This history of the Marston family is far from complete and should be regarded as “work in progress”. Over the years many new strands of the family tree will be revealed by diligent research. If anyone reading this document finds any error or can make a contribution to the tree they are more than welcome to do so by contacting pmarston@outlook.com.
A large number of the family connections have been deduced using census information and Births, Marriage and Death (BMD) registration pages. Only BMD certificates can totally verify family ties. Considering the number of relationships involved over six generations of the family it has not been financially possible to use BMD certificates in all but a limited number of cases.
This document pays tribute to the enthusiasm of a generation of the Marston family to its family name and to a place where their ancestors originated. Strictly, perhaps this document should be called the Marstons of Hampsthwaite since the church records are for the parish of Hampsthwaite rather than Birstwith. The Census records from 1841 to 1901 are however distinguishable for the individual villages that make up the parish of Hampsthwaite. Nevertheless from an early date it can be said that there have been Marstons in and around Birstwith.
Whilst there have been many different families of Marstons in the area, this document is dedicated to one particular family and its descendants. That particular family are the descendants of Eleanor Marston. As will become apparent in later parts of the document, the founder of this Marston family is the only surviving child of Eleanor Marston born the illegitimate son of Eleanor Marston, widow. From that single beginning a large family has developed, first in Birstwith then later spreading to Leeds, Bradford and even further afield.
The creation of this document has only been made possible by the inspiring work of three individuals. The first of these individuals is Steve Gaunt the creator of the www.calverley.info web site. This truly remarkable web site contains not only the church and census records for Calverley, Farsley and Pudsey but even more importantly, the census and church records for the parish of Hampsthwaite. This single web site allows on line searches of records from approximately the years 1600 to 1800. This site has been and continues to be a major tool in developing the family tree.
The second inspiration for this document is Nathan Washington Marston. This gentleman's great work is regarded by American Marstons as the definitive reference book for their ancestry. This mighty tome runs to some 890 pages and documents nearly all the descendants up to 1888 of the first Marston to step ashore in America in around 1634. This was an amazing achievement for an age when the internet was not available. It is believed that up to 98% of the people with the surname Marston in America can trace their roots back to the one ancestor. Nathan Washington Marston's contribution to this more modest document is in providing a method of documenting several generations of people and in the realisation that such an undertaking is possible.
The final inspiration for this document is Dorothy Elmgren. Dorothy, who is a descendant of Thomas Marston (1823-1879), is responsible for a large amount of the research in this document. Her generous contributions have played a large part in making this project possible within a reasonable timescale.
The main body of the document has been written in two parts. The first part, Section 2, describes the origins of the family in terms of the Moorhouse, Brunskill and Marston families and establishes the Marston family that emerges from this love triangle. The second part, Section 3, catalogues the descendants of this emergent family. There are a very large number of descendants. They have been catalogued by generation, starting with Robert Marston as generation 1. Within a generation family members are indexed by the line they descend from and in the order of eldest first. In support of the main text there are transcriptions of censuses and BMD certificates in the appendices at the end. For readers who have the electronic version of the family tree, hyperlinks are included. Where name hyperlinks exist, the link can be followed between parent and child charts containing the individual named. Where dates are hyperlinked the date will take the reader to appropriate transcriptions of the supporting evidence. Multiple question marks in the text indicate unknown names or dates.
