Ancestry of the Quaker I’Ansons

ANCESTRY OF THE QUAKER I’ANSONS

(Transcription of an Extract of)
MY ANCESTORS
BY NORMAN PENNEY F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION BY HEADLEY BROTHERS BISHOPSGATE, E.C., AND ASHFORD, KENT, 1920
Note: Original at The Friends Library in London
(Pages 202 219)
THE IANSON FAMILY
For knowledge respecting the early history of this family I am indebted to a gentleman who, like myself , comes from the Ianson stock, Mr. Bryan I’Anson, of London, author of The History of the I’Anson Family, 1915, wherein is much information of the various branches of the family descended from ancient times.

The martial ancestor who came over from France and fought at Bosworth in 1485 (see page 150), was John I’Anson, who is stated to have been captain of a man of war in the reign of Henry VIII., to have settled down at Hawkswell, in Richmondshire, and to have died at Ulverston, Co. Lancaster, in 1546.

John I’Anson had two sons, Christopher and James, from both of whom are many descendants known.  Leaving my direct line for the moment I state briefly the line of descent from James, who was born in 1505.  He married Anne (Agnes), daughter of William Carlyll, and removed to London.   He had a son, Bryan (1560 1634), who lived at Ashby St. Ledgers, in Northants.  The followed Bryan, afterwards Sir Bryan (1590 1657/8), and from him, through his eldest son, came the Rev. Sir Thomas Bankes I’Anson (1724 1799), rector of Corfe Castle, Dorset.  From William, another son of Sir Bryan, first baronet, descend the Iansons of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Reverting now to my direct ancestry, I find that Christopher, elder son of John the warrior, married Isabel Moore, daughter of Robert Moore.  His Will was proved in 1577, and he was buried in Hawkswell churchyard.  His eldest son Ralph (c.1545 1623), by his wife Anne (d. 1613), had a second son, James (d. 1625).  His wife, and widow for thirty two years, Janet (Edin) was buried in 1657.  They had a son, Leonard (1599 c.1663), and another, William, baptised at Hawkswell, 23 November, 1604.  From Leonard come the I’Ansons of Saltburn, Yorkshire, among them the author of the I’Anson history.

All the Ianson pedigrees known to me prior to the above printed history begin from William Ianson, of Leyburn, Yorks., who married Margaret Dent, and state that any connection with John, temp. Henry VIII., is “merely conjectural.”  Mr. Bryan I’Anson takes the following entry in the Hawkswell Register to refer to this same William :

1604, 23rd Nov., Wm. Hianson the sonne of James Hianson, baptized.

He thus forges the link, previously “conjectural”, with the descendants of John I’Anson, the immigrant warrior.

All the above information prior to the marriage of William Ianson and Margaret Dent is given here on the authority of The I’Anson Family.

All pedigrees agree that William Ianson married Margaret Dent at Wensley, 6 May 1634, and so states the Wensley Register.

“On the death of his father, James I’Anson in 1625, Leonard I’Anson, the older brother, apparently took over the farm at Hawkswell, and William moved to Leyburn,” the adjoining parish (History).  William died at the early age of fifty five  and was buried at Wensley, 30 June 1659, Margaret surviving him thirty years.

Of the four children of William and Margaret Ianson, one only is known to have had descendants   the eldest son, James, baptised at Wensley, 27 September 1638.  He was the first of the line to become a Quaker, his adherence to that despised and persecuted people taking place prior to his marriage with Jane Horner, 19 xii. 1664.  Sufferings consequent upon his zeal in promoting the cause he had espoused are recorded under the section The Horner Family.  He was a preacher in the Quaker meetings.  Jane Ianson died 1699/1700.  Her husband was still living early in 1702.

John Ianson, born 30 i. 1666, was the eldest child of James and Jane.  He married, at Carlton in Coverdale, 23 xii. 1697/8, Anne Hudson, of Helme in Kildwick.  He was a linen weaver.

John Ianson had a sister, Mary, who married John, son of Arthur Thistlethwaite, of Carperby, and then Henry Pratt, of Redmire, both Wensleydale farmers.

John and Anne (Hudson) Ianson had six children, all sons.  Four sons married   James (b. 1701), the third son, married Deborah Harker and had three children;  Isaac (b. 1710), the sixth married Rebecca Parker and had children. The two remaining must receive more attention.  Joseph, the fifth, born 1704, left Yorkshire for London, where in 1752, he married Sarah, daughter of Edward Halsey, of London.  Husband and wife were buried in the Friends’ Burial Ground, Bunhill Fields, in 1766 and 1762 respectively.  From their one child, Edward, through his marriage with Mary, daughter of Thomas Horne, of Southwark (see The Horne Family), in 1777, came numerous stock, known as Halsey Jansons, the surname Ianson being changed to Janson when the southern migration took place.

Joshua Ianson, eldest surviving son of John and Anne, was born 9 v. 1700.  His marriage with Beatrice Hedley at Masham, 22 xii. 1729/30, brought in the noted family of Hedley, of ancient Northumbrian origin.  Joshua and Beatrice removed from Wensleydale, long the home of the I’Ansons, and settled at Blackwell, near Darlington, about 1749.  He was engaged in the linen weaving business, for which Darlington had become famous.  The parents of Beatrice had also removed to Darlington a few years before.  Beatrice Ianson died 29 xii. 1770, and was buried in the Friends’ Burial Ground, Darlington.  Her husband died 25 iii. 1786.

Ten children were born to Joshua and Beatrice Ianson.  The migration southward noted in the previous generation increased in this.  Daughters of the family became Emson of Poplar, Waddington of London, and Knight of Essex.  The eldest daughter, Ann, married William Kitching, of Darlington.  Joshua. the eldest surviving son, married Hannah Moses, of Cockfield, Co. Durham;  from one of his four children descend the Jansons of Tottenham and Reigate.  This child, William, was not a Friend by birth, his mother being a non member, but he joined Friends shortly before he went south in 1792.  He was of Lloyd’s shipping firm.  He married Mary Hill, of London, and resided at Bruce Grove, Tottenham.  His granddaughter, Elizabeth, married James Hack Tuke, the banker and philanthropist of York and Hitchen, and another granddaughter, Sarah Jane, married Cornelius Hanbury, Junior., of Stoke Newington.

James, the next son of Joshua and Beatrice Ianson, trod a troublesome course in connection with the Society of Friends, and came into a wide notoriety in connection with his appeals to the Yearly Meeting, the final court of judgement in matters of dispute.  The following précis of the case is taken from Leeds (after residing there many years and having been married to a personal a Friend), to London, and desired a certificate from Stockton Meeting but it was refused him on the ground that he had forfeited his privilege of membership and so could not be recommended to London.  He appealed to the Quarterly Meeting, but before his appeal was heard his M.M. disowned him, in Twelfth Month, 1777, but did not sign the “denial” till the next meeting.  The appeal was decided against appellant.  Several Friends were appointed to visit J.I. in London, but they reported him not sufficiently repentant.  The appeal was carried on to the Yearly Meeting, which decided that the M.M. acted rightly but too hastily in disownment, and ordered the minutes of the M.M. and Q.M. in this case to be expunged and the condition of the appellant to be regarded as before any action was taken.

“A paper of denial” against J. Ianson was signed by Stockton M.M., 8 ix. 1778.  He again appealed to the Q.M., which upheld the M.M., and the matter came again before the Y.M. (1779).  The Y.M. once more decided that the M.M. was to blame   this time for not consulting the M.M. into which he had moved and hence the “denial” was set aside and the M.M. in which the offence was committed (viz., of marriage at Leeds contrary to Quaker order), and that in which he lived in London, were recommended to deal with the him, but the latter refused on the strength of the Y.M. decision.  James Ianson was reinstated in 1781 by Devonshire House M.M., and in consideration of his reform and of his having married a Friend, Stockton M.M., on his return to Darlington, accepted his certificate and that of his wife, Miriam.

In 1799, other trouble arose; after his wife Miriam’s death in 1797, he became entangled in another matrimonial offence and was disowned by Friends, 19 viii 1800.

James Ianson’s first wife was Judith Wade; his second was Miriam, widow of Robert Bell, of London, and daughter of Henry and Hannah Umfreville, of London; and his third wife was Jane Brockhill, of Richmond.  Three children of James   Sarah, William and Beatrice   were received into membership by Stockton M.M. in 1791, as “offspring of marriage contrary to rules”, but a few years later all three were disowned for “marrying out”!

John Ianson, fifth son of Joshua and Beatrice Ianson, left his home in the north in 1768, “in the station of a servant” (perhaps, assistant), for London.  In 1770, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Umphreville, and, later, Mary Clayton.  From his only surviving son, James (1777 1827), come the Umphreville Iansons.

The sixth son of Joshua and Beatrice Ianson was William, born at Blackwell, near Darlington, 16 x. 1751.  He was a linen manufacturer, of Darlington, and an active in the interests of the Society of Friends, and was an Elder for some years.  He married Mary Kitching, in the Friends’ Meeting House, Darlington, 15 x. 1778.  Henry Howson and Jonathan Hedley were appointed by Stockton M.M. to see to the orderly holding of the meeting on the occasion.  William Ianson’s death, 31 x. 1822, is said to have been accelerated by a fall down some steps.

William and Mary (Kitching) Ianson had six children, of whom a son and daughter died in infancy.  The eldest son, John, followed his father’s occupation.  It is said that he was the first private person in Darlington to drive a pair of horses and that he named one “Huckaback” and the other “Diaper.”

The two remaining sons, James and Joshua, married sisters, daughters of John Dixon, of Cockfield.  James married Sarah Dixon in 1808, and they had two children, a son and a daughter.  James Ianson was in the same line of business as his father and elder brother.  My great uncle left a written communication addressed to his children giving some particulars of his early life and religious experience, most of which narration has been transferred to the pages of Piety Promoted.  He wrote:

As I grew up an inclination for drawing and reading drew me from my more childish amusements.  Entomology was, I think, my first pursuit, but botany and ornithology held me longest engaged.  The excess of ardour with which I at times pursued these studies almost precluded the possibility of attending seriously to anything else, and the most important of all pursuits, that which affects all our eternal well being, was, alas ! often entirely neglected.

Of him the editor of Piety Promoted wrote:

“He was a man of unassuming, retiring character, amiable in his private life, and of unspotted integrity . . . .  He was not of a strong constitution, and for several years suffered much from poor health.”
With his friend and relative by marriage, William Backhouse, he prepared a little volume of quotations from the writings of Archbishop Fénelon, Lady Guion and de Molinos, which was titled A Guide to True Peace, or, a Method of Attaining to Inward and Spiritual Prayer, first printed at Stockton in 1813.  It contains seventeen short chapters under headings such as On Faith, On Prayer, On Spiritual Dryness, On Defects and Infirmities, On Mortification, On Conversion, On Virtue.  The little book met with ready acceptance and passed through twelve editions between 1813 and 1878, printed at Stockton, York, London, Manchester, Frome, Hobart in Tasmania, and at Stavangar in Danish.  James Ianson died at Croft at the early age of thirty seven.  He was, apparently, not a Minister, but for some years an Elder.  His widow survived him for a quarter of a century.James and Sarah Ianson’s son, Charles was a well known and greatly respected inhabitant of Darlington, of which town he was mayor in 1871.  He was an Elder among Friends.  In 1834, “cousin Charles” married Gulielma Coventry, of London.  They had six children; the one best known to me was the youngest son, James, who was interested in family history.  He was a J.P. for Darlington, Governor of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Director of the local Technical College, and partner in the firm of Charles Ianson& Co., of the Whessoe Iron Foundry.  He lived with his unmarried sister, Sarah Jane, who survives him.  Most of the descendants of Charles and Gulielma Ianson left the Society of Friends.
Mary, the sole surviving daughter of William and Mary Ianson, married William Cudworth, grocer and druggist, of Darlington, whose widow she remained for over fifty years, and whose business she carried on for many years.

William Cudworth was the eldest son of Abraham and Mary (Fitton) Cudworth, of Painthorpe, near Wakefield, and was born prior to the time when his parents became Friends.  See Some Account of the Family of Cudworth, compiled by Joseph J. Green, 1898.

We now come to the youngest child of William and Mary Ianson   my grandfather, Joshua Ianson.  He was born at Darlington, and was apprenticed to a farmer, William Stickney, of Holderness, within Hull Monthly Meeting.  Prior to his marriage, 27 vii. 1810, with Ann Dixon, he returned to the land of his nativity and established himself as a farmer at Low Walworth, near Darlington, within Stockton Monthly Meeting.  The following is copied from the official Quaker records of liberation for marriage.  The Edward Pease mentioned was the “father of railways” and supporter of George Stephenson.  Edward Robson was a descendant of the Hedley clan.

Joshua Ianson, son of William and Mary Ianson, of Darlington, has laid before us his intentions of marriage with Ann Dixon, daughter of John and Elizabeth Dixon, of Cockfield, and having produced a few lines from the young woman and her parents signifying their consent, and his father, being present [his mother had died a few months previously], informs us that it has his consent, we appoint Edward Pease and Edward Robson to publish the same in Darlington Meeting on the first day, and also to enquire into his clearness, and report to our next.  The clerk is desired to give him a few lines certifying his orderly proceeding with us [for him to present to the Monthly Meeting to which his intended belonged].
Stockton M.M., 15 vi. 1810

Edward Pease reports that enquiry has been made respecting the clearness of Joshua Ianson from other marriage engagements, and the needful publication having been made in Darlington Meeting and nothing appearing to obstruct the accomplishment of his intended marriage, this Meeting directs the clerk to give him a certificate of his clearness, addressed to Staindrop M.M.
Stockton M.M., 19 vi. 1810.

The various moves and removes of my grandparents can be traced in the birthplaces of their children, provided, of course that they were all born “at home.”  The first two were born at Low Walworth and the next two at Lynesack, near Cockfield, in the Dixon country, within Staindrop Monthly Meeting, into which the parents removed in August, 1813.  The fifth child was born at Black Boy.

In 1824, the family moved northward into Newcastle Monthly Meeting, and settled at Sunderland, where the sixth child was born   my mother.  In May 1838, the last change of residence took place   to Bishop Auckland.

I do not know exactly when Joshua Ianson exchanged a farm for a colliery; it was probably when or soon after he left the neighbourhood of Darlington.  His interest in coal mining was, I believe, disposed of to the Peases, who worked the pits with greater success than did my grandfather.

Joshua Ianson was a member of the first committee in charge of the Friends’ Boarding School, at Great Ayton, in Cleveland, and he attended the first General Meeting in 1842 as a representative from Darlington Monthly Meeting.  At the Jubilee of the institution in 1891, his daughter, Ann, was one of the four survivors of the first list of subscribers (History of Great Ayton School, 1891, pp. 41, 86).

Joshua Ianson died comparatively young, 6 xi. 1842; his widow, who was born a few days before her husband, lived on till 27 ii. 1856, with her two married daughters, Sarah and Ann.

The eldest child of Joshua and Ann (Dixon) Ianson, Mary, died at Ackworth School in her fourteenth year.  The second child, Elizabeth, lived to be eighty four.  She married John Dodshon , in 1838, and had a large family, born at Stockton on Tees, one only now living   Mary Ann, the second daughter.  William, the third son, was for a long time a prominent figure in the civic and religious life of Stockton.  Under him the wholesale grocery business developed considerably.  He was a bachelor and had the misfortune to lose his right arm in middle life.  John Dodshon, Junior., was the eldest and his two unmarried sons are the only representatives of the family in the next generation.  Of John, Junior., we read in The Annual Monitor for 1873:

It was his let to mix much with men greatly absorbed in business, and he was exceedingly jealous of being himself led away by an undue devotion to secular engagements . . .  He often spoke of his enjoyment of the little, quiet gatherings of Friends in some country districts where he delighted to spend his First days when on business journeys.

He was a tea merchant and lived at Leytonstone.  My father visited him there while attending the Yearly Meeting in 1870.

Sarah, the third daughter of Joshua and Ann Ianson, married in 1870, William (Henry) Brewin, of Cirencester.  She was a recorded Minister and was a thorough Dixon in mental make up.  While residing in the West of England I was a frequent visitor at her home, Birchfield, Cirencester.  She presented me with silver teaspoons on my first marriage.  There is an account of William Brewin in The Annual Monitor for 1883.

John Dixon Ianson was the first son.  He married twice, his second wife being Jane Tace, a daughter of George Dixon of Newcastle.  He had twelve children, of whom Elizabeth Ann became Applegarth and Fanny became Warne.  Several of the sons are married and there are descendants.  They are not Quakers.  Uncle John was a farmer living at Hallowell.  He had much of the Dixon about him.

The younger son was James.  While he was engaged in the construction of the Maryport and Carlisle railway my mother kept house for him at the former place.  He married Mary Rutter, of Swansea, and settled in Darlington as a civil engineer.  He was a recorded Minister.  His seven children were the companions of our childhood, but all are now deceased and there are but two of the next generation.

Ann Ianson was the fourth daughter of Joshua and Ann Ianson, a maiden lady living with her sister, Sarah, at Bishop Auckland until the latter’s marriage , and then residing at Darlington.

And then, lastly, came Maria, my mother, born 27 viii. 1828.

My mother was more of an I’Anson than a Dixon, being of a retiring disposition, and illustrating “the I’Anson reserve.”

It has been said that Maria I’Anson met her future husband at the house of her aunt, Mary (William) Backhouse, in Darlington.