Married
The overall Marstons of Birstwith family tree can be found here.
As will be seen later the oldest of our ancestors are Brunskills. The earliest Brunskill is Michael Brunskill a whitesmith. The first Brunskill family is shown below.
The Early Brunskills
The eldest son Michael married Ann Green on 10th September 1743 and produced a son and daughter as shown below.
Family of Michael Brunskill (1718-????)
Michael later married Sarah Patrick on 1st December 1766. The couple had a daughter Sarah in 1772.
John Brunskill married Mary Mawson in 1784 and produced three children as shown below. His occupation was labourer.
The Family of John Brunskill & Mary Mawson
The information on the earliest Marstons relevant to the family of Marstons described in this document was kindly supplied by Geoff Marston.
The earliest Marston found by Geoff was Francis Marston who was married on 25 November 1610. After Francis there is the oldest ancestor, John, with a direct connection to the modern Marston family. The information on John has been derived by Geoff from Knaresborough Wills. The family of John Marston is shown below.
????-1664
Married (1615?)
????-????
The Family of John Marston (-1664)
Of particular interest is his son William. William Marston married Anne Brown on 15th November 1677 at Hampsthwaite. The exact family of William and Anne is not fully confirmed but is believed to be of the form below.
The Family of William Marston (-1732)
The important member of the family is Samuel Marston.
The death entries for William and Anne indicate that William was a weaver.
The family of Samuel Marston is shown below.
The Family of Samuel Marston
Samuel was a whitesmith by occupation. Interestingly many people gave their occupations as whitesmith before about 1720 but the same people were later referred to as lorimers or spurrriers. It has been speculated that these people were engaged in the bit and bridle trade that was centred on Ripon.
The earliest line of Moorhouses begins c 1650 with William Moorhouse. His family is shown below.
The Family of William Moorhouse
The family of William Moorhouse's son Robert is shown below.
The Family of Robert Moorhouse
The Brunskills married into the Marston family with the marriage of Eleanor (Ellen) Brunskill to Samuel Marston. It is interesting that the senior Marstons and senior Brunskills were occupied as whitesmiths at this time. Samuel Marston himself was a spurrier, a trade that appears to have been related to the whitesmith trade
Samuel and Eleanor produced five children as shown below.
The Family of Samuel Marston & Ellen Brunskill
Sadly, Samuel Marston died of drowning in 1757.
Samuel's widow Eleanor Marston produced further children illegitimately as shown below. Whilst the father of the children is not known definitively, there is some evidence to suggest that Robert Moorhouse may have been the father. The evidence is two fold. Firstly, both Robert Moorhouse and Ellen Marston were excommunicated in 1760. Secondly, the names of Ellen's children, Robert and Christopher are found in Robert Moorhouse's family.
The Illegitimate Children of Eleanor Marston
