PLIMMER great great grandparents

James PLIMMER
(c1815 - 1865)

Sadly I know very little about this James and I am finding researching his details more difficult than others. 

Any advice welcome!

He died in 1865 at a tender age of 50 and is listed as a market gardener, which he had been when he lived in Pennington, Leigh. The name C. PLIMMER is recorded as the witness but I suspect it is Elizabeth PLIMMER, his eldest child who married in 1867. 

Her signature on her own marriage certificate looks like C. Plimmer.

He died in Barton, Barton Upon Irwell and his daughter is listed as living at Chat Moss, Barton. How I wish the actual building address had been listed, as this leaves me wondering what were they doing in Barton after being in Tyldesley in 1861 and James was then a coal miner.

He is buried in Leigh Cemetery at plot 13, letter G, grave 61 with his son John, father Edward, daughter Elizabeth HESFORD and grandson John William HESFORD. There is no gravestone.

Letters of Administration dated October 1872 show effects under £450 leaseholds dated May 1868 from DAVIES & BROOK, solicitors in Warrington. Matthew HILTON is named as curator or guardian to James' sons Edward and James until they reached aged 21. His married daughters Elizabeth HESFORD and Jane GORNALL are also mentioned in the letter, as is John PLIMMER, his deceased son. Witnesses, Joseph Allan GORNALL of Green Lane, Stanley, baker and Peter WARD of Astley, overlooker.

He was widowed in 1860 and as mentioned, he was in Tyldesley in 1861, as a coal miner with seven off- spring.

In 1851 he is a farmer, head of household at Bonny Well, Pennington, Leigh, Lancs. With him is his wife and 6 off-spring, his father-in-law and both his parents. One son James, is born there in 1854 and James is listed as a gardener but the next born, Frederick is born in Tyldesley in 1857 and James' occupation is coal miner. No other recorded events take place in Pennington. Did he sell Bonny Well I wonder? Seems drastic as it put his parents out of employment and out of a home and also left his father-in-law vunerable? I do not know the answer to this, not sure I will.

The 1841 census tells a different story as it is his father-in-law William LEIGH who is head of household at Bonny Well, Pennington and James is a collier with his wife and two children. I wonder if he was given the farm by his father-in-law, perhaps as there were no other LEIGH family members to inherit it?

James' first born, Elizabeth Ann PLIMMER was born in March 1838 in Pennington. I have not found a GRO reference for his marriage so I am guessing it was before civil registration in 1837. It has not been found in the Church Of England records, so I am guessing it could possibly have been a non-conformist marriage. These records I have yet to find.

From the census information I know he was born in Hindley, Lancashire about 1815 and his parents appear to be Edward and Ann PLIMMER (nee HORROCKS). Sadly I do not have any more information on him at this time.

Martha PLIMMER (nee LEIGH)
(c1818 - 1860)

I am finding it difficult to clarify Martha's history, this is all I have on her at this time.

She died in Tyldesley at a young age of 42 on St Valentine's Day in 1860. She was buried in Leigh Cemetery, plot 13, letterE, grave 49 with her mother-in-law Ann, son William, daughter Mary and father William LEE (LEIGH).

In 1851 she is with her husband at Bonny Well, Pennington and she is there in 1841 also but as a silk weaver. It is from this latter census that I suspect her parents are William and Elizabeth LEIGH.

Searching the IGI I find an entry which appears to match:

Birth: 22 FEB 1818, Christening: 6 MAR 1818 Wesleyan Methodist, Bedford, Lancashire, parents: William and Betty LEIGH.

I suspect her marriage to James must have been a Methodist ceremony, this I have yet to find.