Ann Wood Hardy Baptism

A lot of people get Ann Wood Hardy's birth information incorrect. I've seen it many times.

Ann Wood is the wife of Lancelot Hardy. It's easy to verify that via Lancelot and Anne's marriage record from 11 November 1824 in Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire, England [D00023].

Then, you can find the family in the 1841 census for England living in Farndale, Yorkshire, England [D01519].

But therein lies the problem that a lot people make. They look at Anne's age in the 1841 census (which is given as 40 in the census) and then assume that was she was born in 1801. And then it's not difficult to find a baptism record for an Ann Wood in 1801 in that general area. But it's completely wrong. Why? Because the 1841 UK census rounded individual's ages to the nearest multiple of five. Which means that an age of 40 years old is only an estimate.

If you assume then that the birth year is only an estimate and then widen your search you'll come across a baptism record for an Ann Wood, born 18 December 1804, daughter of Joseph and Jane Wood [D01077].

And how do Iknow that that is the correct one? Because a number of the baptism records for Lancelot and Ann's children will list the grandparents as well, and they often list the mother as "Ann Wood, daughter of Joseph and Jane". Which is why it's always important to check the original record to see if there is more information on it.

---

Sources:
[D00023] (Sherburn, Yorkshire, England), "Marriage Record - Lancelot Hardy & Ann Wood". Rec. Date: 10 Apr 2016. ID: D00023. Cit. Date: 10 Apr 2016.

[D01088] (Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire, England), "Baptism Record - Lancelot Hardy 1827," C10840-1; FHL microfilm 990901 990,901, item 1369.

[D01519] 1841 census of England, Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire, folio 5, page 7; digital images(accessed 5 Feb 2018); citing PRO HO 107/1263/4. Rec. Date: 12 Mar 2017. Cit. Date: 5 Feb 2018.

X00241: More on Ann Hardy Barnhill and Mary Hardy Hyatt Sisters?

I've posted previously about X00241 and whether Ann Hardy Barnhill and Mary Hardy Hyatt were in fact sisters.

I've recently found Ann Hardy Barnhill in the 1911 census living in Esquesing.

The census record gives a correct age for Ann of 72 years (which she would have been in 1911), but an incorrect year of birth of 1831 (as opposed to 1838). It also says that she came to Canada in 1835, which is incorrect. But if she had said that she came to Canada when she was four years old (which would have been correct) they would have recorded it as 1835.

She's living with her daughter Nancy as well as Everett Barnhill, son of Matthew Hyatt and Mary Hardy. Nancy's relation to the head of household is given as "aunt" and Ann's relationship is given as "Grandma", which further confuses things because if my theory is correct, their relationships would be "cousin" and "aunt" respectively.

So, it looks as if Everett is related to the family, but it's not entirely clear what the relationship is at this point. It looks like I'll have to go back and re-evaluate what information I have at this point.

George Hardy and Mary Buckton

I've written previously about the Trafalgar Hardy Letter as well as some of the other Hardy gravestones in Mississauga. All of the Hardy surname connections seem to be tied to George Hardy and Mary Buckton, who originated from Yorkshire in the UK. Which caught my interest because my Hardy family also comes from Yorkshire.

I did manage to find the marriage record for George Hardy and Mary Buckton:

Interesting that one of the witnesses is named Hannah Hardy. This one had me wondering if there was a connection to my Hardy family, and that the Hannah Hardy witness was the same Hannah Hardy who was the mother of Lancelot Hardy.

But on further examination, I'm not so sure that there is a connection, or at least not an obvious one. George Hardy seems to have come from a different location in Yorkshire than the rest of the Hardy family and I have not been able to find a definite connection between the two Hardy families. Hardy seems to have been a fairly common name in Yorkshire, and so, it's entire plausible that the Hannah Hardy as a witness would have been a different person. Hannah, the mother of Lancelot Hardy would have been in her sixties at the time of the marriage.

And so, with no definite connection found at this point, I'm going to chalk this up to a coincidence that the two Hardy families wound up in approximately the same area.

X00216 The Trafalgar Hardy Letter

In 2017 Summer newsletter of the Trafalgar Township Historical Society, there's a mention of a letter in their archives written in 1855 from a Mary Hardy to her sister Elizabeth in Yorkshire, England. Given the surname Hardy and the timeline, I was curious to know if this Mary Hardy was connected to my Hardy family. I have not found any evidence of the family being located in Trafalgar Township, but it's not that far from Churchville, so it could be a possibility.

The article mentions that the letter was written by Mary Buckton Hardy (1801-1881) who married a George Hardy. Interestingly enough, I had previously come across and photographed both of their gravestones at St. Peter's Anglican, Erindale when I was looking for the gravestone of Lancelot Hardy.

Knowing this, I could now solve a couple of mysteries at the same time - the first as to whether the letter was connected to my family and the second as to whether the George and Mary Hardy buried in St. Peter's Anglican Cemetery were connected.

George Hardy died in 1850, which is before civil registration began in Ontario, but I was able to find Mary Hardy's death registration:

Unfortunately, it doesn't give anything additional to confirm or rule out a connection between the two families. I have since found evidence of a marriage between a George Hardy and a Mary Buckton 30 December 1830 in Kirk-Leatham, Yorkshire, England. The original record may give some more information about George's background, but I'd need to get that from a Family Search Centre or Family Search affiliate library. Stay tuned for more...

Another wrong turn

Some time ago, I found a baptism record in West Heslerton, Yorkshire, England for a Judith Hardy. I suspect that this is a sister of Lancelot Hardy as they were both born to an unmarried Hannah Hardy. Oddly, the baptismal record states that she was born on November 25, 1794 but the bishop's transfer states that she was baptized on November 25, 1794. So, either one of them is wrong or both events happened on the same day.

Baptismal Record:


Bishop's Transfer:


Later on, I found evidence of a Judith Hardy who married a John Morse in the US. The year of birth, 1794, matched the Judith born in West Heslerton.



But when I checked the death records for her, it appears that she was born in Groveland, Massachusetts.





So, it's definitely not the same one. Now the question is, what happened to the Judith Hardy born in West Heslerton?

X00241: Are Ann Hardy Barnhill and Mary Hardy Hyatt Sisters?

One of families that I’m researching at the present time is the Hardy family who came from Farndale, Yorkshire, England to what is now Peel Region in Ontario Canada in the 1840s. Lancelot Hardy and Ann Wood had several children and I’ve been able to trace most of them to Ontario.

Right now I’m trying to determine if Ann Hardy Barnhill and Mary Hardy Hyatt are sisters.

Ann Hardy married John Barnhill (1824-1868) around 1862. They had two children (that I have been able to identify so far): Nancy Maria Barnhill (1863-1929) and William John Barnhill (1867-1909).

Mary Hardy married Matthew Hyatt (1846-1909) around 1869. They had several children before she died in 1884. Matthew remarried after she died.

I’m definitely sure that Ann Hardy is the daughter of Lancelot and Ann; one record I’ve found gives their names as the parents. I haven’t found the same for Mary yet, but Lancelot and Ann did have a daughter named Mary and the information is definitely consistent with their daughter being the same one that was married to Matthew Hyatt. But I have yet to find definite proof.

The two families were definitely close. They lived in the same area and after Mary died, some of her children started living with the Barnhills and adopted the surname Barnhill. So, it's very likely.