sister Mary born c1810, decreases the likelihood that there is any connection with the John Hawksley who lived in Orr (from at least 1799) and who until his retirement in 1817 served in the artillery in Ireland and Canada. My guess is that John Hawksley was sent to Ireland in 1798 during the Irish rebellion.

It does not rule it out however, because the ages on the Census can be out by a couple of years, as is the case with John Hawksley, who is listed as born c1773 when he was actually born in 1771. What I have done is prove that he is the John Hawksley who was born in Yorkshire, and that he had families in both Ireland and Canada. It is possible that he had more than one family in Ireland (given his history!!!) but the only way to prove it (one way or another) is to take an Ancestry DNA test, because some of his descendants have taken the test.
 
Chris Goodman said:
Code: 
https://www.offalyhistory.com/family-history

This non-profit site helps people trace families in Offaly county. It might be worth asking them for some help, because they have access to local records. Although Fancroft and Shinrone are close to Birr (and are all in Offaly county) and the Oxley surname does seem to be Hawksley, which is an unusual name in Ireland, I agree with you that the fact that George Oxley was born c1796, and is living with a sister Mary born c1810, decreases the likelihood that there is any connection with the John Hawksley who lived in Orr (from at least 1799) and who until his retirement in 1817 served in the artillery in Ireland and Canada. My guess is that John Hawksley was sent to Ireland in 1798 during the Irish rebellion.

It does not rule it out however, because the ages on the Census can be out by a couple of years, as is the case with John Hawksley, who is listed as born c1773 when he was actually born in 1771. What I have done is prove that he is the John Hawksley who was born in Yorkshire, and that he had families in both Ireland and Canada. It is possible that he had more than one family in Ireland (given his history!!!) but the only way to prove it (one way or another) is to take an Ancestry DNA test, because some of his descendants have taken the test.
Click to expand...
Interesting speculation. Only a few more weeks left until I return home and can perhaps start progressing with this puzzle.
 
Chris Goodman said:
Code: 
https://www.offalyhistory.com/family-history

This non-profit site helps people trace families in Offaly county. It might be worth asking them for some help, because they have access to local records. Although Fancroft and Shinrone are close to Birr (and are all in Offaly county) and the Oxley surname does seem to be Hawksley, which is an unusual name in Ireland, I agree with you that the fact that George Oxley was born c1796, and is living with a sister Mary born c1810, decreases the likelihood that there is any connection with the John Hawksley who lived in Orr (from at least 1799) and who until his retirement in 1817 served in the artillery in Ireland and Canada. My guess is that John Hawksley was sent to Ireland in 1798 during the Irish rebellion.

It does not rule it out however, because the ages on the Census can be out by a couple of years, as is the case with John Hawksley, who is listed as born c1773 when he was actually born in 1771. What I have done is prove that he is the John Hawksley who was born in Yorkshire, and that he had families in both Ireland and Canada. It is possible that he had more than one family in Ireland (given his history!!!) but the only way to prove it (one way or another) is to take an Ancestry DNA test, because some of his descendants have taken the test.
Click to expand...

Hi Chris, have arrived home and will start looking into George Hawksley shortly, and about taking a DNA test following that.
 
Chris, an unverified family tree on familysearch has George Hawksley of Owlerton's parents being John Hawksley born circa 1715 who married 28-02-1737 in Sheffield to Elizabeth Glossop and his grandparents as being John Hawksley (died 1745) who married Margaret Axe. Supposedly George Oxley's siblings were Mary (b.1739), Sarah (b.1747), Martha (b.1749), John (b.1753) and Peggy (b.1755). Have you checked any of that??
 
Chris Goodman said:
What DNA results you get on Ancestry will clinch it one way or the other depending on your matches.
Click to expand...
I have decided to order an Ancestry.com DNA test. They have a notice up on their website saying there may be issues so I will order the test kit once that notice has been taken down. Hopefully we will know by the end of 2022 if we match. I will look into John's brother Thomas Hawksley in the meantime.

Even if we are not a match, a DNA test may help me get through a road block on the Meredith side of my ancestry.
 
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Even if we don't personally match, if you match with any of a short list of Ancestry matches known to be descended from John Hawksley that will be enough. Even if there is no match that is itself a discovery, and as you say the Ancestry DNA test should also help you with other lines. Put as much of your reliable family tree into Ancestry as possible (it does not have to be public some opt to keep it private although keeping it public helps other people) and Ancestry Thrulines will do the work for you by connecting you to other family trees via your DNA matches and telling you which lines of yours are very likely to be correct.
 
Chris, I have ordered the kit and have started entering the family tree into Ancestry.com. Will inform you once there are any matches. Tree is under the username farefam. It will take me a while to finish putting most of the tree online.
 
Currently doing some more research. I think it is quite possible that the father of my George Hawksley of Shinrone is the George Hawksley who was baptised 26-11-1742 at Cathedral St Peter, Sheffield, Yorkshire, son of John Hawksley, junior wheelwright and presumably Mary Ellison, who married on 14-07-1768 at Cathedral St Peter, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

That would make George Hawksley's father the brother of John Hawksley baptised 1-11-1771 at Cathedral St Peter, Sheffield, Yorkshire and Thomas Hawksley baptised 2-01-1771 at Cathedral St Peter, Sheffield, Yorkshire. Mary Ellison probably was buried as Mary Hawksley, wife of George Hawksey, on 11-04-1775 at Cathedral St Peter, Sheffield, Yorkshire, which would explain the lack of other children after the birth of Thomas Hawksley in 1774.

The timeframes and naming patterns in my current research seem to be a good fit though who my George Hawksley's mother was remains a mystery for the moment, as does why my George Hawksley of Shinrone doesn't seem to have a baptism (whereas his younger brothers William Oxley and Robert Oxley who were born in Ireland do). Perhaps my George Hawksley was illegitimate but was named after his father regardless.

Looking forward to hopefully having this theory confirmed by DNA matching in about 6-8 weeks time.
 
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There is a tree on Family Search that has George Hawksley born 1742 and Mary Ellison marrying 13/7/1768 Sheffield.
Children:
John 1771
Thomas 1774-1836
His father as John Hawksley and mother Elizabeth Glossop marrying 28/2/1737 Sheffield.
Children of John and Elizabeth:
Mary 1739
George 1742
Martha 1749
Maria 1751
John 1753
Peggy 1758.
There are sources quoted.
 
There is also a George Hawksley born Nottingham who married Henrietta Esther Wallace in 1798 and died in Shinrone Offally 1852. A son Robert is also mentioned. Genie tree.
OK post#37 is your information.....just spotted that on another post.
And again....just found your other post about you being from Robert Hawksley who went to Victoria, father George mother Henrietta.
 
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Hi @Chris Goodman , just got my DNA test results from ancestry.com and it does not show any of the Sheffield population. Results are hot off the press, so I've not had a chance to go through the cousin matches yet. I'd appreciate it if you could have a look at your match list to see if my name matches anyone on your list, but I don't think it will. I'm inclined to think the DNA leads towards George Hawskley having a Scottish background.

Richard James Fare
in the Fare Family Tree on Ancestry.com

Cheers
Richard
 
Hi Richard,

I have found your family tree on Ancestry, and we do not have a DNA match, but that is to be expected, DNA matches are by chance, and our family connection is very remote. Do you match with any the following list. Even one match from this list would be very significant.

Rosemary Lailer
Taylor Bohr
maxim Enersen
Juliet Katherine Hughes
Hamish White
Jean Kinney
Colin Bates
Colin Bates (photo)
Julia Davey Spence
J.O.
S.M.
Kelly Cipriani
amanda_radnage
1_byork
Nichole Abbate
Stephen Kinney
haines1935
DEBBIE SCHAAFSMA
David Wood

These are connected with me because it seems that we share an ancestor who had a descendent who is the John Hawksley who went to Birr in County Offaly, Ireland.

You may still be connected even if you do not match with any of these. If no match comes up click on your DNA results, put Hawksley (alternative spellings) into your "Surname in matches'. Does Birr in County Offaly, Ireland come up? It does not follow that Sheffield will come up because most people will not have worked out the Sheffield connection, and even if there is a connection they may not know about any ancestors living in Sheffield. Often people do not know very much about their ancestors further back than only a few generations.

Even if nothing comes up that is still a discovery, because it makes this connection unlikely, which we were unsure about before. If disproved there should be results which help you to work out the actual line of descent - with a bit of Irish luck!

Chris
 
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