FROM MANCHESTER TO SALT LAKE CITY – The Story of the Hyde Family

Date:
August 3, 2015

The Hyde family lived in Dyers Court, which was once part of Deansgate, Manchester. The earliest Hyde that appears in my tree is that of John Hyde, who was born in Manchester in 1811. In 1830 he married Sarah Lewis at Manchester Cathedral Church and John carried out his trade of hatter and dyer. They had a total of nine children, the eldest of which, Elizabeth was my great-great-grandmother.

Elizabeth Hyde was born in 1831 in Manchester and was christened on 11 June in Manchester Cathedral Church. On 13 June 1852 she married Charles Bradshaw, a cork cutter, in Cathedral Parish Church, Manchester. They had ten children.

Joshua Hyde, born 1834, was also a hatter in Dyers Court and later moved to Preston, eventually ending up in Ashton under Lyne, where he carried on his trade. He married Sarah Beswick who was a hat stitcher and felt hat trimmer. Then came James born in 1836, followed by Thomas in 1837, who was a clogger and married Elizabeth Johnson in 1864 in Ulverston where he carried on his trade. In 1911 he was a widower and was an inmate at a workhouse in North Manchester, where he died in 1913. William was born in 1839; Edward in 1841 and only lived a few months; Mary Jane in 1843; Hannah in 1845; and, finally, Sarah in 1849.

mary jane hyde

Mary Jane Hyde

Mary Jane, who was born on 7 January 1843 in Manchester, and baptised on 16 April at Manchester Cathedral Church, seemed to have lived a life of mystery, especially her ‘marriages’. According to information on Family Search, Mary’s husband was Robert Vicars Whitehead although no official marriage has been found. Robert died in Ordsall Lane, Salford, in December 1864. Their son George Edward Whitehead was born on 23 April 1863.
In the 1871 census Mary is classed as a ‘widow’ living in Chester Street, Manchester; has had four further children (Matilda, Louisa, Florence and Richard) and their surnames are all stated as ‘Whitbread’ or ‘Whitehead’, although Robert Vicars Whitehead had died before any of them were born! Robert had died of typhus fever and the informant on the death certificate was a Mary Jane Bushell, present at the death. Probate was not granted until 1875 eleven years after his death and, when probate was granted, it was to an Ann Jane Clough, wife of Edwin Clough, and his effects were valued at under £600. It was then discovered that Robert Whitehead had married Ann Jane Gorman on 12 March 1864 at St John’s Church, Manchester, and she had then married Edwin Clough two years after Robert’s death.

So we have a situation where Robert Vicars Whitehead married Ann Jane Gorman on 12 March 1864 but was said to be the father of George Edward Whitehead, who was born on 23 April (a little over a month later) to Mary Jane Hyde, although the father’s name was blank on George’s birth certificate. Then Robert dies at the end of that same year.

The IGI states rather misleadingly that Mary had married in 1864 to a Richard John Mincher, but no record has been found of such a marriage. By 1881 Mary, the four children which appeared in the 1871 census and yet another three children (William J, Walter and Leonard) were living at 60 Warder Street, Hulme. But now their surname seems to have reverted to ‘Hyde’ and looking at the birth entries for five of Mary’s children they were registered as ‘Hyde’, although the IGI records of these children gives two alternatives – ‘Hyde’ and ‘Mincher Hyde’.

Living with the family as a boarder in 1871 was a William Johnson – 41 – Mechanic Labourer – Widow. The first son Mary has after she changes the name to Hyde is named William J, so possibly she had the three sons with this boarder, although they were never married, and then either he left her or died prior to 1891. There appears to be no civil registrations for William John Hyde or Walter. In the 1891 and 1901 censuses the family is again referred to as Hyde and there is no trace of Richard Mincher. Mary Jane Hyde did, however, marry a Richard Judd in Chorlton, Manchester in 1908, aged 65 so the death entry on Family search is incorrect as her death was registered under the name of Mary Jane Judd on 2 March 1919 in Manchester. Richard Judd also died that year.

Birth certificates:
The birth certificates of Matilda Hyde born 17 June 1866, that of Florence born 17 October 1869 and Richard Hyde on 4th February 1871 show the father’s name as blank.

Sources:
The LDS information is thought to have been submitted by Janet Marie Jacobsen Hyde who put the information into Ancestral File. Unfortunately the lady has since died and on writing to three other submitters to AF only one, Donna McNab replied and she did not have much more information to offer. In fact some of her information is definitely flawed.

One of the American descendants thought that Robert Vicars Whitehead was married to someone else and this has proved to be right when the marriage to Ann Jane Gorman was found at the beginning of 1864.

The life of Mary Jane Hyde was certainly a complicated one and I suppose we will never know the intricate details. The life of her son George Edward Hyde has been well documented from American sources because of his achievements, graduating as a doctor and one of the many English emigrants who converted to the Mormon faith. We are indebted to the LDS church for their dedication to genealogy and to Marcia Nelson, the granddaughter of George Edward Hyde whose family tree on Ancestry, of the Farr family, from which we learn so much of this very interesting family. This family are chronicled on Ancestry as the Farr family.George emigrated to the USA and married Lucretia Rosabell Farr and the following is an extract from the ‘Farr family tree’ on Ancestry which tells us much about George’s life as a convert to the Church of the Latterday Saints and his life thereafter.

GEORGE EDWARD WHITEHEAD (HYDE)

George Edward Whitehead (Hyde)

Lucretia Rosabell (Rose) Farr

Lucretia Rosabell (Rose) Farr

 

Lucretia Rosabell (Rose) Farr was born August 17, 1866 in Ogden, Weber, Utah. The last child of Aaron Freeman Farr and Lucretia Ball Thorp.
    When she was 19, she met George Edward Hyde. They courted for a year and then were married October 15th 1886 in the Logan Temple. George was born in Manchester England on April 23, 1864. His father died when he was very young and he changed his last name from Whitehead to Hyde, which is his mother's maiden name, for inheritance purposes. When he was nineteen he came to America as a convert. He landed in New York City. He came to Salt Lake and worked for Z.C.M.I's for nine years.
    After their marriage they lived for a little while in part of the Farr house, then they moved to the house next door.

    Rose and George welcomed the birth of their first born July 7, 1887, Vida Florence. They then had the following children all born in Ogden, Myrtle Cordelia b. April 1, 1889, George Aaron on August 12, 1891, and Charles Lyman b. November 28, 1892 (he died three years later December 15, 1895).
    After Rose and George were married, he decided that he wanted to go into medicine so he went to the University of California and John Hopkins and graduated in 1895. He would come home for summer vacations. Rose took in boarders and her parents helped out.
    George practiced in Ogden for a little while, after which he had a friend in Rexburg, Idaho, who told him they needed a Doctor in the Snake River Basin in Idaho. He and Rose decided to move there to practice medicine. Dr Hyde went first to find a place for the family to live. The train did not go through to Rexburg, so when Rose and the family arrived, George met them at Market Lake in a white top buggy. It was quite a long and rugged trip.
    George had found them a three-room house where they lived until a new home could be built. Many hardships were encountered during the first year. The winters were extremely cold and Dr Hyde and only one other doctor were available in the valley. This meant that he had to travel throughout the area in those early days. He used horses and in the winter he went by sleigh. Rose would go with him sometimes. She would see to it that his feet were kept warm by heating bricks and wrapping them and placing them at this feet.
    Here Afton Rose was born August 26, 1896. Followed by Clarisse born on August 1, 1899, Harold on June 1, 1902 (died same day) and Melba Estell on March 1, 1905.
    George Hyde loved music and was an accomplished musician. He wanted his family to enjoy the arts, because he was the doctor for the railroad, they gave him rail passes and he would take the family to Salt Lake to see the opera and musical productions.
    While in Rexburg the Hyde residence was the place Church authorities stayed and music lovers met. He was interested in Government affairs. George would bring everyone home to Mama for a good meal. Rose was lucky as she had a hired girl who could always help get a good meal available for visitors on quick notice. “Mama” is what George always called Rose.
    Rose and George lived in Rexburg for 17 years. They moved to Blackfoot State Mental Hospital.
    Their next move was back to Salt Lake when he was asked to be director of the Utah Mental Hospital in Provo. The family lived in the institution and have taken some joking about that. They were all involved in the working of the hospital. George was very interested in trying to help the mentally ill patients and he was successful. They named a building after him.
    George went to Canada to give a paper on his treatment and ideas, Rose had gone with him. On the train during the return trip he had an appendicitis attack and waited until he returned to Salt Lake to have it taken care of. He died during surgery.
    Rose moved in with her daughter Clarisse and helped raise Gloria. Gloria remembers being able to talk to her grandmother about anything. Rose made Gloria doll clothes. My father George Aaron Hyde returned from Idaho to be close to his mother. I remember staying overnight with Grandmother. Marian my sister recalls toast and jam in the morning. In her later life, her doctor advised that she take a little whiskey for her heart.    Rose refused to drink it, but would take it in a teaspoon like medicine. She was always loving and caring. She died at the age of 91 on September 25, 1957. She was the last surviving child of Aaron Freeman Farr.

Two more of Mary’s children were to emigrate and live in Utah. Leonard emigrated in 1898 and appeared in the USA Federal census in 1900 in Ogden Ward 2 Weber at the home of his sister Louisa who had emigrated to Utah with her husband from England, Arthur E Cutting. He died in Salt Lake City in 1966.

Another son, Walter, also emigrated to the States, lived in Idaho and died in Los Angeles, California in 1948. On his death certificate his father’s last name is stated as being Mincher.

If the story of Mary Jane Hyde sounds complicated it is probably because it is. If any further information comes to light, there will be yet another revision.

Janet Rigby
Member 1314

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