John Calvert (1703 - 1783)

Born 17 Oct 1703 in Great Harwood, Lancashire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Jennett (Fielden) Calvert — married 4 Jun 1723 in Great Harwood, Lancashire, England

Descendants

Died 15 Nov 1783 at age 80 in Great Harwood, Lancashire, England

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Biography

On a wet and chilly day, 17 OCT 1703, in Great Harwood, Lancashire, England, a baby boy by the name of John was born to the parents of Daniel Calvert and his wife Ann Walmsley. John was also baptised on 16 Nov 1701 in St Bartholomew Great Haarwood. John Calvert was the second son of five children as follows:

• Thomas Calvert-(1701-1783)
• Robert Calvert-(1706-)
• Ann Calvert-(1708-1780)
• Benjamin Calvert-(1716-1731)

On 04 Jun 1723, John married his long time sweetheart Jennett Fielden daughter of Roger Fielden. As their love grew and their marriage got stornger, they started a f amily. Their family consisted of nine (9) children as follows:

• Catherine Calvert-(1723-)
• Daniel Calvert-(1724-1800)
• Roger Calvert-(1725-1725)
• Ann Calvert-(1727-)
• Thomas Calvert-(1731-1732)
• Robert Calvert-(1733-1734)
• Margaret Calvert-(1734-1771)
• James Calvert-(1738-1772)
• Benjamin Calvert-(1743-1826)

On 15TH NOV 1783 • Great Harwood, Lancashire, England, John had passed away, with friends and family at his bedside.

• A little more on Bio-

JOHN CALVERT (c1703-1783)

John appears to have inherited and run the farm after his father. He would have been thirteen when his mother died and by then, he would almost certainly have been working a full day alongside his father on the farm.

Weaving was gradually replacing farming as the primary industry in Great Harwood and John, like many folk in the area at this time, became a farmer/weaver. Plod weaving in particular, which was a form of check, was becoming something of a speciality in Great Harwood. In such families, the man did the weaving whilst the women and children did the spinning. John devoted progressively more time to weaving, leaving his eldest son, Daniel to run the farm.

Few among the labouring classes received any schooling; practical knowledge was far more valuable than academic learning. Working alongside their parents, children would learn about the weather, the seasons, the names of the animals and birds. They learned to recognise the varieties of hedgerow berries and which were good food and which were poisonous. They also learned how to tend and take care of the farm animals and the land. The normal expectation for many girls from farming, craft, and labouring families was that they entered domestic service as young teenagers, and continued in such employment until marriage.

For hundreds of years the town's people had been allowed free use of Harwood Moor to graze their animals, gather wood and cut bracken for bedding but by 1762 the common was little used and Parliament gave permission for the moor to be enclosed. New farms were built, and often included a "shop" for weaving.

During the first half of the 18th century the needs of the ordinary people, clothes, tools, bread, meat and beer were met in their own villages. Spinning and weaving took place in the home. But old traditions were changing; woollen weaving in Lancashire was in terminal decline and by 1770 it was virtually extinct; cotton had become king and inventions throughout the 1700s, most notably the flying shuttle, greatly speeded up weaving and increased output.

Even in those days, the inn was the social centre of the village. Here there was contact with the world beyond the village, through travellers' gossip over a glass of beer and, later, through the newspapers that appeared on the table. John's first cousin, Jonathan was the innkeeper of the. Cross Axes and a man of some repute (see The Parish Clerk) so John may have welcomed the opportunity to spend a little time with his cousin.

John was christened in Great Harwood on 17 October 1703. At the age of twenty, with a child on the way, he married JENNET FIELDING from Tottleworth, in Great Harwood on 4 June 1723. Jennet was buried in Great Harwood on 21 May 1778 and John died there on 15 November 1783. He had issue:

(i) CATERON (CATHERINE) was christened in Great Harwood on 29 December 1723.

(ii) DANIEL, a husbandman, was christened in Great Harwood on 25 December 1724 and was buried there on 11 March 1800. He married ANN ALDRED in Great Harwood on 12 November 1747. She was buried there on 18 May 1758. He had issue:

(a) ANN was born in Great Harwood on 13 November 1748. She married CHRISTOPHER STEPHE SON on 27 October 1773 and died in Rishton, Lancashire in July 1812.

(b) JOHN was christened in Great Harwood on 3 February 1752. He married JANE SMALLEY on 1 January 1771. They had issue.

(c) JAMES was christened in Great Harwood on 23 April 1753 and buried there on 10 July 1823. He married MARGARET SHAt PLES at Altham, Lancashire on 2 September 1773. They had issue.

(d) DANIEL was christened in Great Harwood on 5 October 1755 and buried there on 22 October 1756.

( e) JENNET was christened in Great Harwood on 18 May 1758 and buried there on 25 December 1759.

(iii) ROGER was christened in Great Harwood on 9 March 1726 and buried there on 15 March 1726. (iv) ANN was christened in Great Harwood on 30 April 1727. (v) BENJAMIN was christened in Great Harwood on 9 March 1729 and buried there on 11 January 1732. (vi) THOMAS was christened in Great Harwood on 4 April 1731 and buried there on 24 April 1732.

(vii) MARGARET was christened in Great Harwood on 28 December 1734 and buried there on 11 March 1771. She married HENRY CUNLIFFE in Great Harwood on 24 May 1761. (viii) JENNET was christened in Great Harwood on 10 September 1738 and buried there on 20 August 1772. (ix) BENJAMIN (4) of whom below.

• Lancashire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812

Name John Calvert Baptism Date 17 Oct 1703 Parish Great Harwood, Lancashire, England Phillimore Ecclesiastical Parish Maps 4698 Father's Name Daniel Calvert Register Type Bishops Transcripts Reference Number Drb/2/20

Sources

• Citation Information

EDIT SOURCE Source Information Title Lancashire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 Author Ancestry.com Note Lancashire Anglican Parish Registers. Preston, England: Lancashire Archives. Publisher Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Publisher Date 2012 Publisher Location Provo, UT