| Notes |
- Earlier generations need more documentation and are listed for reference from this Thomas back.
Thomas owned the Red Bull in, now called the Pledwick Inn, and his son Thomas took on the ownership after his father's death on May 13, 1778.
-- MERGED NOTE ------------
1781. This English Archivist Dave Bradley also made mention that he knew that the only Inn in Pledwick at that time was called the "Bull" and it still exists today but, is now called the "Pledwick Well Inn." Dave was unable, at this point, however, to establish a tie of the Stafford name to the Inn. Dave did check the Land Registry at Wakefield but , had no luck with a connection.
March 19,1996
We are not sure at this point if this Thomas was born on Feb. 08, 1727/ 28 as noted but, there is a record in the same Parish for a Thomas being born to a Thomas on that date....best guess is, it is another generation back for the Stafford lineage. The earlier records did not list the parents name or the occupation as the later records did so it is difficult to know for sure whom was born to who.
March 06, 1999 --- a summary of the above thoughts again
This Thomas is a definite descendent of our Stafford line and I have proven it in the Sandal Magna records. Although I was unable to definitely prove his birth record in the Sandal church records, I was able to find the record of his marriage to Mary Conway in the year 1749. There is a record of a Thomas Stafford being born in 1727/28 (the year the calendar changed and the new year in the old calendar began in a different month (I believe it was midway through March) and this is likely his record but, since there were 2 Thomas Staffords in the area at that time , I can only make an educated guess by his marriage date, that this 1727/28 baptismal record is his. I was also able to tie him to our line o f Staffords by connecting him to his son Thomas being born in 1757. Thomas the son was born in 1757, after a stillborn in the year 1750. This Thomas has been a wall for me for nearly two years now, not being able to prove anything beyond his marriage. There was a Thomas born in the Sandal records in 1727/1728.....two dates because of the calendar change in England that year.....and that would probably fit the time frame for a Thomas that married in 1749 but, there is also another Stafford line in the Sandal records at that same time, also with a Thomas (not re lated that I know of at this time) that is about the same age as our Thomas. The further back one goes into any parish records, the less information is available about an individual entry to tie it definitely to a given person. It is my strong belief that the two lines are probably connected in the late 1600's by some Stafford patriarch but, I have been unable to show that at this time. The next Thomas Stafford found was born in 1687 in the Sandal records so, I don't know for sure if that is my line or the other Thomas Stafford line. (see notes on next Thomas Stafford listed in family tree with birth date of 1687).
This Thomas must have done fairly well for himself because he eventually ran an Inn in the Pledwick area. The papers have shown that it was transfered to Mary's name after Thomas died in May of 1778. A few years later, the Inn was again turned over to Thomas the oldest of his children. I do not know at this point, how long Thomas the son ran the Inn but, I do know that the building still stands today as a Pub in the
Pledwick area.
August 25, 2000
I returned in early August from a trip to England with my daughter Ashley. While there we not only found the Pledwick Well Inn but, we also ate there. I spent quite a bit of time talking to the current owner Paul Thornton. He was thrilled at the information I had with the Inn, not having known how long it might have been there. I got a good chance to take pictures and walk around and look closely throughout the Inn, which is now just a Pub. The reason it is named the Pledwick Well Inn is, it is in the Pledwick section of the Wakefield area and it has an old Well right next to the parking lot as you drive in. The Pub is set up with two bars, one for the locals to sit and converse (and they were) and the other services the restaraunt portion of the Pub. Most English Pubs have collections of various items hanging and on display throughout the establishment. In the Pledwick Well, they have various pictures, many cheese dishes and many many horse bridel brass decorative plates. These are different shapes and depict different animals or shapes etc. There were hundreds of them hanging all through both sections of the building. After discussing and reviewing at length the Stafford genealogy that I brought with me there, Paul walked over to the table where Ashley and I chose to sit and handed me one of the brass plates and told me it was a present for me. The plate has the words Yorkshire around the outside edge and it has the Yorkshire Rose in the middle. It now sits in a special place in my home. More about the Inn in the section about the Sandal Magna area.
March 1, 2003
I am just adding this as a point of interest although I have known about the Pledwick Well Inn Internet site for some time now. Here is the description as of this date that resides on the site.
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Situated on the northern most fringe of Newmillerdam, on the A61, the Pledwick Well offers an extensive range of food, whether it be bar snacks or a restaurant meal.
Food is served Tuesday to Saturday 12:00 - 2:00 and 7:00 to 10:00, and at Sunday lunchtimes between 12:00 and 3:00.
In the restaurant, examples of starters are oak smoked trout fillet (£4 .25) and smoked salmon pot (£4.75). For the main course, you can choose from Italian chicken (£8.95), Rich Scallops & plump prawns (£9.95) and Plump Barbary duck breast (£10.25) amongst many others. The two-course Sunday lunch is priced at £7.95.
For the intellectual amongst us, there is a quiz on Wednesday night, starting at 10pm (my bed time).
All prices correct as at September 1999.
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March 1, 2003 KEY INFORMATION MOVING BACK IN TIME FROM THIS THOMAS
It should be noted here that due to the type of records kept back to the middle 1700's, we know for sure that Thomas is a direct descendant of our Stafford line. As we go further back in the records and therefore in time, the records are not as revealing and it is very difficult to determine for sure, who is related to whom. The earliest records do not include the mother's name nor do they include the father's occupation. So, any family connections from this point back can only be based on logic and reasonable assumptions using the records information available. I will list in the notes section of each individual from this point moving back in time, what the logic is for the person being listed as being in our direct family line.
It should also be pointed out at this time that not all of the children in a family were listed in the christening records. So, we continue to find marriage records of individuals at a much later date and the record indicates the father to be Thomas, an Inn keeper. This shows that this individual was never registered in the christening records of the church and yet the person obviously did exist. Once again, the further back in time that you study the records of the parish, the fewer christenings that were listed.
March 1. 2003
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII tried to correct the deficiencies in the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is still in use today. England didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. Adoption of the New Style calendar meant that eleven days were lost. For example, George Washington was born on February 11 under the Julian calendar and on February 22 under the Gregorian calendar.
April 11, 2003
One thing that continues to bother me about Thomas and Mary is that they were married in 1749 had a stillborn in 1750 and then the next record of a birth that I have been able to find is Thomas, 1757. There were 6-7 years between the first stillborn and the birth of Thomas in 1757. It seems to me that there must have been other children between those dates . It could be that they were girls and they did not register them at the church or it could be that they did not believe in registering until Thomas was born....or it could be some other reason. I think that if I look at the next generation of Staffords from the area and perhaps check their marriage records, I may find that Thomas and Mary had other children that were not recorded. Also, with the known records at this point, Thomas and Mary had only 4 children according to all the records that I was able to find.....with the number of children normally born to a couple in those days, I question this also. This too could be checked with marriage records of all next generation marriage records from the Sandal Parish area.
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1728 - 1778 (50 years)
