John, my first cousin four times removed, was baptised on 5 July 1817 in Brayton, Yorkshire. His parents were Thomas Palframan (1786-1858) a farmer, and Mary Ann Brabs (1792-1852). John married Sarah Otley, by licence, on 22 September 1846 in Brayton parish church. He was a bachelor and farmer from Henwick Hall in nearby Burn and Sarah (1818-1872) a spinster from Brayton. Together they had nine children, six daughters and three sons, although one son died in infancy. (The following map is OS Yorkshire sheet 236 published in 1853 and shows the location of Henwick Hall.)

By the 1851 census the family had moved to Old Ouse, Wistow where John was a farmer of 76 acres. By 1861 he was farming 80 acres and employed one man and two boys and in 1871 he was farming 86 acres with two farm labourers. John’s wife Sarah died on 25 November 1872 and was buried on 27 November in All Saints, Wistow churchyard. On her burial record her location in Wistow was given as Wistow Lordship. Not long after his wife’s death John made his last will and testament which was dated 20 January 1873.

John died on 11 April 1874. At the time of his death two of his daughters, Joanna (1848-1902) and Mary (1846-1916), were married and the ages of his other six children were as follows:

• Daughters Amplias 25 (1849-1878), Emily 22 (1852-1927), Annie 21 (1853-1939) and Elizabeth 19 (1855-1883).
• Sons John 17 (1856-1924) and Ot(t)ley 13 (1861-1937).

Unusually for members of my family John left a will with effects of less than £600. His married daughters, Joanna and Mary, were left £19 19s each with the specific request that the money was for them and not their husbands. Sons John and Otley were left £50 each on the basis they received the bequest when they were 21. John’s remaining goods, chattels etc were to be divided equally among his six unmarried children. His farming stock, horses, cattle, carts and carriages, hay, corn and all other produce on the farm and his tenant rights and insurances were left in trust. The trustees were his friends George Riley of Henwick Hall, farmer, Robert Hodgson of Selby, Gentleman and Henry Dixon of Wistow, shopkeeper.

John requested in his will that his tenanted farm should carry on after his death, to benefit his six unmarried children, until his youngest son Otley was 21, which would have been in 1882. There was a further request that the farm stock should be offered to John when he was 21. John senior’s executors were George Riley, Henry Dixon and Robert Hogson.

John’s will was proved at Wakefield and his executors posted a notice in the Selby Times (31 July 1874, p1) requesting that his creditors came forward with their claims on John’s estate by 1 September 1874. After that date the executors intended to distribute his assets according to his will.

It seems there may have been difficulties managing John’s affairs after his death. Notices were submitted to the Selby Times on 13, 20 and 27 October 1876 advising that John Palframan the younger was ‘no longer authorised to transact business’ on behalf of the executors (George Riley and Henry Dixon). And that they ‘are not answerable to any business debt or claim’ that anyone may have against him.

Although Otley had not reached the age of 21 by 1877, the farm and two closes of excellent land (lots 2 and 3) occupied by the trustees of John, appeared in an advert for sale by auction in the Selby Times (29 June 1877, p1). Lot 1 was a farm in Wistow occupied by Mr William Varley and lot 4 a house and premises in Sherburn St, Cawood occupied by Mr John Farrer. The properties were said to be ‘Copyhold of the manors of Wistow and Cawood where the Fine is small and certain’. At this stage it wasn’t clear who the owner of the four lots was, just that the auctioneer was Mr Acton and the auction was to be held at the Londesborough Arms Hotel in Selby on 10 July 1877 at 5pm.

Further information from the Selby Times (20 July 1877, p1) indicated that lots 1 and 2 were not sold and that lot 3 was bought by Mr T Jackson of Cawood Hagg for £350. Lot 2 consisted of 64 acres 0 roods 8 perches of land, a farm house and buildings and that the price reached £4,700 before the lot was withdrawn from sale. The lots were the residue of Mr Morritt’s estate, which had mostly been sold in the autumn of 1876. A full list of the lots sold then had appeared in the Selby Times (10 November 1876, p4). Lots 55 and 56, in the occupation of Mr Palframan, were the two lots later withdrawn from sale in 1877. The owner of the properties was R A Morritt esq of Rokeby, county Durham. The Morritt family had been landlords in the area for many years and memorials to them are in Wistow church. R A Morritt (1816-1890) had retained some interest in Wistow as he donated £25 to the Wistow new school building fund in 1877 (Selby Times 23 March 1877, p1).

A further request from John’s trustees, regarding outstanding debts for his estate, was made in the Selby Times of 15 February 1878. The intention was to distribute his assets to those parties entitled to receive them. Not long after this date, the Selby Times of 21 June 1878 reported on the results of a case at Selby County Court brought by E Shearsmith potato merchant against George Riley and Henry Dixon, trustees. He had lent a saddle to John the younger in September 1877. When he learnt that the trustees were selling the farming stock he went to them and asked them not to sell it. The saddle was sold by the auctioneer. Shearsmith was awarded 12s 6d with costs. The Justice of the Peace remarked that ‘if trustees would act in an overbearing manner, they must take the consequences’.

The next twist in this story involved John’s two sons, John and Otley. Together they left Liverpool on 12 November 1881 on the ship Gallia (see following image). On arrival in New York on 25 November 1881, they were described as farmers bound for Canada. While John made a life for himself in Ontario, Canada, Otley returned to Wistow where he married Elizabeth Lacy (1861-1938), on 30 June 1883, in Wistow parish church. Unfortunately, Otley was an unsuccessful farmer and was declared bankrupt in 1895 (York Herald 3 May 1895, p3). Otley was buried in St Peter and St Paul, Drax churchyard on 6 June 1937.

John and Otley’s eldest sister Mary, a widow, emigrated to Canada with her children Ellen (Helen), Louise and John together with Ellen’s husband Edward Bridgeman. They left Liverpool on 11 January 1894 on the ship Mongolian, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia. It seems likely that Mary’s son Otley Palframan Turner preceded them to Canada, but a passenger list record has so far not been found for him. Mary died on 7 September 1916 in Toronto, Canada and was buried in Mount Pleasant cemetery. York, Ontario. When her brother John died on 26 June 1924 he was buried in Prospect cemetery, another Toronto Trust Cemetery, in a grave owned by his wife Frances Wheeler (1858-1938).

Finally

I would like to know more about the people mentioned in this blog post. Do contact me if you have any further information which you are willing to share with me.

Notes:

The map used in this blog has been reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the following creative commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and sourced from the NLS maps site https://maps.nls.uk/.

Bibliography:

Births, marriages and deaths. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Canadian Passengers Lists, 1865-1935. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Census records. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

New York, US, Arriving Passengers & Crew Lists (including Castle Garden & Ellis Island), 1820-1957. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Ontario, Canada ,Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1947. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1735-1985. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Ontario, Canada, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1929 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

OS Map. https://maps.nls.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Selby Times. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Ship Gallia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page : accessed July 2025.

UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s to Current. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

Yorkshire baptisms, marriages and burials. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.

York Herald. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ : accessed July 2025.