#84 Richard Tetstall, abt 1775-1844

Richard Tetstall was one of my paternal 4 x great grandfathers. A great deal of mystery still surrounds him, which is frustrating as he was a builder of narrowboats, and I currently work part time in a boatyard! This is what I know about him so far.

Richard was probably born in about 1775, a date suggested by the 1841 census and Richard's death certificate. The 1841 census states that he was not born in Staffordshire. With the records currently available, I have struggled to find a convincing birth record. I have been through all the baptisms on Ancestry, FindMyPast, and FamilySearch, but I have found no record of his birth.

The most likely family I have found to date was based in Wolverley, Worcestershire, but this is by no means certain, as Richard and Zilla did not marry until 1777. I cannot discount two other possibilities: he was a child of his father Richard's from an earlier marriage (which I have not found), or he was the illegitimate son of Zilla Robbison.

If this birth is correct, Richard was raised in Wolverley, by his father Richard Tetstall senior, and his mother Zilla, nee Robbison. Again, if this birth is correct, Richard was the eldest of at least four children. These siblings were:

• William Tetstall, who was born in 1779. He married Sarah Parton in 1803, in Kidderminster. Unfortunately I have found no documents which give his occupation. He died in 1837 at the age of 58 and was probably buried at St George's, Kidderminster.
• John Tetstall, who was William's twin brother, was also born in Wolverley in 1779. He married Catharine Watmore at St Mary, Kidderminster, in 1824. He was recorded as being a labourer in 1832 at one of his children's baptisms. He died in March 1841 and was buried at St George's, Kidderminster.
• Elizabeth Tetstall was also born in Wolverley, in March 1781. She died a few weeks later, and was buried in Wolverley on 20th May 1781.

These siblings make me even less convinced that the Wolverley Richard is correct. Firstly, none of them moved to Stourport. Secondly, John and William were twins, and I have found no other twins amongst Richard's descendants. Lastly, none were involved in boatbuilding. I will just have to hope that more records come to light...

Richard married a girl named Jane, and I believe this was Jane Green. If this is the right Jane, they married on 21st Apr 1803, at St Mary, Kidderminster, and both of them lived in St Mary's parish. Later the same year, Richard's brother William married his wife Sarah in the same church. The witness to Richard and Jane's marriage was Robert Tetstall, perhaps another brother whose baptism I have not found, or perhaps, (but less likely), an uncle.

Some time between 1803 and 1806, we find the first record of Richard and his wife Jane in Stourport, Worcestershire. Their first child was born in about 1805 and was named Richard after his father, as was the family tradition. The second was my 3 x great grandfather James, who was born in Stourport in 1806. Unfortunately I could not find a baptism for either of these sons. Richard and Jane went on to have five more children: Ann, Thomas, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Caroline.

An advance auction notice in December 1814 tells us that Richard was the occupant of a dwelling in Cheapside, near the 'new' Stourport Basin and Severnside. Cheapside and Severnside still exist today. Richard had left this address by the time the auction took place, and the family moved to Lower Mitton, in the vicinity of St Michael's Church, Stourport. In 1815 when Thomas was born, Richard was recorded as a labourer.

Some time between 1818 and 1820 the family moved to Wolverhampton, where their youngest child, Caroline, was born in 1823. In the 1841 census we find Richard and Jane and their son Joseph living at St James Street, Wolverhampton. The area in now industrial, and there are no surviving houses. The Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line canal is a short walk to the north of St James Street. In 1841, Richard was a boatbuilder, and his son Joseph was a sawyer.

It has been impossible to pinpoint where Richard worked. The area by the canal was peppered with wharves and businesses. An 1888 large scale map gives plenty of detail. To the north of St James Street, from west to east, were Albion Iron Works, Albion Coal Wharf and Basin, Albion Flour Mill, Albion Wharf, a sawmill and timber yard with a wharf, a cheese and butter factory, Union Wharf which probably served Union Corn Mill, and a basin to the east of the Corn Mill, perhaps serving Horseley Fields Gas Works. There was also an arm-like basin to the east of St James Street serving the Atlas Works, Bridge Iron Foundry, Minerva Iron and Steel Works, a Tank and Boiler Works, a Brick Works, and Pickford's Wharf. Most of these already existed in the 1840s.

Sadly the 1841 census is the only record I have found giving Richard's occupation during his lifetime, however, in the 1851 census, his wife Jane called herself a boatbuilder's widow. Strangely, in 1855 his son James stated that his father had been an engineer on his marriage certificate.

Richard died in Wolverhampton 28 May 1844, aged 69. He was buried at St George's Churchyard, Wolverhampton, in early June 1844. Unfortunately the graveyard no longer exists, but I'd like to order his death certificate (West Bromwich district, Volume 18, Page 385), to find out more about his death location and circumstances.

Boatbuilding remained in the family for two more generations. Their eldest son Richard junior and third son Thomas were both boatbuilders in Great Bridge, Tipton, as were Richard junior's sons Thomas and Robert. Richard senior's fourth son, Joseph, who had previously been a sawyer, later became a boatbuilder in Wolverhampton, and ran a workshop with several employees near Bilston Road.

However, their second son James, my 3 x great grandfather, broke the mould (so to speak) and became an iron moulder. Neither he, nor his children, returned to boatbuilding.

Richard's widow, Jane, my 4 x great grandmother, survived Richard by seventeen years. She was buried at the New Burial Ground in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, close to where she had been living with her son Joseph and his wife and in-laws.

I plan to go hunting for family graves when I next go to Wolverhampton, but I suspect Richard and Jane's graves will be lost.