Halifax Piggin Antecedents

Milless PIGGEN the fourth, silk weaver * 1793/03/10 Norwich Saint Martin at Oak, NFK % Martha Warner, 1811/09/12 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK Living with their daughter Matilda only at 1851 census, White Horse Yard, Barrack Street, Norwich St James.	Mary * 1812/02/18 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggon")
	Millis * 1815/02/12 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggon") presumably died as the name was re-used below
	Jos. Warner * 1817/10/23 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggon")
	Martha * 1821/05/27 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggon") % William Webster 1843c Blofield * ? (both living in 1851 at White Horse Yard, Barrack Street, Norwich, reference HO/107/1813/330)
	Mary Ann Warner * 1824/05/09 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggen") Mary Ann had a child before she married. The father of the child was William Webster, her brother-in-law, a foundryman and apparently a neighbour. % Samuel Gotts 1848/04/21 (her father described as Milles Piggin, weaver) + year unknown	I. Joseph PIGGIN, shoemaker * 1845d/09/21, Pockthorpe (September 21st, 1844 according to family bible) % (1) Elizabeth Winter (1845-1897) in 1867, Norwich one ch + inf: Alice Elizabeth 1869-1870 Bradford % (2) Elizabeth Jeffrey ( -1920) (a widow with previous children of her own) 1875: living at 7 Wadsworth Street 1881 census: still living at 7 Wadsworth Street (This was off Wakefield Road, Bradford. Les was able to find the exact site of this street, now under a factory. In Bowling census district.) 1891 census: living at 3 Harker Street 1901 census: living at 157 Paley Road, West Bowling + 1925a/03/17, Bradford "aged 79" description: a shoemaker living at 149 New Hey Road buried Bowling Cemetery 1925/03/19	A. Joseph Henry * 1868/02/27 Norwich + 1939/02/18 Bradford
			B. Alice Elizabeth * 1871b/05/20, Bradford + 1957/12/14, Hampstead
			C. Edith Minnie * 1873c/07/17, Bradford % Arthur Jones 1902, Bradford + 1951
			D. Walter John * 1875b/05/25, Bowling district (family bible says May 29) % Lucy Walters ( -1936) 1906, they lived at Halifax % Nellie Maud Lumb ( -1976), 1937 + 1949a/03/12, Halifax
			E. Evelyn "Molly" * 1879d/09/20, Bradford: "Eveline" % Willie Theakston, 1932 at Bradford + 1960d, Bradford
			F. Redgair * 1883b, Bradford + 1897c/09/21, Bradford. Last address: home of his parents, 3 Square Street, close to Harker St and Wadsworth St.
			G. Wilfred * 1885d/10/01, Bradford % Lucy Hartley (1882-1957) + 20 April 1956, Pasture Lane, Lidget Green, Bradford.
	Millis the fifth, whitesmith * 1826/11/19 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Millis PIGGIN") % Sarah Ann Dawson 1846a, Norwich (Bride's surname Dawson, father's surname Houghton) 1851 census: Barrack Street, St James, Norwich ("Piggen") + ?	I. Martha * c1845
		II. Millis the sixth, of St. James Pockthorpe, Norwich * 1849a at Norwich % Ann Christmas Green (c1851-1927), 1870, Norwich St Martin at Oak, NFK (IGI) brewer's labourer living at Norwich St Saviour in 1881, iron foundry labourer in 1901 (mistakenly indexed as Charles 1881, Willis 1901) living at 35 Willis St, St Pauls, when son enlisted (see CWGC database) + 1925c at Norwich	A. Martha Ann M. * 1870d Norwich % --- ---- 1903d Norwich
			B. William Joseph, printer * 1872a Norwich % Elle Louisa Olley 1897d Norwich + 1951
			C. Millis the seventh, bootmaker * 1874b, Norwich + 1902b, Norwich
			D. Sarah Ann, boot machinist * c1877c Norwich % --- 1906d, Norwich
			E. Alice Jane, boot machinist * 1879d Norwich % --- 1904c, Norwich
			F. Rosetta, boot fitter in 1901
			G. Henry, errand lad in 1901
			H. Herbert Arthur * 1892 + 1917 in Flanders while serving with Royal Irish Rifles
			J. John
		III. Sarah * c. 1856 Norwich
		IV. Mary, rush braider * 1858/04/10 Norwich (see IGI) ( "Piggons")
		V. Joseph, shoemaker * 1870 Norwich % Clara Warren Freestone, 1898, Norwich	Ernest J 1899-... Reginald 1901-...
	Matilda * 1829/02/01 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK % Downing Cattermer 1855/05/29 at St James Pockthorpe Living next to parents in White Horse Yard in 1861 Widowed by 1871 and living Bakers Yard, Barrack St
	William Joseph Warner * 1832/01/01 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggen") Possibly the father of (right):	I. William Warner, a cousin of Millis * 1851b, Norwich % Louisa Matilda Parry, 1882 Greenwich + 1938b, "aged 88", Norwich	A. John William * 1885d, Norwich + 1904c, Norwich
			B. Harry (Henry Charles?) * 1889a, Norwich
			C. Mary Matilda L. * 1891c, Norwich + 1911d, Norwich
			D. William Warner * 10 December 1894 Norwich % --- Todd, 1918c, Norwich + 1974
	Joseph William Warner * 1835/02/15 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK ("Piggen") * 1839a Norwich? Otherwise may have been father of 1854 child: Joseph, ~ 2 July 1854, St Augustine, Norwich, parents: Joseph and Ann
	Sam PIGGEN * 1835/02/15 Norwich Saint James Pockthorpe, NFK (possibly the 44-year-old in London in 1881 census)

Additional notes

The families of White Horse Yard seem to have stayed put over a period of many years, intermarrying, all equally poor, and unlikely to move any further than a yard or two along Barrack Street.

Mary Ann Piggin, daughter of Millis Piggin, married Samuel Gotts at Thorpe Episcopi Church in Blofield district, near Norwich, in 1848b (vol xiii, page 50).
A Samuel and Mary Ann Gotts were living at Gransby Row, also off Barrack Street in Norwich, at the time of the 1851 census, close to the Websters above.
This Mary Ann Gotts was 27, so she would have been born in 1824 or 1825. A Mary Ann Piggin was born in 1824 to Millis and Martha Warner Piggin, who were living in 1851 at White Horse Yard, Barrack Street, and were thus neighbours of the Websters.
William and Martha Webster were the witnesses at the 1855 marriage of Matilda Piggin to shoemaker Cattermer.
By the 1871 census, Matilda was a widow at 42 and working as a charwoman: she had four children to support: Isaac, 13, Downing, 9, Charlotte, 8, and Reuben, 3.
The Gotts had a 5-year-old son named Joseph living with them in 1851. While there were an estimated 600 five-year-olds named Joseph in Norfolk in 1851, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that this is in fact Joseph Piggin, perhaps given the wrong surname in the haste of the census-taking. Not only was the boy living a stone's throw from White Horse Yard: it would also be reasonable to suppose his mother and a stepfather would be caring for him.
An Eliza Gotts was a witness at Joseph Piggin's wedding in 1867. Eliza, born 1849a, would have been 18.

A mystery: Who was Thomas "Piggins" born at Halifax, 1874b?
and who was Jessie Piggin, born 1908b, Sheffield: any relation?

This page is largely based on family research conducted by Les Piggin and Edith Leach. Both were kind enough to share their findings.

You are a rare visitor to this site. Please say hello before you leave: Contact Page

* ... born
~ ... baptized
% ... married
+ ... died/buried
a/b/c/d ... 1st/2nd/3rd/4th quarter of year