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James Thomas Gathercole was born in the village of Upwell, in the county of Norfolk, England; on the 10th of September in 1844.1 James Thomas’ father, who was also named James Gathercole, was an Upwell butcher. James the father died in 1852 when James was 8 years old.2 Research continues on James’ mother, Mary Wooll Gathercole's background. James Thomas had two brothers and a sister: Samuel Page Gathercole (1846-1848)3,4, John Henry Gathercole (1850-1912), and Elizabeth Gathercole (b.1852).5
In 1866, when James was 22, he married a local woman named Sarah Ann Bush.6 The Bush family lived in Tilney cum Islington, Norfolk which is only a few miles away from Upwell.7 James Gathercole was already related to Sarah by the time James and Sarah married due to the fact that James’ mother, Mary Gathercole, had remarried to Sarah's oldest brother William Bush in 1856.8 Research continues on James' wife Sarah Bush's background and family.
Very soon after marrying in 1866, James and Sarah moved from Upwell in Norfolk, to Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire. Barton-upon-Humber is approximately 90 miles north of Upwell. James’ younger brother John Henry seems to have moved with James and Sarah to Lincolnshire, but it does not appear that any other relatives of James and Sarah moved with the couple. It’s not known exactly why James and Sarah left Norfolk for North Lincolnshire. It’s possible James had other relatives near there, or perhaps there were better economic conditions in the Humberside area.
James and Sarah’s first two sons, James William and John Thomas, were born while the family was living in the north of Lincolnshire. In 1870 the family moved a short distance across the Humber estuary to the village of Sculcoates, now a section of the modern city of Hull, in Yorkshire. While living in Sculcoates the family had another six children; although only Sam, George, and Mary Ann would survive childhood. In 1877 the family moved again within England for a final time to Thearne, Yorkshire. Thearne is a very small village a few miles north of Hull, on the road to, and almost at the town of Beverly, Yorkshire. At Thearne the final four children; Elizabeth, Sarah, Frederick, and Emma were born.
Gathercole family researcher Leonard Gathercole found the exact house the family lived in at Thearne still standing and has taken some photographs of it. The Gathercole house at Thearne is very small, but generally neat and tidy. It’s hard to believe from looking at their house that two adults and nine children lived there. The Thearne house also has some small pig pens on the property. It’s likely that James Gathercole worked as a small scale livestock raiser and possibly as a butcher (as had his father before him). On his 1881 census at Thearne, James lists his occupation as ‘pig dealer’.
In 1884 James’ wife Sarah Bush Gathercole died at age 40 in the hospital at Beverly, Yorkshire. It is not known exactly what Sarah Bush may have died of, or at which cemetery she is buried in. She left nine living children under age 18.
There has been some speculation, but without very much direct evidence, that James Gathercole may have been married twice while in England. It has been suggested that James was briefly married either before he married Sarah, or after she died but before he emigrated to Canada. This idea seems to be based on James' 1922 obituary that states James was married three times. However, this putative wife does not appear on any records that I have seen. It is this researchers personal opinion that James' obituary stating the existence of three wives is in fact in error, and that James did not remarry before he moved to Canada. There is also an assertion in that same obituary that James fathered 32 or more children throughout his life. This researcher can only confirm a total of 22 children with both wives, and that number includes both children who died young and children who survived to adulthood.
In 1872 Canada created the Dominion Lands Act to encourage settlement of the prairie provinces. This act gave 160 acres to any European, Eastern Canadian, or American immigrant for just a $10 application fee. The only requirement was that the settler live on and improve the land. Initially the land grants were only available for land farther than 20 miles from the railroad, but by 1882 that requirement had been dropped and all government-owned prairie land was eligible for settlement. Newspapers and popular magazines in Yorkshire and country wide ran advertisments and stories encouraging immigrating to Canada. The Canadian government, Canadian railroads, and various steamship lines opened local offices in England to facilitate immigration to Canada.
In July of 1886, after his wife Sarah had been dead for two years, J T Gathercole decided to move Sasketchewan. He took his five youngest children with him: Mary 10, Sarah 9, Elizabeth 8, Frederick 6, and Emma 4. His two oldest sons James 19, and John 18, stayed in England. His next two oldest sons, George 14, and Samuel 13 followed their father later that year in December. Why sons George and Samuel would not travel with their father is not known. It is speculated that the two boys might have had to complete some sort of labor contract before they could leave.
J. T. and his children travelled on the steamship Carthaginean and left out of the port of Liverpool. The ship stopped in Ireland before landing in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada in August of 1886. As J.T. and his children travelled from Quebec to his homestead in Saskatchewan, there is a family tradition that J. T. may have left off, or possibly abandoned, his oldest daughter Mary at an orphange in Winnepeg.
J.T.'s homestead was near Whitewood, in a region called Assiniboia, which is now part of Saskatchewan. There is a family tradition relayed by James’ granddaughter Edith Aylwin that says James travelled to Canada with an English couple but as soon as the two families arrived in Broadview, Saskatchewan the wife of the other man died. After the other man's wife died the man left Broadview leaving James alone with his young children.
Initially, life was very tough for James Gathercole in Broadview. In the early years after his arrival J.T. was forced to farm out his children to his neighbors.
In 1891, five years after arriving in Canada, James remarried. He was 46 years old. His second wife’s name was Anna Christina Haglund. Southwestern Saskatchewan had at least two Swedish colonies near Broadview in the 1890's and it is likely that Anna was originally a member of one of these Swedish colonies. Family tradition has it that she was from Sweden and that she had a son, John Peter, from a previous marriage.
From his pioneer beginnings James was able to eventually build up his farm. He is quoted in an advertisement to attract immigrants around 1901: James Gathercole, of Beverly, Yorkshire, England, came here in 1886. He says: “I came here with only a few cents in my pocket and a large family of small children. I have done well and am satisfied. I have 320 acres of land, 150 sheep, 30 hogs, 75 head of cattle. Any man who is willing to work can do well here. What we want is working men; they are the best of settlers and often more value than the men with money. We have to bring thousands of men from the East each year to take off our harvest. Why can’t we get English farm hands to stay in this country?”
James Gathercole died at his home near Broadview, Saskatchewan on July 19, 1922. He was 77 years old. His obituary reads in part: Death of James T. Gathercole. Following a short illness of an attack of Pneumonia, Mr. James T. Gathercole died at this home, west of town, on Wednesday, July 19 at the age of 77 years, 8 months, and 9 days. The late Mr. Gathercole was considered one of the pioneers of the Whitewood district and his sterling character and honest dealings made him many friends and familiar to a very large circle of friends. Deceased had been married three times [only two wives are known-ms] and was the father of thirty-two children, one of whom is now a pensioner in the British Civil Service. He leaves behind a widow and several of the family at home. The funeral took place on Friday to the Whitewood cemetery… James Thomas Gathercole is buried at Whitewood Cemetery next to his wife Anna in Whitewood, Saskatchewan.
Descendants of James Thomas Gathercole and Sarah Bush
James Gathercole had at least 20 children and possibly more. It is thought by this researcher that he may have had 12 children with his first wife Sarah Bush, and another 10 children with his second wife Anna Christina Haglund. Some of the children with his first wife Sarah did not survive into adulthood, but it is thought that all of his children with Ann Christina reached adulthood. It is not known how many total descendants James Gathercole has, but it is likely in the hundreds. Below are brief biographies on some of James Gathercole’s children who survived past infancy.
James William Gathercole (1867 - ?) – Very little is known about James William Gathercole. He was probably the first born child. We do have a record of his birth and baptism at Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire. Barton is almost directly across the Humber Bay from Hull where other Gathercole children were born. James William is listed on the family’s 1871 census as a four year old boy. In addition to a census notation, we also have two other references to James William. The first reference is his name only mention as ‘William’ in a letter from his niece Edith Aylwin to ‘Annie’ in the 1980’s where she recounts the Gathercole family history as she understood it. The other reference to James William is in an email this researcher received in 2013 from Leonard Gathercole where Len mentioned that he discovered during his research the existence of a James William Gathercole. Leonard also mentioned possibly seeing a photograph of James William when he was a child. It is not known whether James William married, or if he had children, or where or when he died.
John Thomas Gathercole (ca 1868-1944) – John Thomas Gathercole was one child that we know with certainty did not emigrate to Canada or the US. In his younger days John Thomas was an ‘indoor cowboy’. He later became a civil service letter carrier. He lived most of his life in the Beverly, Yorkshire area. John Thomas married Mary Newham in 1891 and they had six children: Fanny, Joseph Thomas, Ernest, Edward, Lillian, and Sarah Ellen. He died in 1944 at age 75.
George Edward Gathercole (ca 1872-1930) – Very little is known about George Gathercole. George is probably named after another child who died in infancy right before he was born. George, with his brother Samuel, also came to Canada. George would have been around 14 years old when he left England with his little brother Samuel. There is a passenger record of George and Samuel on the ship Peruvian which arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in December of 1886, about 5 months after their father had arrived in Quebec. In 1891 George was living with his father in Broadview. In 1897 George married Alice Barker in Yorkshire, England. When or if he moved back to England is not clear. George and Alice had at least one child in 1899 they named John William Gathercole. Sometime after 1902 Alice died in probably in England, and by 1916 George and his son John William had moved back to Canada. George died in Canada in 1932. George’s son John William served in WWI.
Samuel Page Gathercole (ca 1873-1935) – Very little is known about Samuel Gathercole. Samuel Page is named after another child who died in infancy before he was born. Samuel, with his brother George, also came to Canada. There is a passenger record of Samuel aboard the ship Peruvian with his brother George that arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in December of 1886. Like the other younger Gathercole children, Samuel Page was “farmed out” as a domestic servant to neighbors and appears on the 1891 census living with the Hinchey family. Samuel Gathercole was a farmer in Saskatchewan like his father James Gathercole. Sometime before 1911 he married a woman who had arrived from England in 1895 named Clara Dash. Samuel and his wife both died in 1935 in British Columbia. They had no known children.
Mary Ann Gathercole (1874-?) – Very little is known about Mary Ann Gathercole. Mary Ann was said to have been dropped off at
Sarah Ann Gathercole (1877-1973) – Sarah
Elizabeth Ann Gathercole (1878-1970) – Elizabeth
Frederick Gathercole (1880-1968) – Frederick
Emma Gathercole (1882-1898) – Emma Gathercole was the youngest child of James and Sarah Gathercole. She died at the age of 16 in Saskatchewan. Her father and stepmother Anna named their child who was born in 1898 after Emma.
Descendants of James Thomas Gathercole and Anna Haglund
John Peter Gathercole
James W Gathercole
Mary Christina Gathercole
Anna Gathercole
Clara Gathercole
Emma Gathercole
Caroline Gathercole
Thomas Gathercole
Rosalind Gathercole
Elizabeth Gathercole
1Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census. Class: HO107; Piece: 1767; Folio: 540; Page: 27; GSU roll: 193661. [Database online ]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com. Accessed Dec. 2012.
2Ancestry.com. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915. Vol. 3b, pg. 382. [Database online]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com. Accessed Dec. 2012.
3"England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NXG1-6BZ : accessed 04 Dec 2012), Samuel Page Getturcole, 20 Feb 1846; citing Norwich, Norfolk, England, reference Item 5, p79; FHL microfilm 1526655.
4"England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JC1C-RJH : accessed 04 Dec 2012), Samuel Page Gathercole, 26 Mar 1848; reference Item 3 Pg 144; FHL microfilm 1526657.
5Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census Class: RG 9; Piece: 1053; Folio: 108; Page: 22; GSU roll: 542743. [Database online]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com www.ancestry.com. Accessed Dec. 2012
6FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915. Vol. 3b, pg. 1349. [Database online]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com. Accessed Dec. 2012
7Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census. Class: HO107; Piece: 1767; Folio: 129; Page: 5; GSU roll: 193661. [Database online]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com. www.ancestry.com. Accessed Dec. 2012.
8"England, Marriages, 1538–1973 ," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N677-SDB : accessed 04 Dec 2012), William Bush and Mary Gathercole, ; citing St. Peter, Wesbech, Cambridge, England, reference ; FHL microfilm 1040590.
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