Tom Leach
Father of Trevor Leach
and grandfather of Karen and Richard Leach
Thomas Leach and his sister, Irene Leach, were born in Wigan to James Leach (Jim) and Mabel Ellen Rebecca Britnell (Rebecca). Jim and Rebecca married in August 1909. Irene was born 24th February 1910. At the time of the 1911 census, Jim was working as a hotel waiter and their first child, Irene, was six months old. They lived at 15 Vauxhall Road in Wigan. Jim's family lived at 13 Vauxhall Road - his parents, his youngest sister, Alice Ann (age 15), and older sister, Deborah (27), who was married to Roger Aspinall (26). They were rented terrace houses in a mining town in Lancashire.
The Leach Family: Rebecca, Irene, Tom, and James Leach
Photo taken about 1914?
Mabel Ellen Rebecca Britnell (Rebecca)
b. 1887
Wigan, Lancashire
d. 1943
James Leach (Jim)
b. 4 Mar 1888
Wigan, Lancashire
d. 1926
married
1909
TWO CHILDRENTom Leach was born 11th August 1912. Irene told us that she and Tom were given a bath together on a Saturday night in a tin with a handle at each end which was placed near the open coal fire of the kitchen range. Later when they had the hotel (pub), they were still bathed together, but in a big bath.
James fought in World War I (1914-1918). While he was away, James (Jimmy) wrote letters and cards home in rhyme. His sister, Alice Ann (San), later wrote out his letters for future generations to enjoy.
Writing to his mother, Mary Leach, Jim wrote
when he was about twenty-eight:
April 11. 1916.
Mother
How sweet the name of Mother sounds,
To the son so far away.
Whose dearest wish for happiness,
Always may come your way.
I love to fondle your photo,
And dream of the happy day,
When I return safe home to you,
And forever with you stay.
What joy it is to own,
A mother so kind and true,
God's blessings on you shower,
Is my sincerest wish for you.
Tho' dark was the hour when we parted,
And our hearts so full of pain,
I shall meet you once again dear Mother,
Someday Someday.
Jim
Writing to his two sisters and to his
nephew, Vernon, Jim wrote:To Deb and San with love to Ver:
Dear Sisters true I send to you,
Hearty thanks for your kind greetings,
A glow of pride comes by my side,
When I think of our meeting.
I fancy how we shall be,
As side by side we gather,
Such joy and happiness there'll be,
That dark clouds will not matter.
So don't forget dear sisters now,
No matter if you tire,
That longer are your letters to me,
They help to kindle the fire,
Of a love that's true, for both of you,
I love to think of memories sweet,
That we have spent together,
But oh what pleasant thankfulness,
When I receive your letters.
Your affectionate brother Jim.Deb XX Ver XX San XX
To his sister, Alice Ann, Jim wrote:
May 1919
Dear Sis San,
I have no news dear Sister to send to you,
Only fondest greetings, that are sincere and true,
And may you like this card of mine,
And happiness for ever on you shine.
Yes it only seems just yesterday,
That you and me did part our way,
But tho' the time has passed away,
It as brought our hearts together on this auspicious day.
I could not send you a present dear lass,
But I send to you my fondest wish,
God bless and strengthen you for ever,
And Aye, Your Affectionate brother, Jimmy.
From a Christmas card from James Leach to his sister, Alice Ann: 1919Dear Sis: San,
This card I send my wishes most sincere,
Prospects bright, and happy delight,
For Christmas and New Year.
Just think of me on New Year's eve,
As the clock it does strike twelve,
For at that time, in service divine,
I hope you will attend.
Just look after dear Mother, be as good as you can be
And you will earn, the everlasting gratitude of one
across the sea.
God bless You For Aye. Jim X
Irene Leach b.1910, Mabel (Rebecca) Leach, Tom Leach b. 1912
Photo taken about 1916?
Jim Leach fought in the 1914-1918 war and on his return became manager of a large hotel in Hindley, Wigan, and in this environment Thomas and Irene spent their early years. The family used to have holidays in Blackpool and they travelled there by train as James did not have a car. Irene and Tom liked to go to the pictures (black and white). A screen was put up in a hall in Hindley, Wigan and they sat on chairs. They went to the pictures on their own one afternoon and they saw a film twice. Their father came looking for them!
Irene remembered her Dad being a very strict father. He did not like her playing with the local girls as he said they were "fast" and mixed with boys too much. However, it was fine when Irene met Edgar as he thought tennis club people were nice people! Jim had a kind of 6th sense. He got invited to houses because he could prophecy what would happen, whether it was intuition or premonitions they came true. Irene and Tom were taken along when they went to these houses and put to bed while the grown ups talked. However, Jim gave it up because people wanted him for his gift and not for friendship. Rebecca was upset when this stopped because she liked being taken out. Rebecca was religious, but Jim was not - he just had his own beliefs.
James Leach loved good furniture and he and his wife bought one or two lovely pieces of furniture from a stately home, one a writing desk, which on his death became the property of Thomas Leach and is now possessed by his son Trevor and wife.
Irene learned to play the piano but the only satisfaction she got from that was that it gave her father a little pleasure to hear her play when he was very ill. James became ill because of the drinking water which had been poisoned by the Germans in World War I. She loved to spend days just painting small pictures and her father used to come and watch her. At the age of ten years, she painted for her local school a dado in one of the school rooms showing birds and their nests and eggs and the headmistress told her father she should have further education in the arts. However, by this time her father was ill, and they moved to live in Manchester to a house provided by his firm's brewery. It was there he died and where Irene and Tom spent their adolescent years.
After their father died, their Aunt Eunice took Irene and Tom in to look after them. Irene remembers sitting on the floor at Auntie Eunice's house with Tom and holding his hand and she said to him "I don't like it here, do you?" and Tom said "No". Eunice had a son who was killed in the war soon after this. Then the Minister of the church arranged for a brother and sister (Gladys and Arthur) who needed accommodation to look after Irene and Tom in their own home. When Tom was really hard up, Gladys Clough (who was a paying guest in the house) bought him an enormous pair of ladders so he could earn money cleaning windows.
During her seventeenth year, Irene joined a tennis club and liked the type of sporting people she became involved with, she had by this time got herself a good job in ICI Blackley, and was becoming a little more independent, and able to help her mother financially. Irene enjoyed being a secretary - she used a dictaphone with earphones.
Through the tennis club she met and eventually married Edgar Snelson, a good companiable man, who completely took over her life. They were to have a five-year engagement, so that by that time they would be able to buy a house of their choice in Lytham St. Annes. She now had no worries, which appealed to her. Life had been so sad for Irene after her father's death. Irene married George Edgar Snelson (Edgar) on 1st June 1935 at the age of 25. Life was very pleasant in Lytham. Irene and Edgar again joined a Tennis and Cricket Club and made many friends, but at the same time there was constant fear of war, and when in 1939, war was declared then life changed completely. Women were asked to take up jobs to help the war effort and Irene went to work in the government at the Ministry of Fuel and Power. Edgar volunteered for the Air Force.
Irene's mother became seriously ill and came to live with them at Lytham St. Annes. Rebecca was fifty-six when she died, in about 1943. Her daughter, Irené, remembers that it was a terrible time - the war was on (her husband, Edgar, was away) and Irené had her mother to stay with her in Lytham St. Annes. Tom got special leave from the airforce and arrived to see his mother two days before she died of cancer and he saw to all the funeral arrangements. Rebecca's only grandson, Trevor Leach, was born three years after she died.
b. 19
d. 19?
b. 1910
d. 4th February 2005
During the war years, Irene had found that with all the responsibilities of running a home, a job and the grief for her mother she had become a stronger personality and so when the war was over and Edgar returned they were both very different people. Their marriage began to go wrong and in her search for some sort of happiness she fell in love with Alan Cleaver, the captain of their Cricket Club, whom she had known for many years. Alan left his Market Gardening in Lytham and got a job in the same field in Yorkshire and wrote to Irene asking her to join him. Tom was a tower of strength during this time and helped Irene to come to her decision to be with Alan.
Irene wrote in 1989: "Thomas Leach was an intelligent and caring boy, always with a loving nature in every form. He loved to laugh and had the knack of making people laugh in the telling of an ordinary everyday event. Even in the early years, he and his sister were often in trouble and ended under the table giggling. At about the age of twelve, their father died and although his school Headmaster wanted Tom to go on to higher schooling, this was impossible, his mother was now a widow and she needed both Tom and Irene to be in employment. After a year or two, Tom got a job in a large Glass firm in Salford as an assistant clerk. Some of his leisure time was spent playing snooker with his friends. Tom loved to cycle and he and Irene often went for cycle rides in what was left of adjacent countryside. Eventually, Tom met and fell in love with the girl who became his wife, and as the 1939-1945 war was looming they decided to marry and live for the time being in his mother's home:, No.3 Pine Street, Salford, Manchester. While in the Air Force, Tom's mother died while living with Irene in Lytham St. Annes. Irene had taken her mother to live with her because she realised how very ill her mother had become. Tom was given compassionate leave from the Air Force and he was so pleased to see her face light up when she saw him in his Officer's uniform for the first time, but she died a few days later. Tom then returned home at the end of the war to carry on with his job as Insurance Agent and later promotion to Superintendent in Buxton where he eventually lived until his death in 1957."
b. 19
d. 198?
b. 1910
d. 2004?
Family of James Leach
(Father of Tom and Irene)
James was one of ten children born to Mary Henthorn Fitton and Thomas Leach (Tom) who were both born in Lancashire.
Thomas Leach's family was from Ireland.
Mary Fitton's parents were Ann Henthorn and Radcliffe Fitton. Mary's siblings were: John William Fitton (b 1845), Elizabeth Fitton (b 1848), Abraham Henthorn Fitton (b 1856), Alice Ann Fitton (b 1860), Deborah Fitton (b 1863).
Thomas Leach is the tall man in the front
Tom Burton (son of Alice Ann Leach) told me in 1999 about the Leach family:
Thomas Leach was a coal miner. Tom was about 6ft which was much taller than the average man (5ft 5") in those days. He was a very hairy-chested man. Tom worked at Cross & Tetley Pit, No. 6 Bamfurlong Pit, Wigan. He was a foreman at the mine and worked there about forty years. Mary Fitton was 44 years old when Alice Ann was born in 1896. She had babies about every two years from 1871 to 1896. Deborah (born 1863) and Alice Ann Fitton (born 1860) were her sisters and she had a brother Abraham. Richard Leach was born 26th April 1876. He was a butcher. He died from the residual effects of mustard gas from WWI in 1920s or 1930s. Thomas Leach died from cross-vaccination. He had been a healthy baby. Margaret Ann (Maggie) Leach left for the Untied State in about 1908.
Mary and Tom's ten children were Mary Elizabeth Leach, Margaret Ann Leach (Maggie), Richard Radcliffe Leach (Dick), Tom Leach, Deborah Leach, John William Fitton Leach (Jack), James Leach (Jim), Ellis Leach, Alice Ann Leach (San) and one unknown child who died. Three of the ten children died leaving seven surviving children.Their son, Thomas Leach, was born 31st March 1878 and unfortunately died in 1879. He died from cross-vaccination. He had been a healthy baby. Their son, Ellis Leach, was born March 1891 and died in June of that year.
Mary Henthorn Fitton
b. 19 May 1852
chr. 18 July 1852
Holy Trinity, Shaw, Lancs
d. 6 August 1921Thomas Leach (Tom)
b. 16 February 1850
Rochdale, Lancs
d. 19 May 1911
Wigan, Lancs
married
1870/71
TEN CHILDREN OF MARY & TOM LEACH
i) Mary Elizabeth Leach (Betty) - b. 24 Feb 1871 - d. 1946 -
married J Belshaw 1903 -
family immigrated in 1909 to Clinton, Indiana, USA
children: Eleanor 19 Jan 1899, James Belshaw b. 1905
ii) Margaret Ann Leach (Maggie) - b. 26 Jan 1872 - d. 1945-
married ? Dowey June 1894
child: Eva Dowey b 1894/5
iii) Richard Radcliffe Leach (Dick) - b. 26 Apr 1876 Oldham, Lancs - d. 1920
married Eliza Ellen 1902/03
iv) Tom Leach - b. 31 Mar 1878 - d. 1879
v) Deborah Leach - b. 26 Feb 1884 Wigan - d. 24 May 1970
married Roger Aspinall 10 April 1910
child: Vernon Aspinall married Bessie Meadows b. 1916? d. 13 August 2012 (age 96)
(son Roger Ian Aspinall - called Ian)
vi) John William Fitton Leach (Jack) - b. 20 April 1886 - d.1940
married 1906
Two sons - Ellis Leach married Estrella
? Leach
vii) James Leach (Jim) - b. 4 March 1888 - d. 1926 -
married Mabel Ellen Rebecca Britnell (Rebecca) Aug 1909
children: Irene and Tom Leach
viii) Ellis Leach - b March 1891 - d. June 1891
ix) Alice Ann Leach (San) - b. 5 May 1896 Wigan - d. 23 Feb 1983
emigrated to United States in 1923
- married John William Burton 23 Oct 1927 -
son: Tom Burton b. 1929 (married Alberta Burns)
x) One other unknown child who died.
The 1881 census lists Thomas Leach (age 30) and Mary Leach (age 28) as living at 29 Swann Street in Wigan, Lancashire, at age thirty. They had three children at the time: Mary E Leach (age 10), Margaret A Leach (age 8), and Richard N Leach (age 5) who were all born in Oldham, Lancashire.
The 1901 census lists their daughter Margaret Ann Dowey (age 28) and grand-daughter Eva Dowey (age 6) in the household with Mary (age 49) and Tom Leach (age 51). Maggie was working as a cotton weaver. Also living with them was their children Mary Elizabeth (age 30), Richard Ratcliffe (age 24), Deborah (age 17), John William Fitton (age 14), James (age 13), and Alice Ann (age 4). Their address was 13 Vauxhall Road, Wigan. Tom was working as a coal mine hewer. Mary Elizabeth, Margaret Ann, Deborah were all working as cotton weavers. Richard was a butcher and John William was an ale & porter bottler.
According to the 1911 census, Tom and Mary Leach were living at 13 Vauxhall Road, Wigan, with their youngest daughter, Alice Ann (age 15) and daughter Deborah (27) who was married to Roger Aspinall (26). Alice Ann and Deborah were working as cotton weavers. Tom was a coal miner hewer. Their home had five rooms including the kitchen.
Jim's brother, Richard Radcliffe Leach (age 34), was married to Eliza Ellen Leach (age 34) and living at 158 Warrington Road, Pemberton, Wigan, at the time of the 1911 census.Their home had four rooms including the kitchen. They had no children (Irene Leach told us they couldn't have children). Richard was a butcher and had his" own account" (that is neither employing others nor working for a trade employer). Tom Burton told me that Dick died in the 1920s or 1930s from the residual effects of mustard gas from World War I.
Jim's older sister, Deborah Leach, had one child, Vernon, born 2 December 1915. Deborah had married Roger Aspinall on 10th April 1910 in Wigan. They were living with Deb's parents and sister at 13 Vauxhall Road. Vernon was a cousin of Tom Leach and they spent time together growing up. He owned a post office in Stanton. It was a good business. Before her father died in May 1911, they had a full house with Deborah's parents, sister San, and the newly-weds all living together in the family home. Roger was in World War I. He wrote letters in rythme to his sister-in-law, Alice Ann. He wrote from Belton Park in 1916. He wrote from Clipstone Camp. He said in his letters that he was "a machine gunner" and said the food was sometimes rough: "potatoes, beef and pudding all hashed together, You don't know which is beef, which is leather..."
daughter of Mary and Tom Leach / sister of Jim Leach
Vernon married Elizabeth Meadows. We went to visit Bessie in Standish, Wigan, in September 2010. Bessie said she was 38 when she and Vernon bought a grocery shop and butcher business so that they could combine them and make a Post Office. Vernon was the Post Master. Ellis Leach (son of John William Leach) came over to England on business in about 1959. He flew to Manchester and took a taxi to see Vernon and Bessie. Their son, Ian, was probably 11 or 13 at the time and he remembers Ellis as a small man and that he was the head of a carpet company in Connecticut.
Their mother, Mary Leach, died 6th August 1921 and by this time Deb was the only one left living at 13 Vauxhall Road. Deb and her family lived in her parent's home all their married life. When her sister, San, visited Deb in 1951, she found that the care packages they had sent to her from the United States during World War II had not been opened! Deb's house had a toilet at the back of the garden. There was never any running hot water in the house.
Trevor remembers visiting his Aunt Deb's house. The living room had a black ornate cuckoo clock on the left hand side wall. Deb let Trevor wind up the clock by pulling down on the long chain that hung down. He liked it when the cuckoo came out. Deb always wore black which made her a little frightening. She was a very petite lady. Trevor remembers her lovely smile.
Jim's sister, Mary Elizabeth Leach (Betty) was born 24th February 1871 and married J Belshaw in June 1903 and had a son, James Belshaw (born 10 May 1905 in Wigan) and a daughter Eleanor (born 19 January 1899). It appears that they left England to live in the United States of America in 1909.
When she was fifty years old, Mary Elizabeth departed on a ship "Cedric" from Liverpool on 9th May 1921 with her son who was sixteen years old. The ship arrived at the port of New York and records show that they were joining their husband and father J Belshaw in Clinton, Indiana. It states that they had already been in the USA for eleven years, since 21st December 1909, and had been permanent residents of Clinton. The listing is on a "List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States". It lists Mary's occupation as housewife and James' a miner. It gives the address of her mother as 13 Vauxhall Road, Wigan. It says that they intended to live in the USA "always". Mary Elizabeth had $80 with her.
There is a listing on the web with James Belshaw's birth date and gives his social security number as 313-07-8180 and his death date as May 1980 in Indiana.
Their mother, Mary Leach, died at age sixty-nine on 6th August 1921. Perhaps Mary Elizabeth made the trip to England in 1921 to see her mother before she died. Less than three months later, her mother died in August 1921.
Jim's sister, Margaret Ann Leach (Maggie) Leach was born 26th January 1872 to Mary and Tom Leach. She married ? Dowey in June 1894. They had a daughter Eva Dowey who was age six at the time of the 1901 Census. They were living with her parents at that time. They later had a son called Richard Leach Dowey who was born on 26 Feb/Sept 1908. Maggie left England for the United States of America in about 1908. She lived in Boston, Mass. for a while. She died in May 1945.
Jim's youngest sister, Alice Ann Leach (San), left England in 1923 at age twenty-seven, after her parents had both died. She married John William Burton on 23rd October 1927. He was from Shildon, England. They had one son, Tom Burton born in 1929. Tom and Alberta had five sons from 1949 to 1965.
Alice Ann (San) Leach was born on 5th May 1896 at 13 Vauxhall Road, Wigan, to Mary and Tom Leach. Alice Ann was the youngest of the nine Leach children. Her mother had given birth to thirteen babies but only nine lived; she was forty-four years old when she gave birth to Alice Ann.Alice Ann started school at five in 1901. When she was about seven years old, she had scarlet fever. In 1909, when she was thirteen, Alice Ann left school and she started work as a weaver in cottonmills. She gave her earnings to her mother. Her father died when she was only fifteen.
In 1911, Alice Ann was given a Birthday Scripture Textbook by her sister and brother-in-law, Deb and Roger Aspinall. Alice Ann used this little book to write names and dates of births and deaths and marriages. Most of the dates for the Leach family tree were found from Alice Ann's detailed notes in this book.
By age eighteen or nineteen, she hadn't menstruated yet, so Alice Ann was sent to the coast for the sea air, but she wasn't told the reason. The day she got there, she did menstruate but didn't know what was going on.
In 1916, there were two small children living with them in the small home at Vauxhall Road: her brother James' children, Tom who was four and Irené who was starting school. Deborah and Roger's son, Vernon, lived next door. The fathers, Roger and James, were away in the first world war.
Alice Ann rhymed letters to her brother, James, and to Roger Aspinall, her brother-in-law, while they were away in France in World War I. She copied the letters she sent to them and the ones she received back and later took them to the USA and made a book of them.
July 2nd 1916.
Dear Bro: Jim
To you a letter I now begin
In answer to your welcome card,
From which I gather you're working hard.
I would like to see you when your washing,
Without hot water it must be shocking.
Yet I believe you have some sport,
With those rum boys in sunny Gosport.
You must not worry or get sad,
Of you out yonder we are so glad.
To think that you will do your best,
When fighting in the busy west.
Just think of us last Sunday morn,
Off to Chester at the break of dawn.
Upon our bikes past Knowsley Hall,
We landed at Liverpool without a fall.
And lunched upon a ferry boat,
We passed a man-of-war afloat.
At first we spied her from afar,
And then we saw our Jolly Jack Tars.
Upon the decks they were at drill,
"Oh who could wish them any ill"
It filled our hearts with pride and joy,
To think each one a British boy.
We past on to the opposite shore,
And then rode through the lanes once more.
All covered with dust we finally got,
To quaint old Chester that ancient spot.
We walked along the city wall,
Where King Charles saw his soldiers fall.
And then passed on to the River Dee,
It was a lovely sight to see.
The Chester race course stands right here,
With the soldiers barracks placed so near.
But the most important place of all,
Is the old cathedral with its tower tall.
This ancient building is great and grand,
Is one of the finest in the land.
We next went into Grosner Park,
But we passed through Helsby before it went dark.
From here we saw the River Mersey,
And passed the Weaver on our homeward journey.
On through Warrington, Winnick, and Brynn,
And arrived at twelve o'clock round the Harp Inn.
Mother was waiting with Mabel and Deb,
And it didn't take long to get into bed.
Now as I am writing this scribble of mine,
Mother is calling it's dinner time.
So I will say goodbye to you,
With best of wishes kind and true.
From Your Sister San.
Alice Ann was a private in the Royal Fusiliers. She loved to swim and to ride her bike and mentions both in her letters.
By August 1921, Alice Ann's parents had both died. Her father passed on when she was fifteen, and her mother passed on when she was twenty-five.
Alice Ann lived at the family home at 13 Vauxhall Road until she left England in 1923 at twenty-seven years old. She went to visit her sisters in the United States, Mary Elizabeth and Maggie, who were living in Indiana and Boston. They were more than twenty-five years older than her and so she didn't really know them.
She left Liverpool, England, on 28th June 1923 on a ship sailing to the United States of America. She took a few books with her (Sherlock Holmes, The Prophet by Gibran, Traditions of Lancashire), a tin box, and family photos. The photos had probably belonged to her mother before she died.
Auntie Irené says about her Auntie San that she was the pretty one, she was go ahead and adventurous.
They arrived at Ellis Island, New York, and then Alice Ann went to Boston, where apparently one of her siblings lived. She then lived in Clinton, Indiana, from 1923 to 1926. Her sister Mary Elizabeth Belshaw and her family were living there.
It was in Clinton, Indiana, that while she was single, she began to pick up verses and sayings which appealed to her. She put them in a book with the rhymed letters. One of these is by G. Kingland. Alice Ann left Indiana in June 1926 and travelled for sixteen days with Tom and Susanna Forshaw across the USA to the west coast, to California. She had met them in Wigan. Her boyfriend at the time, gave Alice Ann a pistol to protect herself from the Native American Indians during her journey to California. She and her companions were going to be sleeping outdoors in tents and she was very afraid of the wild Indians. She noted in her journal that she saw two Indians.
Alice Ann wrote in her diary about her journey across the United States of America, from Indiana to San Leandro, California (near Oakland):
"Diary of the Journey.
From Clinton, Indiana
To San Leandro, California
Left 10 June 1926 arrived 28 June 1926 - 3 years to the day I left Liverpool, England.Mr and Mrs Forshaw, Mrs Delaney and myself. Mr Forshaw drove all the way, in his Graham Paige. Fired my first shot at rabbits. Saw cowboys and two Indians. Full dinner 50c."It was quite an eventful trip. They camped when it was not raining and rented rooms when it was. They had to use chains on their tires because of the muddy roads. They got a puncture. One day there was such heavy rain that they had to wait until after noon before setting off. One night, Alice Ann's shawl caught on fire in the tent.
When they arrived in California, they stayed with John William Burton (Johnnie) who was an Englishman from Shildon. He had rented a house in Oakland. The Forshaw's son, Jack, was married to Johnnie's sister, Lily.
Alice Ann dated Johnnie's brother, Sydney Burton, before she dated Johnnie.
Johnnie was born on 24th September 1898 in Shildon, England. He was in the Marine Corp Reserve out of high school. He was enlisted on 6th September 1916. He passed the signalling test 1st October 1918, as a first class signaller (6 weeks before the war was over). In 1919, he transferred to the Army Reserve.
Johnnie left England on 31st January 1921 from Liverpool on the ship "Albania" with his family. He immigrated to the United States of America with his father Thomas (age 49) and step-mother Isabella (age 42) and his sister Elizabeth (age 23) and Jennie (age 9) and brothers Sydney (age 20) and Thomas (age 7). The Manifest of Alien Passengers states that they were landing in the port of New York and intended to stay with Thomas' brother Mr W. Burton at 635 North 3rd Street, Clinton, Indiana. It says that Johnnie's father was born in West Slickburn in England and his step-mother was born in Haswell. It also states that Sydney had a club foot. The calling or occupation of his father is listed as miner and his mother as a housewife and Elizabeth as a domestic, Johnnie is listed as a miner, and his brother a clerk (he couldn't be a miner since he had had polio).
He got a mining license in Clinton, Indiana, May 31 1921. He worked at a mine caring for the ponies; he had to be short and strong to keep the ponies in the dark mine because if they ran into the light they would die. Johnnie went to Terrattaut, Indiana. He later worked in Boulder, Colorado, at one of the first petrol stations. In 1926, he left for California and rented a house there. He knew he didn't want to be a miner anymore. He later paid for his sister and Sydney to come and live in California.
John Burton and Alice Ann Leach married 23rd October 1927 in Oakland, California, less than a year after arriving there. Alice Ann became a mother in 1929. Their only son, Tom Burton, was born 30th July 1929. Tom never met his grandfather (Thomas Burton) who died in 1928 from cancer when Tom was only 18 months old.
They lived at 109th Avenue, Oakland, California, from the time Tom was four years old. While they lived in Oakland, Johnnie was a heat treater at the Caterpillar tractor company. He worked thirty-three years there. He worked both the graveyard shift (midnight -8am) and later the swing shift (4pm-midnight).
Auntie San and Uncle Johnnie were married for over fifty years. In 1944, Auntie San wrote a poem called "Companionship: Johnnie and me".
It isn't that we talk so much
Sometimes the evening through
You do not say a word to me.
I do not talk to you.
I sit beside the reading lamp
You like your easy chair.
And it is joy enough for me,
To know that you are there.
It isn't that we go so much.
Sometimes we like to roam
Along the beach or to a dance,
But best of all is home.
I sew a bit or read aloud,
A book we want to share,
And it is joy enough for me,
To know that you are there.
It isn't that you tell me,
The things I've come to know,
It goes too deep for words, I think,
The fact you love me so.
You only have to touch my hand,
To learn how much I care,
And it is joy enough for me
To know that you are there.
Family of Mary Henthorn Fitton - later Mary Leach
(wife of Tom Leach and mother of James Leach)
Mary Henthorn Fitton was born to Ann Henthorn and Radcliffe Fitton on 19th May 1852.
married
b. 5 May 1821
d. ?
b. 28 March 1824
d. March 1894
18 August 1844
St Chad, Rochdale, Lancashire
SIX CHILDREN OF ANN & RADCLIFFE FITTON
John William Fitton Leach - b. 16 July 1845 - unmarried - d. 1928/29
Elizabeth Fitton - b. 14 June 1848 - married and raised large family - d. in 70's
Mary Henthorn Fitton - b. 19 May 1852 married 1870/71 - d. 6 August 1921
Abraham Henthorn Fitton - b. 10 May 1856 - married with large family - d. in 70's (census below)
Alice Ann Fitton - b. 1 Jan 1860 - married 1893- d. giving birth to first child age 33?
Deborah Fitton - b. 9 Oct 1863 - married in 1891 - d. 1915 age 52
1911 CENSUS OF ABRAHAM HENTHORN FITTON AND FAMILY
Abraham (Mary Fitton's brother) lived at 25 Ralph Street, Bolton and their home had five rooms including the kitchen.
Abraham and Hannah Fitton had thirteen children and eight surviving children.
Family of Mabel Ellen/Rebecca Britnell (later Rebecca Leach)
(mother of Tom and Irene and wife of Jim Leach)
Mabel Eleen Britnell (Rebecca) was the youngest of seven children born to Matilda Gomme and Cranley Benjamin Britnell. They were farmers. Matilda Gomme was of German descent. Their children were Lancelot Cranley Britnell, Matilda Wilson Britnell, John Shaw Britnell (Jack), Albert Edward Britnell, Eunice Louisa Britnell, and Mabel Ellen Rebecca Britnell (Rebecca).
At the time of the 1901 census, the Britnell family lived at 90 Poolstock in Wigan. Cranley (57) was born in Oxfordshire and Matilda (56) was born in Bledow, Bucks. Lancelot (age 33) was a blacksmith, John (27) was a taper in mill, Albert (17) was a farmer's son. Cranley's sister, Louisa Ellen Britnell (age 42), and nephew, Alfred John Britnell (age 24) who was a house painter lived with them.
Irene remembered: "Grandpa Britnell had land near Wigan - he was into farming in a big way. They had a milk round at Poolstock. There was a lake on the land and Irene loved this lake she had a feeling that there were fairies and angels there and she talked to them and made wishes which she was convinced would come true. This was during the first World War (she'd only be very young). Rebecca did the milk round every Saturday and Irene and Tom were taken out in the milk van, they were given a meat pie for their lunch and a glass of milk ladled from the churn in the van."
Matilda Gomme
b. 1854/55
Bledow, Bucks
d. ?
b. 1853/54
Oxfordshire
d. ?SIX CHILDREN OF MATILDA GOMME & CRANLEY BENJAMIN BRITNELL
i) Lancelot Cranley Britnell - b. 1868 Bledow, Bucks - Blacksmith
ii) Matilda Wilson Britnell - b. 1872 Long Crendon, Bucks
iii) John Shaw Britnell (Jack) - b. 1873 Long Crendon, Bucks - married 1902/3 Hannah Ellen Britnell -
children: Matilda Elizabeth, Catherine Edith, Hannah Ellen Bertha
iv) Eunice Louisa Britnell - b. 1881/2
children: son killed in war
v) Albert Edward Britnell - b. 1884
vi) Mabel Ellen Britnell (Rebecca) - b. 1887 d. 1943
According to the 1911 census, John Shaw Britnell (age 37) was a cotton operative overlooker and had been married for eight years to Hannah Ellen (age 37). They had three daughters at the time - Matilda Elizabeth (age 13), Catherine Edith (age 7), and Hannah Ellen Bertha (age 4). Elizabeth was working as a cotton weaver. Hannah was born in All Green Upholland, Lancashire.
