First Generation

1. James HEPPLESTONE was born about 1780 in Kidfield Nook, Hoylandswaine, Yorkshire. The family name was written in census information and on birth certificates with several variations including Heppenstall, Hepplestone, Hepenstall, Heppleston. Many people could neither read nor write. The census enumerators delivered a schedule to each household and the head of each family had to fill it in - if he could write. If not the enumerator would do it for him and so different variants of the name were recorded for the same individual at different times. Indeed when some of the family moved to Lancashire the name was spelled Edwardson and Hepplerton!! For clarity all the surnames for our DIRECT LINE are now recorded as Hepplestone but notes are made in the text of the recorded spelling. He was christened on 14 Aug 1780 in All Saints' Church, Silkstone, Yorkshire. "James Heppenstall, son of Ann, born Kidfield Nook." Between 1800 and 1849 he was a Master Nailmaker. He was a nailmaker in a village that was the centre of a flourishing nailmaking craft. Although it is difficult to establish exactly when nail-making began in Hoylandswaine it was certainly a well-established feature of iron working in the area as early as the middle of the 17th Century. There is documentary evidence of iron rods being transported to the village from Wortley Forge in the early 1700’s. Sometimes combined with small scale agricultural or livestock keeping activities, nail-making developed into an important if lowly rewarded occupation. In 1806 the Militia list for the village indicated that almost a quarter of those between 18 and 40 on the list gave their occupation as nail-makers.
There can be no doubt that a large number of people who would have been landless poor in other areas were able to keep above the poverty line by working long hours crouched over their anvils in the smithies, hammering metal into the shape of a nail or, further south near Sheffield, the shape of a knife. In the eighteenth century, however, many nailers and cutlers were more prosperous than the small farmers and could occasionally rank with yeoman. Indeed the yeomen thought it no disgrace to apprentice their younger sons as cutlers or nailers for seven years. Nailmakers were typical craftsmen of the domestic system and from a young age children helped to fetch and carry or to work the bellows. It was no surprise that James' four boys became nailmakers like their enterprising father who, many years before, had risen to the status of a Master Nailmaker. Every Saturday the nailmaker fetched bundles of iron rods from his nailmaster. To avoid a fine, by the end of the week the nailer had to have made 45lbs of nails from each bundle of rods weighing 56lbs. In 1832 voting rights had been given to the property owning middle classes and James was recorded in the Barnsley Poll Book of 1835 and was one of the only five men in the village with sufficient money and status to have a vote. But times were changing fast. Young nailmakers set up on their own after a couple of years training as there was plenty of opportunity to flourish on their own and little capital was needed to set up. The master nailmakers were concerned with the flooding of the market for this was “very inconvenient and unprofitable to us”. If that was not bad enough, larger syndicates took over the supply of iron and controlled the price at which the nails were bought back. Wages slumped and to survive men, women and children had to toil for twelve hours a day in small workshops. In summer the heat was unbearable. Forge-work was unhealthy and exhausting and offered poor returns to those making the nails in backyards and fat profits for the Spencer Syndicate which mined, smelted and slit the iron at the Wortley Forge and supervised the distribution of rods and the collection of the completed nails. The French expression “travailler pour des clous” (to work for nails) gives an idea of the reward as it means “to work for next to nothing”. Newspapers reported the general economic depression. There were riots in Stockport and Manchester at the wage cuts. The Chartist movement, which aimed to gain political rights and influence for the working classes, began to emerge in 1836 and support for it peaked as unemployment and hunger spread in the large towns. By 1839 James, his four sons and his fifteen grandchildren lived in the village and earned a living from nailmaking. He lived in Fell Lane, Hoylandswaine, Yorkshire in 1841. James lived alone. He was registered as a voter between 1841 and 1848 in Fell Lane, Hoylandswaine, Yorkshire. In the Barnsley Polling District in the Hoylandswaine area he was allocated a vote.
He signed a will on 7 Apr 1849 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. "In the name of God, Amen. I James Hepponstall of Huddersfield in the County of York, Yeoman, being in good health and of sound mind memory & understanding, but considering the uncertainty of this transitory life, do make publish & declare this my last Will & Testament this seventh day of April in the Year of our Lord, one thousand & eight hundred & forty-nine, in manner following, that is to say
And as to the Personality of which I may die possessed, I give & bequeath the same to my beloved Son George Hepponstall of Huddersfield in the said County of York, Nailmaker, with whom I have resided for several years, subject nevertheless to the payment of my just debts & funeral & testamentary expenses, which debts & expenses I order & direct my Executor hereinafter named to pay & satisfy with all convenient speed after my decease
And as to my Freehold Estate situate at or near Fell Lane in Hoylandswaine in the County of York aforesaid consisting of a piece or parcel of Ground containing about one and a half Acres or thereabouts, be the same more or less, upon which are erected two Dwellinghouses, a Nailmakers Shop & mistal, I give & devise the same & every part thereof unto my said Son George Hepponstall of Huddersfield aforesaid, Nailmaker, & to his Heirs & Assigns for ever.
And hereby revoking all former & other Will & Wills by me at any time heretofore made, I hereby nominate constitute & appoint my said Son George Hepponstall as the sole Executor of this my last Will & Testament.
In Witness whereof I have to this my last Will & Testament written on one sheet of Paper set & made my mark & attached my Seal the day & year first above written.
James Hepponstall his X mark
Wits: Ezra Priestley, John Hellowell, Benjn Tomson " He died of natural decay on 29 Oct 1849 in Manchester Street, Huddersfield, Yorkshire. James died at son George's house. George registered the death. He had his estate probated on 29 Nov 1849 in York, Yorkshire.

James HEPPLESTONE and Hannah HATTERSLEY were married on 3 Dec 1798 in All Saints' Church, Silkstone, Yorkshire. "James Hepplestone married Hannah Hattersley." Hannah HATTERSLEY was born about 1781 in Hoylandswaine, Yorkshire. Hannah was the daughter of Isaac Hattersley (b1759 Dodworth) and Susannah Nettleton (b 1760). They married on 22 September 1781 in Silkstone and had at least five children;- Hannah (1781), John (c1784), Benjamin and Joseph (both c 1785) and Ruth (c 1789). She was christened on 22 Sep 1782 in All Saints' Church, Silkstone, Yorkshire. She died about 1817 in Hoylandswaine, Yorkshire. She was buried on 4 Aug 1817 in All Saints' Church, Silkstone, Yorkshire. James HEPPLESTONE and Hannah HATTERSLEY had the following children:

+2	i.	George HEPPLESTONE.
+3	ii.	Joseph HEPPLESTONE.
4	iii.	Jane HEPPLESTONE was born about 1808 in Kine Moor, Silkstone, Yorkshire. She was buried on 19 Mar 1809 in Silkstone, Yorkshire. She died about 1809 in Kine Moor, Silkstone, Yorkshire. "Daughter of James and Hannah Heppleston, nailer of Gutterbottom"
+5	iv.	Jonathan HEPPLESTONE.
+6	v.	James HEPPLESTONE.
7	vi.	Hannah HEPPLESTONE was born on 17 Apr 1816 in Hoylandswaine, Yorkshire. She was christened on 28 Jul 1816 in All Saints' Church, Silkstone, Yorkshire. "Hannah, daughter of James Heppenstall (nailer) and Hannah Hattersley."