JAGGER HISTORY 1841-1867

The 1841 census finds this John and Mary Jagger family in Gardeners Square, Hipperholme, neighbors of some Moses and Hannah Aaron. John Jagger was then a carter. The children then were Susannah, William, John Jr., and Martha Ann. Not yet born were my ancestor James Jagger (b. 1843, Southowram), nor a brother Thomas. Thomas has not been positively identified in records, but was reported in family history as a brother “lost at sea”. There may also have been a brother Joseph, who died young. The Hare and Hounds Pub is just across the street from Gardeners Square. Go to www.old-maps.co.uk and search for “Hipperholme”. This pub can be seen on an 1854 map; Gardeners Square is just to the left. Go to www.multimap.com and search for “Hipperholme”. Zoom in, and go a bit north up the A644. Center on Gardeners Square, and click “Aerial”. The aerial photograph shows the pub. Some of my kin who lived across the road surely utilized that pub.

There are unsolved mysteries about what eventually became of the siblings of our James Jagger. Apparently Susannah died fairly young, John Jr. was said to have managed a hotel in Blackpool, and Martha Ann reportedly married. James’ brother Will Jagger became a mechanic, and moved to Delaware and Pennsylvania; some is known about his life and descendants.

Also in the 1841 census, we see that John Jagger’s brother Joseph was living in Southowram with their parents William and Martha Wilkinson Jagger. William and Joseph were both wool combers. Nearby lived William’s and Martha’s son Robert and his wife Sarah Robertshaw Jagger. Joseph must have married Mary shortly after 1841.

Some time after the 1841 census, our John and Mary Jagger family may have moved from Gardeners Square to Southowram; his parents may have died about then. Emily Brontë had taught briefly in Southowram in 1837, and later incorporated feuds she had observed into her novel “Wuthering Heights”. Our James Jagger was born at Southowram on April 9, 1843. Also born that year in Southowram was James’ cousin Amelia Jagger, daughter of Joseph Jagger. This cousin Amelia Jagger Hallas years later turned up in Galesburg, Illinois, home then of our James Jagger.

According to family history, some time after James’ 1843 birth his mother died. His father remarried, but then died. The step-mother re-married, and sent the Jagger kids away. James and Martha Ann reportedly went to an orphanage. I haven’t been able to find specifics about the deaths and remarriages in records. It is unknown if the deaths relate at all to a typhus epidemic in 1843-1844 in parts of West Yorkshire.

In the 1851 census, we find our James Jagger, age 8, in the Halifax Union Workhouse. His brother Will, mechanic, appears to be living with some people, possibly with 2 Jagger aunts, at Bank Bottom, near the railway station. James’ brother John Jr. appears to be living at 16 Gardeners Square; he was age 14, and a collier. Cousin Hannah Hardyman was with her parents at 1 Gardeners Square. The whereabouts then of other Jagger sibs is unclear.

James Jagger was 10 in 1853, so old enough for the coal mines legally, which fits with family history. That year the Crimean War began. James’ brother Will may have migrated to Delaware about this time, and in 1855 Will married Elizabeth (Hurst?) in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. One of Will’s sons was named Squire Jagger; it is interesting that Will’s Aunt Hannah Jagger married John Squires.

By the 1861 census, our James Jagger was living at 11 Whitelea Road in Batley (a location of significance for the Jaggers for decades to come) with his Uncle Joseph and Aunt Mary Jagger. Coal mining was the employment of James, Uncle Joseph, and Cousin George. Cousins Amelia (later the wife of Jessie Hallas) and Ann worked in a factory. Other kin are to be found in that census, but James’ sibs remain elusive, except for brother Will, who had been in America for some time; the U.S. Civil War started in 1861.

Some time after 1861, James Jagger moved north to County Durham and began coal mine work there. Perhaps his brother John moved to Blackpool about then, as that city was developing as a holiday destination. No record has been found to back up the family story of John working there as a hotel manager, but Hannah Hardyman made reference in a 1920 letter to some people (known to Hannah & James) in Blackpool. By the way, Sir Mick Jagger, of West Yorkshire ancestry, reportedly had a grandfather David Jagger who died in the Blackpool area.

On October 9, 1867, James Jagger, resident at Sunnybrow coal village, married Jane Emmerson Liddell in Auckland, County Durham. James migrated to Adams County, Illinois, in 1869 (according to a later census), ahead of his wife (according to family history). He may have been associated with a coalmining Ellis family who had migrated from England to Illinois.

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