Richardson: notes and research ref from JR

by | Nov 23, 2019 | Text-emails, 1800-1899, 1900-1999, Richardson (Sprig)

Dec 10, 2019
 
Hi J R,
How interesting to hear of your friends connection to the Lawrence family. Randi’s branch moved to Quebec in 1795 where they farmed for several generations. One of them (Randi’s ancestor) then moved west to northern Alberta (Fort Vermillion) in the 1880s where he/they created an experimental ranch for the federal government, researching viable crops, planting seasons, etc. Most of the family remains in Alberta.
 
The genealogical info is much appreciated. I’m very interested in learning more about the Richardson’s of Yorkshire. We drove through the little village of Great Ayton near Whitby and spent two hours in Whitby. Both places were home to your gang as you probably know. They had a tannery and ship yard. Seems building boats is in the blood. Edward Richardson (1806-1863) had the tannery. His son John Wigham Richardson (1837-1908) owned a very successful shipyard in Whitby which he imaginatively named The Wigham Richardson Shipbuilding Company. In a bid to secure a lucrative contract the company merged with Swan and Hunter to become Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson (Did this company build the Swan and Hunter series of sailing yachts?). The lucrative contract was to build the RMS Mauretania on behalf of Cunard. They got the contract and built the Mauretania (holder of the trans-atlantic speed record) along with a number of the greatest ships of the early twentieth century, including the RMS Carpathia, famous for rescuing survivors of the RMS Titantic. Wigham was your first cousin once removed of the husband of your great aunt. In my world that makes him your brother — almost…an elderly brother. All in all that’s an impressive pedigree you have Mr. Richardson. Remind me to solicit your autograph when next we meet.
 
Great Ayton was also the childhood home of Captain James Cook. Do you suppose your rellies went to school with him? Such an unfortunate name, Cook.
 
There is a family connection of sorts to Cook.  One Thomas Milner owned the collier Earl of Pembroke. Thomas was the 2nd great-grandfather of the  husband of the sister-in-law of the nephew of the husband of my 3rd great-aunt. Very close indeed. Imagine how close he is to you! (I checked. He’s your 2nd great-grandfather of the husband of the sister-in-law of the nephew of the husband of your 3rd great-aunt. Ah well, he’s blood). Anyway, the British Admiralty bought the ship from Thomas at the recommendation (I believe) of Cook and renamed it the Endeavour. Cook had apprenticed on colliers on the run from Whitby to London . He thought their specifications (shallow draft, high cargo capacity) would be ideal for charting coastlines, getting off if run aground and beaching for repairs and maintenance. The Endeavour did in fact prove able, to wit: her shallow draft allowed her to slip off a reef on the coast of Australia. The Endeavour was built by Thomas Fisher, probably a relative of ours as the Fisher family is prominent among our Quaker ancestors.
 
Peter
 
From Dec 9 2018
JR: Interesting to hear about your genealogical research; it can be fascinating.  The mother of my good college friend, Bill McCue, was a direct descendant of those Lawrence industrialists, and I remember her well.
 
I haven’t received the invite to that family tree that you mention, don’t know why.  I’d be glad to see.
 
As it happens, I recently stumbled across other detailed genealogical data assembled by a very distant English cousin, you may be interested to peruse: http://benbeck.co.uk/fh/fh.htm  His specific information re James Alaric R is here: http://benbeck.co.uk/fh/collaterals/second%20cousins/4O204cousins.html  Scroll about half way down.

Richardson Ships

by | Nov 23, 2019 | Text & Images, 1800-1899, 1900-1999, Richardson (Sprig)

Dec 11, 2018
Peter,
 
Fascinating to read your comments on Cook’s Endeavor, which I suspect would have been fitted out with leather-related rigging by the Richardson Leatherworks located in Whitby at the same time.  Not only that, but my non-blood ancestor Jeremiah Dixon (via my g-grandmother Augusta Ann Dixon Richardson) hitched a ride with Cook for one of his incredible efforts to observe the Transit of Venus.  Lots to be found on all that on the internet, these days.
 
Jeremiah has even become somewhat of a celeb, thanks to my favorite rocker, Mark Knopfler, see: https://youtu.be/HaQS45-YFdE
 
Your Wiki info re the size of the SHWR shipyard is astonishing but perhaps not surprising… in approx 1964, I visited the SHWR “works” in Sunderland, with my father.  It was… no small operation!!!
 
One or more very large ships were under construction… but what I remember most vividly was the enormous size of a marine engine (steam; triple expansion?) being assembled inside a cavernous shipyard building.  Seemed to be easily 50′ tall, larger than a large house.  
 
I’m boggled to think what nerve it took to scale-up existing engineering, metalworking, and steam technologies to create such large structures successfully, in the heyday of the late-industrial-revolution.  Not to mention… to obtain the capital to finance the bold enterprise.  Wigham must have been a genius with bankers in the early days, and he must have had cast iron nerves.
 
All that said, I don’t believe SHWR had anything to do with Swan yachts or Hunter yachts.
 
Charlotte Karney Yalouris, a direct descendent of WR via her mother Celia Richardson, now lives in Cambridge MA… and we’re pretty close, which is nice.  My genealogical connection to that branch of the family is quite slender, however.
 
J R
(Personal deleted)