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HALES

The research for these notes was begun in 1972. Parts of this material have previously appeared in two privately-published pamphlets circulated to family members, entitled Notes concerning the descendants of Thomas McCullough of Purdysburn and Samuel Hales of London (Winnipeg, 1977), and Notes on the ancestry and descendants of Alan Blythe, presented to him on the occasion of his 80th Birthday, 2 April 1987 (Winnipeg, 1987).

I should like to thank the following persons, without whose help and encouragement this project would not have been possible: My grandfather, the late Alan Blythe, of Winnipeg; my aunt, Barbara (Blythe) Bennett, of Fresno, California; my mother, Kathleen Blythe, of Winnipeg, who subsidized this research; my stepfather, Ross Dobson, of Winnipeg, who assisted in the copying of documents; my aunt, Judith Blythe, of Calgary, Alberta; the late Reginald McCullough, of Vancouver, British Columbia, and his late wife, Noel (Blythe) McCullough, both of whom subsidized this research; Theresa (McCullough) Alscher, of Vancouver; the late Ernest McCullough, of Montreal, and his late wife, Margaret (Key) McCullough; Kenneth, Doris, and Geraldine Morris, of London, England; the late Joan (McCullough) Rabeneck, of Nanaimo, British Columbia; Leah (Philcox) McCullough; Victoria (Nixon) Hobson, of Winnipeg; Robert Hales, of London, England; and William Hales, of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.

1. Samuel Hales, of London, England, b. 1805-06 (aged 45 in 1851, 55 in 1861) at Gravesend, Kent (per the 1851 census) or at London (per the 1861 census),[1] d. 9 Nov. 1866 at 30 Fleet Lane, West London, aged 60 years, the cause of death being illegible in the record.[2] We have found no likely baptism for him in the IGI, which in particular indexes the baptismal registers of the parish churches of St. George and St. James in Gravesend for the appropriate period. Our subject m. 22 Feb. 1829 in Christ Church (formerly Grey Friars’), Newgate Street, City of London, by banns,[3] Maria Frost, b. probably in 1805-06 (aged 45 in 1851, 55 in 1861, 64 in 1871) at Colchester, Essex, still alive in 1871 and possibly also in 1881 (she was not the Maria Hales who d. 27 Dec. 1871 in Camden Town, Middlesex, aged 67 years).[4] They were both single, “of full age,” and of Christ Church parish at the time of their marriage, which was witnessed by a J. Knight and an Anne Reeve. The record is written entirely in the hand of the clerk, so it is impossible to tell whether either of them was able to write a signature. It will be noticed that their first child was born less than four months after the marriage.
    To judge from the baptismal records of his children, Samuel Hales and his wife were in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch from 1834 to 1842. They were enumerated there on Willow Street in the 1841 census, in which Samuel is called a laborer.[5] However, at the taking of the 1851 census, in which he is called a “carman & porter,” he was living at no. 14 Milford Lane, St. Clement Danes, Westminster.[6] He appears with his wife and two youngest children (Samuel and Mary) as residents of the Bull Inn, Milford Lane, St. Clement Danes, Westminster, in the 1861 census, in which he is called a porter.[7] He is also called a porter in the 1865 marriage record of his son Samuel. At the time of his death in 1866, which was reported by “M. [?] Hales, [of] 30 Fleet Lane, Old Bailey, London” (i.e. his wife?) he was a “poulterer’s porter.”
    In 1871 his widow, then a laundress, was living in the parish of St. Mary le Strand, Westminster, with two of her daughters, and although the street address is not specified, she was living next door to her daughter-in-law Rebecca Elizabeth (Keegan) Hales’s widowed mother, Sarah (Bowen) Keegan.[8] In the 1881 census we find a possible match for her in a Mary Ann Heales, widow, aged 72 (suggesting a birthdate of 1808-09), born at Colchester, Essex, who was lodging at no. 13 Molesworth Street, Lewisham, London, and is described as a “parishioner in receipt of relief.”[9]
    Of his children, no information other than a baptismal record has been found for any but the seventh, Samuel.
    Known issue (all baptisms per IGI):

  1. Harriet Hales, b. 5 May 1829 in the parish of Cripplegate, City of London, bapt. 14 June following in the parish church of St. Giles without Cripplegate, City of London. She was still living unmarried with her mother in 1871, when she was a laundress.
  2. George Hales, b. 22 Jan. 1831, bapt. 16 Feb. following in the parish church of St. Giles without Cripplegate, City of London, d. by 1841, as he is not found with his parents in the census of that year.
  3. Maria Hales, b. 17 May 1833, bapt. 30 June following in the parish church of St. Luke, Old Street, Finsbury parish, Middlesex (now in London), d. by 1841, as she is not found with his parents in the census of that year.
  4. Martha Hales, b. 12 Aug. 1834 , bapt. 12 Oct. following in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch Parish, Middlesex (now in London). She was living unmarried with her parents in 1851, but was no longer with them in 1861.
  5. Ann Maria Hales, b. 7 April 1837, bapt. 3 May following in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, d. by 1841, as she is not found with his parents in the census of that year.
  6. Emily Ann Hales, bapt. 1 Sept. 1839 in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, “aged one year.” She doubtless died young, as she does not appear with her parents in the 1851 census.
  7. Ann Hales, b. probably in 1840 (aged 11 in 1851), living unmarried with her parents in 1851, but was no longer with them in 1861.
  8. 2Samuel William Hales, b. 20 Feb. 1842, bapt. 27 March following in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch.
  9. Mary Hales, b. 1844-45 (aged 6 in 1851, 16 in 1861)[10] in the parish of St. Clement Danes, Westminster, London. She was still living unmarried with her parents in 1861, when she was a general servant, and with her mother in 1871, when she was a book-keeper.

2. Samuel William Hales, son of Samuel and Maria (Frost) Hales, was b. 20 Feb. 1842 (per baptismal record), in the Hoxton district of Shoreditch, Middlesex (now in London), according to the 1871 census, or (less likely, we think) in the parish of St. Clement Danes, according to the 1901 census, was bapt. 27 March 1842 in St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch Parish, and d. 6 Feb. 1913 at West Ham Union Infirmary, of “arterio-sclerosis” and “mitral incompetence,” aged 63 years.[11] He was living unmarried with his parents in 1861, when he is called a stable-man in the census. He m. 10 Sept. 1865, by banns, in the old St. Pancras Church, St. Pancras Road, St. Pancras parish, Middlesex (now in London),[12] Rebecca Elizabeth Keegan, b. 22 June 1846 in the parish of St. Giles in the Fields, Bloomsbury, Middlesex (now in London),[13] d. 11 April 1903 at no. 6 Houghton Street, Strand District, London, of heart disease, bronchitis, and syncope, aged 56 years,[14] daughter of the late John James Keegan (Sr.), of St. Giles, by the latter’s wife Sarah Bowen.[15]
    They were both single at the time of their marriage, he then being of Grafton Place and she of Chalton Street. She falsely declared herself to be of full age (i.e. 21 years) at the time, although she was only 19. She was able to make a signature in the register, but he made a mark; however in the version of the record seen by us the signature is a copy, not the original. The witnesses were a James Bradstreet and an Elizabeth Mott.
    Samuel and Rebecca Hales appear with their two eldest surviving children (Samuel and Sarah) at 47 Wych (now Aldwych) Street, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, Westminster, in the 1871 census, in which he is called an ostler (i.e. stable-man); his age is inaccurately reported as 26 years.[16] He was still at the same address, and still an ostler, at the birth of his daughter Deborah in 1873. HHis family either missed detection at the taking of the 1881 census, or their surname has been misread in both the LDS and Ancestry.com transcriptions. But he and his wife are listed in that of 1891 with their three youngest children, Robert, William, and Elizabeth, at no. 35 Stanhope Street, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, which calls him a basket-maker and indicates that he was blind; his wife was a laundress.[17] As “William Samuel [sic] Hales” he is listed at no. 43 Stanhope Street in the 1901 census, which again calls him a basket-maker and indicates that he was blind; the only other member shown in his household was his youngest son William, mistakenly called William Henry, and it seems that the other members of his family were simply missed, as they have not been found elsewhere.[18] He is also called a basket-maker in the marriage certificates of his son Samuel (1888) and daughter Deborah (1901), and a basket-weaver in that of his son William (1912). He was living at no. 6 Houghton Street, Strand District, London, at the death of his wife in 1903, in which his called “formerly a basket maker.” Family tradition states that he took up basket-making after going blind, and being unable to continue the heavy work he had previously done. It is said that he relied much on his sense of smell to compensate for the loss of his sight,[19] and remained “adroit at cards and dominoes.”[20]
    Family tradition states that Samuel Hales had twelve children, but only the following nine have been identified:[21]

  1. Rebecca Harriet Hales, b. 18 Dec. 1866 at London, bapt. 20 Jan. 1867 in St. Clement Danes, Westminster, Middlesex, d. of cancer 13 June 1925, aged “46” [recte 58] years, 5 months, 28 days, in the General Hospital (now the Health Sciences Centre), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and buried 17 June following in Elmwood Cemetery, Winnipeg, sect. 12a, lot 1083, apparently in an unmarked grave.[22] She was living in 1871 with her maternal grandmother, the widow Sarah (Bowen) Keegen.[23] When this grandmother died in early 1877 the ten-year-old Rebecca presumably returned to her parents’ home, but as they have not been found in the 1881 census, we cannot be certain. She was in any case no longer living with them in 1891, by which time she had possibly entered into domestic service somewhere. She is likely the Rebecca H. Hales, aged 33 years, and born at London, who is found working as a cook in the household of the widow Mary S. Healey, of Boars Hill, White Barn, Wootton St. Peter, Berkshire, in 1901.[24] Rebecca Hales is said to have met her husband at New York City,[25] but we have not found good matches for either of them in the 1910 census of New York. Nor have we found either of them in the 1911 census of Manitoba. She m. (as his first wife) 23 Feb. 1912 at Winnipeg,[26] Benjamin Franklin Nixon, b. ca. 1874 in South Carolina, U.S.A., d. of heart failure 1 Aug. 1945 in the General Hospital, Winnipeg, aged 71 years, and buried shortly afterward in Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg, section 45, lot 214.[27] Benjamin Nixon worked as a porter with the Canadian Pacific Railway. By 1917 they were living at 107 Selkirk Avenue, the address given in her burial record.[28] Benjamin was however of 861 Redwood Avenue at the time of his death, the notice of which states that he had been a member of Regent Masonic Lodge no. 5, and mentions a widow Annie. The funeral was held from Pilgrim Baptist Church, but the notice does not specifically say that he had been a member of the congregation. Rebecca was evidently in her early fities when she gave birth to her only child:
    1. Victoria Nixon, b. ca. 1919 at Winnipeg, living 1997. She m. before 1950, Jesse S. Hobson, living 1997, and they have one son.[29] Victoria worked from 1953 until 1972 at least for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and her husband was a porter with the Canadian Pacific Railway until his retirement. City directories who them living at 1846 Logan Avenue from 1952 until 1997, but were no longer there in 1998.
  2. Samuel George Hales, b. in St. Clement Danes parish, bapt. 23 Feb. 1868 in St. John the Evangelist, Drury Lane, living 1901. He m. 26 Dec 1888 in the parish church of St. John the Evangelist, Waterloo Road, Lambeth, Surrey,[30] Amelia Dewar, b. probably in 1865 (aged 24 in 1888, 25 in 1891, 36 in 1901) in the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden, London, living 1901, daughter of William Dewar, glass-engraver. At the time of their marriage, in the record of which he is called a car-man, and in which her age is probably overstated as it is made the same as his, they appear to have been living at the same address, no. 5 Tenison Street, and both were able to sign the register; the witnesses were a Frank Jackson and a Jessie Jackson. In 1891 they were living at no. 3 Feathers Court, in the parish of St. Mary le Strand, in the City of London, and he was working as an “ironmonger’s porter.”[31] In 1901 they were living at no. 177 Winchester Road, Edmonton, Middlesex, and his occupation is reported in precisely the same manner as ten years earlier.[32] Only known child:
    1. Henry Hales, b. probably ca. 1886-87 (aged 4 in 1891, 17 [sic!] in 1901) in the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden, London (per 1891 census) or in the parish of St. Mary le Strand (per 1901 census), still living unmarried with his parents in 1891, when he was a “machine boy.”
  3. Sarah Emily Hales, b. in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, Middlesex, bapt. 26 Sept. 1869 in St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, living 1871. She said to have married, and to have had a daughter who became an actress.
  4. John Hales, b. 5 Nov. 1870, bapt. 16 Nov. following in St. Clement Danes, Westminster, doubtless d. by 1871, as he is not listed with his parents in the census of that year.
  5. Frances Mary Hales, b. 27 Nov. 1871, bapt. 17 Dec. following in St. Clement Danes, Westminster; probably d. young.
  6. Deborah Sophia Hales,[33] b. 8 Dec. 1873 at 47 Wych (now Aldwych) Street, St. Clement’s Parish, Westminster,[34] bapt. 4 Jan. 1874 at St. Clement Danes,[35] d. suddenly 23 March 1951 (perhaps of heart failure) at the home of her daughter, Jessie (McCullough) Blythe, at 957 Ingersoll Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and buried in Brookside Cemetery. She was no longer living with her parents in 1891, and was perhaps in domestic service somewhere, as she is said to have worked as a scullerymaid in her youth.[36] We have not found her in the 1901 census. She m. 20 Sept. 1901 in the parish of Old Ford, London,[37] Thomas McCullough, b. 7 Aug. 1877 at Ballycowan, a townland in the parish of Drumbo, in the barony of Upper Castlerigh, co. Down,[38] Northern Ireland, d. 17 Sept. 1921, of pleurisy and pneumonia, at his home at 16 Baron Road, Canningtown District, London, England, and buried 22 Sept. following in East London Cemetery, Plaistow, London, lot no. 19574.[39] He was a son of William McCullough, of Ballycowan, and of Wyck Rissington St. Bar, near Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, by the latter’s wife Ellen Canning. At the time of her marriage she and her husband were both living at Old Ford, London; the witnesses were the bride’s brother William and sister Rebecca.
        Thomas McCullough worked as a calculator for the touts at the race tracks, and later became a tallyman for the Thames Oil Warf Co., alternating between Glengall Wharf and Dungeons Wharf at the East India Docks. Left destitute on her husband’s death, Deborah took their five younger children to Canada, her eldest daughter Kathleen, who had just become engaged to be married, remaining behind. They left on 12 May 1922 on the Empress of India, and arrived in Canada on 19 May following, subsequently settling at Winnipeg, Manitoba, and at first staying briefly with her younger sister Rebecca (Hales) Nixon, who was already living there. Further details of this family will be given in our account of the McCulloughs.
  7. Robert Arthur Hales,[40] b. ca. 1879-80 in Stepney Parish or in Poplar District, Middlesex (now in London), living 1912, when he served as a witness at his brother William’s wedding. He m. as her second husband, Nellie (____) Wright, a widow. She is said to have been a matron of a hospital, probably in London, and at one time to have lived in Warwickshire, perhaps at Rugby, near Warwick. He lived with her for about twenty-five years period to their marriage, which finally became possible after the death of her estranged husband. After Robert’s death she is believed to have married a man named Sturt, of Brighton-on-Sea, Essex.
  8. 3William James Hales, b. 7 Dec. 1881 in Poplar Parish, Middlesex (now in London).
  9. Elizabeth Hales, b. 1886-87; living unmarried with her parents in 1903, when she reported her mother’s death. She is said to have m. John Parrott, a butcher’s assistant. She was reportedly aged 40, and he 60, at the time of their marriage; but as they are also said to have had eight children, they may have been living together for some time previously. They lived in Paddington.[41]

3. William James Hales,[42] b. 7 Dec. 1881 in Poplar Parish, Middlesex (now in London), d. 17 Dec. 1921 in Paddington Parish, London, and buried in Westminster Cemetery, Willesden, London. He was living unmarried with his father in 1901, when he is mistakenly called William Henry in the census although his age is correctly stated as 19 years; his occupation is given as “printer’s layer-on.” He became a warehouse foreman and a cutter with a music-printing firm, where he met his future wife, who was a machine-operator with the same firm. He m. 7 April 1912 in St. James Church, Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Greater London,[43] Catherine Amy Harrison, b. 5 Feb. 1886 at 20 Warsill Street, Wandsworth, Battersea, Surrey,[44] d. 21 Jan. 1966 in London, daughter of Henry George Harrison, a bootmaker, by his wife Harriet Esther Langham. At the time of their marriage he was of 68 Northampton Bus and she of 2 Hardington Place. He fought in World War I, and eventually died as the result of severe internal injuries received in action.
    Issue:

  1. William Henry Hales, b. 25 Feb. 1913 in Marlebone Parish, London. He is married and has two children.
  2. Robert Arthur Hales, b. 17 July 1915 in Paddington District, Greater London. He never married.
  3. Ellen (“Helen”) Hales, b. 19 Nov. 1916 in Paddington District, Greater London. She m. (1) and was subsequently divorced from, Thomas Hamblin, by whom she had no issue. She m. (2) Jack Knight, by whom she has two children.

Notes

1. A careful check of the original baptismal registers of St. George’s parish church, Gravesend, has however failed to find him in the years 1803-22. The search was pursued well past his date of birth as there seemed to be an unusally high incidence of late baptisms in this parish. It should be noted, incidentally, that the indexing of these baptisms in the IGI is extremely incomplete, as of 31 December 2007 supplying (for the exact spelling Hales) only 2 of the 9 entries for this period, and one of these with an erroneous date! The handwriting presents no difficulty whatever, and we are at a loss to explain these omissions.
2. Death certificate.
3. Marriage register of Christ Church Greyfriars Newgate, London, bishops’ transcripts [Family History Library microfilm no. 4,179,789].
4. This other Maria Hales, whose death was registered in the October-December quarter of 1871 in the Pancras District, vol. 1b, p. 113, proves on examination of the entry to have been the “wife of Thomas Hales, a greengrocer.”
5. 1841 Census of England, Middlesex, registration district: Shoreditch, subdistrict: St Leonard, enumeration district 21, p. 14; HO107/709/7, folio 24 [Family History Library microfilm no. 438,819]. The entry reads: 
                                  born in county?
Samuel Hales   35[-39]  labourer  no
Maria Hales    35[-39]  ----      no
Hariett Hales  12       ----      yes
Martha Hales    6       ----      yes
Emily Hales     2       ----      yes
6. 1851 Census of England, Middlesex, registration district: Strand, subdistrict: St. Clement Danes, enumeration district 1b, pp. 51 & 52; HO107/1512, folios 50 & 51 [FHL microfilm no. 87,846]. The entry reads as follows: 
Hales, Saml.   head  mar.  45  carman & porter  Kent — Gravesend
  "  , Maria   wife  mar.  45                   Essex — Colchester
  "  , Harriet dau.  unm.  21  at home          London
  "  , Martha  dau.  unm.  16      "            "
  "  , Ann     dau.   --   11      "            "
  "  , Saml.   son    --    9  ----             "
  "  , Mary    dau.   --    6  ----             "
7. 1861 census of England, London, Westminster, registration district: Strand, subdistrict of St. Clement Danes, enumeration district 2, p. 11; RG09, piece 179, folio 26.
8. 1871 census of London, district: Strand, subdistrict: St. Mary le Strand, enumeration district 8, p. 35; R.G. 10/364, fo. 42.
9. 1881 census of England, London, registration district: Lewisham, subdistrict: Lewisham, enumeration district 4, p. 10; PRO RG11/0733, folio 110.
10. The age of 22 years given for her in the 1871 census is doutbless understated.
11. Death certificate.
12. Marriage register of St. Pancras Old Church, London; Family History Library microfilm no. 598,351.
13. Birth certificate.
14. Death certificate.
15. John Keegan is called a “boot closer,” of 34 Great N. Andrew Street, in his daughter Rebecca’s birth certificate.
16. 1871 census of England, London, Westminster, St. Clement Danes; R.G. 10-363, fo. 33, extracted for the compiler by Clive Ayton, of Nottingham, England.
17. 1891 census of England, London, Westminster, St. Clement Danes, Enumeration District 11, piece RG12/217, folio 129, p. 27.
18. 1901 Census of England, county of London, registration district: Strand, subdistrict: Strand, enumeration district 7, p. 22; RG13/244, folio 15.
19. Information from the late Reginald McCullough.
20. Information from Robert Hales.
21. Thre statement that there were twelve children come from a granddaughter, Joan (McCullough) Rabeneck. Her brother, Reginald McCullough, said that the children included a daughter Clara, who remained unmarried, but we have not found documentary evidence for her. Baptismal records are per IGI unless otherwise stated.
22. Manitoba death certificate no. 1925-026160; death notice, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 June 1925, p. 16, col. 6; records of Elmwood Cemetery. In a search of the cemetery made in the 1970s, the writer was unable to find a marker at the specified location. Although her stated age at death is wildly incorrect as to the number of years, the months and days suggest a birthdate of about 16 December, in good agreement with that given in her baptismal record. Earlier versions of these notes, accepting her reported age at death, erred in stating that her parents had two daughters named Rebecca Harriet, one born in 1866 and the other in 1878 (after the presumed death of the first). Such a theory creates several difficulties, including the lack of a death record for the first, of a birth record for the second, and of a possible match for a woman of this name born in 1878 in any census record. Also, it cannot be reconciled with the fact that the children of her sister Deborah, who lived in the same city as Rebecca for more than three years prior to her death, were convinced that Rebecca was older than their mother, and indeed was one of the oldest children in the family. We are forced to conclude that the death record is wrong. Rebecca may have misrepresented her age to her family to conceal the fact that she was substantially older than her husband.
23. 1871 census of Westminster, district: Strand, subdistrict: St. Mary le Strand, enumeration district 8, p. 35; R.G. 10/364, fo. 42.
24. 1901 Census of England, Berkshire, registration district: Abingdon, subdistrict: Fyfield [village of Wootton], enumeration district 8, p. 9; RG13/1130, folio 86.
25. Information from the late Alan Blythe.
26. Manitoba marriage registrations, no. 1912-001588.
27. Cemetery records, and two somewhat different death notices in the Winnipeg Free Press, 6 Aug. 1945, p. 4, col. 7, and 8 Aug. 1945, p. 4, col. 3.
28. The Henderson’s directories of Winnipeg show them there from 1917 onward. The “Declaration of Passenger to Canada” form filled out by her sister, Deborah (Hales) McCullough in 1922 — a copy of which was kindly provided by Leah (Philcox) McCullough — gives the latter’ destination as the home of “B. Nixon, 107 Selkirk Avenue.”
29. Information from Victoria (Nixon) Hobson, by telephone.
30. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921, images of original records at Ancestry.com.
31. City of London, parish of St. Mary le Strand, Enumeration District 6, piece RG12/216, folio 117, p. 19.
32. 1901 Census of England, Middlesex, registration district: Edmonton, subdistrict: Edmonton, enumeration district 26, p. 42; PRO RG13/1265, folio 25.
33. Much of our information on her his from her son-in-law (and my grandfather) the late Alan Blythe, in whose home she lived most of the last years of her life.
34. Birth certificate.
35. Baptismal register of St. Clement Danes, examined by the compiler at the Archives Department, Victoria Library, Buckingham Palace Road, London, in 1977. This record incorrectly states the date of her birth as 29 Nov. 1872.
36. Information from the late Alan Blythe.
37. Marriage certificate.
38. Birth certificate.
39. Burial certificate.
40. All of our information on this man is from his nephew, Robert Hales.
41. Information from Robert Hales and the late Alan Blythe.
42. All of our information on him is from his two sons.
43. Marriage certificate, from a copy kindly provided by Robert Hales.
44. Birth certificate, from a copy kindly provided by Robert Hales.

Some Sites of Related Interest

From the Genealogy Page of John Blythe Dobson
URL = cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/people/Dobson/genealogy/ff/Hales.cfm
This page written 16 July 1999
Last revised 11 February 2010