The Whiteside Ancestors

The Whitesides

This page tells the story of the Whiteside line of the family. If you want to see a detailed diagram of the Whiteside ancestors, then click Whiteside Tree. This will open in a new tab so that you can flip between this page and the diagram.

These are the ancestors on the maternal line of Grandad Joseph Bissell. The surname Whiteside is derived from the old English words hwit meaning white and side meaning a slope (of a hill). It originates from Lancashire where there was probably once a place called Whiteside. The main concentration of the name is still in Lancashire, indicating a Lancashire origin.

The Whitesides in our family originally came from Poulton le Fylde in Lancashire which is near Blackpool. They moved through different places in Lancashire and then Yorkshire before finishing in Leeds. The earliest refence I have found to the Whiteside ancestors was in 1730, so the story starts from there.

Thomas Whiteside and Elizabeth Walker

The earliest information that I have found was the christening of Thomas Whiteside on 28 Feb 1730 in Poulton le Fylde in Lancashire. The parish records say his father was William Whiteside who worked as a husbandman, which usually meant a tenant farmer. I have not been able to find any more information about his parents.

Thomas married Elizabeth Walker, on the 19th April 1755 in Poulton le Fylde in Lancashire. I have not been able to find any more information about Thomas and Elizabeth.

Poulton le Fylde is a market town just north of Blackpool. With its proximity to the River Wyre, it was once an important trading centre. Its importance declined with the development of Fleetwood.

Thomas Whiteside and Elizabeth Bamber

Thomas was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth and was born in 1756 in Poulton Le Fylde Lancashire. He married Elizabeth Bamber in 1781. Thomas died in 1801. When Elizabeth died in 1809, her age was recorded as 50 so she must have been born around 1759.

Molly Whiteside

Molly was a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth and was born in 1790 in Poulton Le Fylde.

Molly had a son, another Thomas who was also born in Poulton le Fylde on 1st October 1811. The parish records show there was no father at the christening and the records do have the additional two words ‘born illegitimate’, just to make it clear what Molly had been up to. This left Molly with a young son and no parents to help as they had both died by this time.

The next reference to Molly was in the Lancashire Quarter Session Records on the 9th November 1812. This is what was recorded.
The order made by his majesty’s justices of the peace for the said county, date the 9th of November, whereby Thomas Moore of Great and Little Marton is adjudged to be the reputed father of a male bastard child, born upon the body of Molly Whiteside of Great and Little Marton, a aforesaid single woman.
He is thereby ordered to pay unto the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the said township the sum of two pound two shillings for the charges and expenses incident to the birth of the said child and maintenance of the said child from the time of birth to the time of making the said order, the further sum of seventeen shillings for the cost of apprehending and securing the said Thomas Moore, and the sum of two shillings in money weekly and every week towards the maintenance of the said child so long as the same shall be chargeable to the said township.

Prior to 1834 each individual parish was responsible for the maintenance of its own poor. Mothers of illegitimate children could receive poor relief but the authorities pursued the father for support. An order would be issued and the father was obliged to pay for the child’s maintenance or face a possible prison sentence. This is why the church wardens of the parish had this order issued against Thomas Moore who Molly must have named as the father. The two shillings a week would be the equivalent of £7 in 2020.

There is a record of a Thomas Moore getting married to a Mary Hall in February 1812 in Poulton le Fylde. If this is the same Thomas Moore, it would seem he got Molly pregnant and then deserted her to marry someone else. I have not been able to trace any more records about Molly, so I don’t know what happened to her. There was a workhouse in Poulton le Fylde but there are no surviving records so it is not possible to find out if she had to resort to going there.

Thomas Whiteside and Margaret Fishwick

As stated above, Thomas was the son of Molly Whitehouse and was born on 1st October 1811 in Marton Lancashire. He married Margaret Fishwick in 1840 in Woodplumpton Lancashire which is just north of Preston. They had 6 children. Margaret was born in 1813 in Myerscough Lancashire which is seven miles north of Preston.

In the 1841 census, Thomas is shown as working as a Malt Man in Woodplumpton. A Malt Man is either someone who turned barley to malted barley or someone who dealt in malt. Barley was the most common grain used in malting. Malting took place in a Malthouse and is a series of processes, soaking, germinating and drying, which converts the starch in the grain into maltose. It was a heavy manual process as the grains needed regular turning to ensure an even process. The resulting malt was then used to make beer or whisky or other products.

By 1851 the Thomas and Margaret had moved to Preston and then I lose track of them.

Andrew Whiteside and Mary Hannah Wilson

Andrew was a son of Thomas and Margaret and was born in 1844 in Catforth Lancashire. There is a brief mention of him in the newspapers in 1866 which says he was a plumber in Warton Lancashire and that a George Evans had stolen his cap which was worth two shillings. By the time of the 1871 census he had moved to York where he continued to work as a plumber. There he married Mary Hannah Wilson in 1871. They had 8 children. Mary was born in 1853 in Monk Frieston Yorkshire.

By 1881, they had moved again to Thirsk. and then by 1891, they eventually found their way to Leeds. He had expanded his skills as he now described himself as plumber, glazier and painter. Andrew died in 1923 and Mary died in 1918.

Mary Hannah Whiteside and Charles William Henry Bissell

Mary was a daughter of Andrew and Mary and was born in 1878 in York. After she moved to Leeds with her parents, she married Charles Bissell in 1900 in Leeds. I have covered Charles on the Bissell page.

These are the parents of grandad Joseph Bissell so I have come to the end of the Whiteside ancestors.

Mary Hannah Whiteside
Mary Hannah Whiteside