Joseph and Elizabeth Hughes Newman were from Willenhall*, Staffordshire*, England. Willenhall is a suburb of the city Wolverhampton in southwestern Staffordshire. In this linked map I've been as specific as I could in marking locations.Willenhall was a small, industrial town until about 1850 when it became a big, industrial town. With the discovery of coal and steel, the town found it's niche producing locks of all kinds. At one point up to 90% of England's locks were produced in Willenhall. The number is still high today. The town is very old and located on a Saxon battle site and is mentioned as early as 910 as Winehala, the saxon word for victory. Our family, including the Colburns, Wilkes and Woolleys have lived in this part of England for a long time.
Joseph Newman was the son of Samuel Newman and Ann Colburn and was born on May 20, 1809. He was the youngest of 14 children, 4 of whom died as children and one as a teenager. All of the children were born in Willenhall and all were baptized/buried at St. Giles church in Willenhall.
St. Gile's was a chapel of ease for St. Peter's church (also called the Old Church) in Wolverhampton. In an effort to lighten the ordinance load, chapels of ease were created in smaller towns. Baptisms and burials could be conducted at St. Gile's but marriages were still done at St. Peter's. The family was in the jurisdiction of the new chapel of St. Stephen's just before they left
England. Joseph was married to Elizabeth Hughes on October 27, 1834 at St. Peter's church. They made their home in Portobello, a village about 1/2 mile west of Willenhall where Joseph worked as a jobbing smith producing tools, chains and other things out of forgeable iron.By 1841, Joseph and Elizabeth had 2 children left, John (age 3) and Ann (age 11 months), their first child, Samuel, having died at 2 months of age. They added three boys to the family while in Portobello: William, Joseph and James. By 1851, the family had moved to Malthause lane (which no longer exists) in central Willenhall. Their last son, Thomas wasn't born until 1852, just before the family left England for America.
The Newman's were baptized in 1850 and immigrated to America in 1853. They left Liverpool on February 15 aboard the Elivra Owen. Two months later they were starting on their trek westward from Iowa. They came across the plains in the Claudius V. Spencer company and arrived in September. They settled in Big Cottonwood, Utah where Joseph began the totally new trade of farming. They lived in Cottonwood for the res
t of their lives. Joseph Newman died 21 July 1877 and Elizabeth lived until June 4, 1907. They are both buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.Links:
- Published History of Joseph and Elizabeth Hughes Newman
- Lark Family History Blog with some repeated information but lots of pictures. Scroll down to the bottom and find the Gibson and Newman links.
But his tombstone is not on any of the records in North Bloomfield. It could be that his marker has just deteriorated or that he was buried some other place. Ahhh, the mysteries...Kinda gets you excited to figure it all out!
