Gedling 2 Branch
This page sets out information that we have found about the Gedling 2 branch of Fairholme in England.
So far, there are 106 people on this tree.
This branch is headed by Joseph and Elizabeth Fairholm. Joseph was the third son of Jarvis or Gervas Fairholm and a grandson of William and Ann Fairholm who lived at Shelford. Elizabeth's maiden name was Waterhouse. Joseph and Elizabeth had two sons and one daughter. Joseph was an agricultural labourer. Their eldest son, John, married Ann Stancer and they had nine children - several of whom had some connection with Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Joseph and Elizabeth's younger son, William, married Elizabeth Allen (nee Sissons) and their daughter, Jane, married Thomas Barker.
We have identified present day descendants for this branch in Derbyshire and Scotland. The early spelling of the surname was a mix of Fairholm, Fairholme and Fearholme. Joseph's younger brother, John, heads the Basford branch.
Sarah Fairholme & David Brown - unsual names for children
Sarah was the eldest daughter of John Fearholme / Fairholme and Ann Stancer. She married David Brown in 1892. They had eight children, including Pasha, Bernice and Zena - which were unusual first names at the time. Initially, the family lived in Lancashire and, later, at Hepworth in West Yorkshire. David was a carpenter by trade.
Gedling & Carlton
Gedling was a village to the east of Nottingham. The parish of Gedling included Carlton, which expanded rapidly and became a suburb of Nottingham. Members of the Gedling 1 and Gedling 2 branches lived in these settlements from the 1760s to at least 1901. During this time the population of the two settlements increased dramatically. The total was 1,373 in 1801 and was over 11,100 by 1901. The map shows them in 1835. Gedling is the rather spread out village
in the top right and Carlton is bottom centre. Both of the settlements now form part of the greater Nottingham urban area.
The old postcard shows Main Road at Carlton about 1916.
I have lost the source of this image and so I have not been able to seek permission to include it on the site. If anyone knows the owner of the copyright then please let me know.
Joseph Fairholme and Sarah Ann Severn married in 1925 at Ilkeston. He was 54 and a bachelor and she was 60 and a widow. However, fourteen years earlier in Joseph’s return for the 1911 census he stated that he and Sarah Ann had been married for nineteen years, making their marriage around 1892 - thirty three years earlier than their actual marriage. This is all rather intriguing and takes a bit of explaining.
Sarah Ann Cockayne married John Severn in 1883. By 1891 they were living at Kirkby-in-Ashfield with four children. They had four lodgers, including Joseph Fairholm. John and Sarah Ann had four more children between 1891 and 1896.
By 1899 Sarah Ann was at Ilkeston. It seems that she had left her husband. The reason is not known. but in the 1901 census she is at the same house, living with Joseph Fairholme, as his house keeper. Three Severn children were also present as boarders: Joseph, Hilda & John. Meanwhile, John Severn was still living at Kirkby, with six children.
The 1911 census requires the number of children born to the marriage to be stated. Joseph was stated as being married to Sarah Ann and the number of children born and living from the marriage was stated as four. They had four children living with them (Joseph, Hilda, John and Annie Fairholme). Presumably, the same four. Although, they were living together as man and wife, they could not marry without Sarah Ann obtaining a divorce from her husband. It is possible that John Severn did not want one.
It is highly probable that Joseph Fairholme was the father of Sarah Ann’s last two children : John born in 1899 and Ann / Annie in 1901. This is on the basis that they were born at Ilkeston and the further details set out below.
John’s birth certificate has his name as John Fairholme Severn. Similarly, Ann’s has Ann Fairhlome Severns. The middle name of a child could be used to continue a family name or to hint at the surname of an actual father, which may be the case here. To add to this, John’s birth certificate has the name ‘Joseph’ in the space for father’s name, but it is crossed-through. There is no father mentioned on Ann’s certificate. Their baptism records are also available. On John’s baptism record his name is still John Fairholme Severn, but his parents are Joseph & Sarah Ann Severn. Ann’s baptismal name is Ann Fairholme and her parents are Joseph & Sarah Ann Fairholme.
It is possible that Joseph and or Hilda were not John Severn’s children, given that Sarah Ann took them with her when she left Kirkby and Joseph Fairholm later acknowledged them as his. In the 1911 census John Severn’s return states that there were eight children from his marriage, but that three had died. It seems that one died in 1907, but I cannot find any other suitable entries before 1911. Perhaps, John considered Joseph and Hilda to be dead after Sarah Ann took them with her. Joseph and Hilda were both born after the date that Joseph gave for his marriage to Sarah Ann of 1892. However, so was Florrie, but for whatever reason Sarah Ann did not take her to Ilkeston.
John Severn seems to have died in quarter 1 of 1925. Joseph and Sarah Ann married in May of that year, without the need for a divorce. Thirty three years is a long time to wait to get married, but they managed it eventually.
The information about Sarah Ann’s children is a bit complicated so I have created a spreadsheet, which can be accessed from the image opposite.
Joseph Fairholme & Sarah Ann Severns - a delayed marriage
Click on the image to open a pdf of a spreadsheet.
The file will open in a separate window in your
web browser.
Reproduced with permission of Reflections of a Bygone Age from their book Carlton, Netherfield & Colwick on old picture postcards (ISBN 0 946245 64 9)
These photographs were shared by Julian Hitchen
Click on the image to open a pdf of the early tree for this branch.
It will open in a separate window in your web browser.
The following abbreviations are used on the tree:
b : birth
c : christening or baptism
m : marriage
d : death
bu : burial.
Produced by Roger Fairholm
John Fairholme & Katherine Goldrick - paternity claim
Image by alanajordan on pixabay.com
If I have identified him correctly then one of Joseph Fairholm’s younger brothers also had a complicated relationship. In August 1917 Katherine Goldrich applied to the petty session court for an affiliation order against John Fairholme. An affiliation order identified legally the father of a child and required payment for support of the child. In this case, Katherine stated that John had been living with her and had maintained her child since birth. The reason for the application was that John had left Katherine. The magistrates made an order for 5s a week to be paid by John to Katherine. 5 shillings was the maximum payment possible.
John and Katherine appear six years earlier in the 1911 census at Carlton.
John was living with Katherine as her lodger, together with her son - Joseph F Goldrick. (The surname seems to have been mis-spelt in the newspaper that reported the later case.). Both Katherine and John were stated to be single. In the national index of births is an entry in 1909 for Joseph Fairholme Goldrick. The middle name is probably a hint at paternity by Katherine when she registered the birth. The 1939 register provides an exact date of birth of 18.06.1909.
From the case in 1917, it seems that the couple had separated and matters were concluded legally. However, John and Katherine appear together again in the 1921 census. This time, John was the head of the household and Katherine was his house keeper. They were living at Whimsey Cottage in Colwick, next to Carlton. The census return is interesting. It is completed in two different styles of handwriting - presumably John’s and Katherine’s. There is an entry for Joseph - now aged 12. Under the column headed “RELATIONSHIP to Head of Household” is the word “son’. What seems to be an arrow has been added pointing from the word towards Katherine’s entry. In the column headed “MARRIAGE or ORPHANHOOD is the word “Father” and “NK”. The latter is probably an abbreviation for ‘not known’. It does not seem to match the styles of the other handwriting. “Father” has been crossed out in green pencil by the enumerator. There is more. The final section of the form is for listing all the children of a married man, widower or widow by number and by age. Although neither Katherine nor John met the requirements for this section to be completed, an entry was made against each of their names covering Joseph, but in different hands. The one against John’s name was crossed out. The enumerator crossed out both entries in green pencil.
It looks as if John and Katherine had some discussion about how to complete the entry for Joseph, which was played out across the return form.
I have not found more about the couple, but Joseph went on to marry Minnie Pickard in 1945. They had several children together.
Includes information from a newspaper report (via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) and wikipedia.