READER STORY
Dennis Hepworth literally stumbled upon a goldmine of information that opened up a whole new branch of his family overseas, Gail Dixon learns
Dennis Hepworth’s graveyard find opened up a new branch of his tree
ennis Hepworth had always thought that he was a Londoner through and through, so it came as a big surprise when he discovered that he had Yorkshire roots. “I was born in Camberwell, my dad was born in Peckham and his dad was a Londoner, too,” Dennis explains.
“Family history is full of surprises. I began researching in the late 1980s, before the internet came along, and I’ve since discovered global connections.
“My wife Joan is a genealogy ‘nut’, too, and she encouraged me. It all started when I took my mum on a Sunday trip to Margate, where she honeymooned, and we met up with my dad’s brother, Uncle Maurice.
“They soon started reminiscing about when the family lived on Asylum Road, near the Old Kent Road in Peckham during the 1930s. His wife, Rose, dug out a box of ephemera and I found a picture of a cart laden with crates and bottles. Maurice said: ‘ That’s your great grandfather, Henry Hepworth. He had a mineral water business.’
“That came right out of the blue and it awakened my curiosity. A beer crate had an address on it – 494 Old Kent Road – so Joan and I looked it up in a Victorian street directory. There he was – Henry Hepworth, mineral water manufacturer. That moment was like a rocket taking off for me. I became hooked on genealogy.”
Dennis had a big challenge on his hands before the internet came along. He made many trips to the Family History Centre in Islington (which was later merged with The National Archives at Kew). “I found Henry on the census returns listed as a boiler maker. The records revealed that he was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1828. I was very taken aback at that. I didn’t have a clue that we had Yorkshire blood in our veins.”
Dennis knew that to discover more of his new-found Yorkshire roots he would have to visit a local archive, so in the 1990s he made the first of many visits to the West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield and the Wakefield Blane Road Local Studies Library.
“I discovered that the Hepworth family had a blacksmith and boilermaking business based at Westgate Common in Wakefield. Henry was the son of Matthew Hepworth (junior), who was baptised in Wakefield in 1799. The family owned their shop and house, so clearly the business flourished.”
Dennis followed the line all the way back to Matthew Hepworth senior, born in 1767, who started the business in around 1790. Newspaper articles in Wakefield Library provided information that made the story much more robust.
You’ve got to keep working at genealogy. I dig my toes in and never give up. It must be the Yorkshireman in me
“On visits to the archives, I used to see people punching the air because they’d had some success. I had a similar moment on my third trip to the archives in Wakefield. Nailing down Matthew Hepworth senior’s birthplace and date had been tricky, because there were a few candidates born in the area at the right time. It was a magical moment when I was able to prove that he was baptised in 1767 at St Mary’s Church, Woodkirk, which is a village not far from Wakefield. The clincher came when I found an older sibling who was also born in Woodkirk to the same parents.
Churchyard search
“Matthew was the son of Luke and Mary (née Morton) who married at St Mary’s in 1760. They were my 4x great grandparents. This major find was made early on my last day, so, with the afternoon free and being weary of microfiche readers, I returned to my B& B and decided to drive over the moors to Woodkirk.
“The B& B owner looked mystified when I asked for directions, saying there wasn’t much to see there. However, nothing was going to prevent me from visiting the church.
“Blink and you’d miss Woodkirk. It’s tucked back from the road and I drove past it once. Turning back, I glimpsed the flag of St George flying above the church spire which was surrounded by trees.
“The churchyard was large and overgrown. It was mid November and daylight hours were precious, so I quickly set to work on my gravestone census.
“After peering at indecipherable monumental inscriptions for an hour all I had was neck-ache. I stopped to do up my shoelace, balancing my papers on top of a large oblong tomb nearby. It was a breathtaking moment when I saw the name Hepworth inscribed all over it, with another identical Hepworth tomb alongside. It was like seeing stars.
“The main Hepworth name was Luke, born in 1775. He was buried with his wife Elizabeth and seven of their children. This Luke was unknown to me at that point and he was described as the son of Luke and Mary – my 4x great grandparents whose marriage record I’d found that morning. Therefore Luke was the brother of Matthew Hepworth senior, my 3x great grandfather.”
A year later, Dennis returned to Woodkirk with Joan who found the joint grave of a Matthew Hepworth and his daughter Mary. “The monumental inscription was intriguing. It revealed that father and daughter had died in 1866 at their residence in Ghent, Belgium. I knew that this couldn’t be one of the Matthew Hepworths on my direct line – the dates were wrong – but he could be a member of the extended family. If that was the case, what was he doing in Ghent?
Overseas connections
“Back home the International Genealogical Index (IGI) confirmed that this Matthew was one of Luke junior’s sons. He was the first cousin of my Matthew Hepworth junior who had the blacksmith business in Wakefield.
“This Matthew was baptised at Woodkirk in 1823 and he married Eliza Standring in 1851. The Ghent question remained unresolved.”
This particular trail went cold until 2001 when Dennis stumbled upon a genealogy. com message board, where a Paul Hepworth from Toronto, Canada, was asking about his grandfather George, who was born in Castleford. “I had a Castleford George Hepworth on my tree so I replied, but because Paul’s message was quite old the email address was defunct.
“Two kind Canadians answered my follow-up enquiry, confirming that only two Paul Hepworths were listed in the Toronto phonebook. They provided their addresses and I wrote letters to each. One was returned unknown, but a few months later, and completely out of the blue, I received an email from Paul’s daughter, Andrea. It was a magical moment.
“As I read her bullet points, one-by-one, about Ghent, Woodkirk and Luke Hepworth junior, I realised that I had struck gold. Andrea said that although her dad (Paul) was very interested in my letter, he would contact his cousin George in Montreal, who was the family genealogist.
“George contacted me within two hours and it was clear that he was as mad about family history as I am. George is a direct descendant of Luke junior, whose tomb I found in Woodkirk.”
Dennis and George became genealogy buddies and exchanged emails and information for eight years. “George did it
It was a thrill to see a photograph of Matthew and Eliza, taken perhaps on their marriage in 1851
all by hand. The names were listed on a roll of paper the size of my hallway. He had to cut it to insert a new section for me.
“George explained that the Matthew Hepworth buried in Woodkirk was his great grandfather – and also his cousin Paul’s. Matthew had left Woodkirk for Ghent around 1854 to set up a dry goods dealership. As the business prospered the family moved into woollen manufacturing. There was a thriving trade between Belgium and Yorkshire, with wool being exported for use in the famous Ghent tapestries.
Matthew and his wife Eliza Standring had a son called John, who was the company sales representative. On a business trip to Montreal he met his future wife, Emma Baudry. They settled there and started the Canadian Hepworth line.
“It was a thrill to see a photograph of Matthew and Eliza, taken perhaps on their marriage in 1851. It’s the oldest photograph in my family collection.
“A few years ago, I noticed that my messages to George were not being answered and I began to fear the worst. I traced one of his daughters, Jean, and was delighted to hear that George was still with us, but suffering from early stage dementia. I continued to keep in touch via his children because his long-term memory was good and he enjoyed hearing my news.”
In 2011, Dennis and Joan decided to meet their cousins at the start of a trans- Canadian railway holiday. “It was a beautiful journey and we saw stunning wildlife from the train’s sunroof carriages.
Meeting the family
“It was a wonderful moment when we met George and his family. They live in St Anicet, near Montreal, in large detached homes by the St Lawrence River. Every morning, George’s daughter Lorraine swims across the lake to an island and back again.
“We had a great time exchanging family history tales and were very sad when the time came to catch our train to Vancouver.
“Before we left St Anicet, George asked me if I could find out what happened to his grandfather John’s younger brother Albert. He was born and died in Ghent, although due to the First World War his five sons left Belgium. One emigrated to the United States, the other four went to Australia.
“By a great stroke of luck, I managed to find an obituary for Albert’s grandson John Albert Hepworth, who died in Melbourne in 2011. This gave a detailed account of the family’s history and confirmed that, although they were British, they had spent many years in Ghent. This proved that my research was correct and I was able to share the news with George.
Sadly, George had to go into a nursing home in 2012 and passed away on 11 May, 2013. “He had a full life and was a very interesting person who gave me many hours of family history pleasure. He will be keenly missed.”
Dennis’s research has led to astonishing connections across continents. Was it fate that led him to the Hepworth family tombs on that wintry afternoon? “Perhaps,” he reckons, “but you’ve got to keep working at genealogy. I dig my toes in and never give up. It must be the Yorkshireman in me.”