Samuel Vestey (1832-1902) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Samuel Vestey

Born 9 Mar 1832 in Horsforth, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Son of William Vestey and Martha (Stead) Vestey

Brother of Elizabeth Vestey

Husband of Hannah (Uttley) Vestey — married 15 Apr 1858 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Father of William Vestey 1st Bt and Edmund Hoyle Vestey 1st Bt.

Died 14 May 1902 at age 70 in Southport, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom

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Profile last modified 29 Oct 2022 | Created 22 May 2020

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1 Biography
2 Sources

Biography

Birth

Samuel Vestey was born on 9 March 1832, and baptised for William Vestey, a Bleacher, and his wife Martha Vestey, on 22nd April 1832 at Horsforth, St Margaret, when they were living in Horsforth^[1].

Early life

In the 1841 England Census, 8 yrs old Samuel Vestey, born in Yorkshire, is shown to be the son of William and Martha Vestey, whose ages are both given as 30 years. They were resident in the Township of Leeds in Yorkshire, in Pilot Street, with his father's occupation as a Bleacher^[2]. They were descended from a family of yeoman farmers (see Sources 'Vestey, R. A. 1970').

Occupation

By the time of the 1851 England Census, when Samuel's age was given as 19 yrs and his birth place as Horsforth, Yorkshire, his father William (40) was indicated to be a Maker up Worsted Packer of Yarn, who had been born in York, while his wife Martha (40) had also been born in Horsforth. They also had a 14 years old daughter Elizabeth, born in Horsforth. Samuel's occupation was already a Provision Dealer. They were resident in 49 Mabgate, Leeds, Yorkshire.

In 1856, Samuel Vestey had been a passenger, a Provision Dealer aged 24 years arriving in Pennsylvania, U.S., indicating that he intended to become a citizen of that country. He arrived on 18 June 1856 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA on the ship "City of Baltimore" having departed from Liverpool, England^[3], but clearly returned to England at some stage. In fact his business as a Provision Dealer in Liverpool, was mainly involved in buying and selling provisions imported from North America^[4]. However it is unclear when he actually moved to Liverpool, from Leeds, with the first actual date found being for the birth of their son William on 21 January 1859 in Liverpool.

Marriage

On 15 April 1858, Samuel Vestey, a 26 yrs old Bachelor, and Provisions Dealer, resident at 48 Mabgate, Leeds, father William Vestey, a Yarn Packer, married Hannah Uttley, a 22 yrs old Spinster, of Gledhow, Chapeltown, [Leeds, Yorkshire] father William Uttley, a Farmer, in Brunswick Wesleyan Chapel^[5]. They both signed their own names on the register.

Business and family life

For almost all of the rest of his life, Samuel lived at Liverpool, Lancashire, England, and most significantly was a "Liverpool provisions merchant", and thereby the founder for a time "the second wealthiest family in Britain after the Royals"^[6].

In the 1861 England Census, Samuel Vestey (29) of Olive Mount, Tranmere, Cheshire, today a suburb of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula (opposite to Liverpool on the Lancashire side), born Leeds, Yorkshire, was a Provision Dealer employing 10 men, with wife Anna (25) born Stansfield, Halifax and son William (2) born Liverpool, Lancashire^[7]. The 1871 Census (below) shows that their 2nd child, Annie was born at Tranmere in 1861 after the Census date of 7 April, while all the next 3 coming after her had their births listed under Rainford, Lancashire, a village and Parish some 14kms ENE of Bootle, which is near the center of Liverpool. Vestey, R. A. 1970, p.1 of 16 (see Sources) has that the family lived at 11 Trinity Rd, Bootle, where Samuel ran his butcher's shop. However, Trinity Rd, Bootle is ideally situated in proximity to the Liverpool Docks. The next child Percy was born in Sutton in 1868, which is also well inland from Bootle, like Rainford, and in the St Helens area. Sidney S is shown to have been born in Bootle, but the following paragraph indicates the family residence was no longer in Trinity Rd.

In the 1868-1870, Liverpool, England, Polling Register, Samuel Vestey was residing at 27 Chesnut Grove, Marsh Lane, Bootle, a Freehold House and Land, of 71, 73 and 75 Gildart's Gardens, Liverpool^[8]. This is also handy to the Liverpool Docks

In the 1871 England Census, Samuel Vestey (39) and wife Anna (35) now had 7 children, William (12) b.West Derby, Lancashire, Annie (9) b.Tranmere, Cheshire, John U (8) b.Rainford, Lancs., as was Edmund H (5) and Beatrice S (6), while Percy (3) was b.Sutton, Lancs. and Sidney S (1) b.Bootle, Lancs, with 2 female Servants also in the household at 27 Chesnut Grove, Bootle. Samuel was a Provision Merchant employing 5 men, and the 5 eldest children were all Scholars^[9].

The 1881 England Census has 3 new additions to the family:- Florence M. (8), Francis J. (5) and Mary E. (3), with the eldest William (22) still at home and like his father Samuel (49) a Provision Merchant. Hannah (45) and the family had moved to 16 St Edmonds Rd., Bootle, Lancashire, since the previous Census but John U was not on the Census form. This time the 3 additions to the family were all born in Bootle.

In the same year, Samuel Vesty, Provision Merchant, appears in the "1881 Kelly´s Directory of Liverpool" at 5 Mathew Street^[10].

There does not seem to be an 1891 England Census for the family but Samuel and Hannah had eleven children. Two of their sons, "William Vestey (1859-1940) and Edmund Hoyle Vestey (1866-1954) began their commercial lives as office boys working for their father" (ref. history-of-union-cold-storage). [That should be 12 children - "They had eight sons and four daughters. The survivors of whom have built the tower of this cathedral church" - according to the memorial plaque shown in the Find a Grave Index record (see below), which also has that he died at Southport.]

In 1893, aged 60 years, Samuel would go again to the USA arriving New York, New York on 15 March 1893 on the ship "Majestic", having departed from Liverpool. However, at some stage the business that he had built up in Liverpool got into financial difficulties through giving out too much credit and went bankrupt (see Sources 'Vestey, R. A.' p1/16 pdf version.)

Retirement

The 1901 England Census has only Samuel Vesty Head (69) Retired Provision Merchant, born Horsforth, Yorkshire, with his daughter Beatrice S , (35) single, Living on own Means, b. Rainford, Lancashire, residing in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England^[11].

Death and burial

He died on 14 May 1902 at age 70 and was buried at Anfield Cemetery, in the Non-Conformist area on 16 May 1902, at Merseyside in England^[12]. The Find a Grave Index record has that he was buried in Liverpool Cathedral Cemetery^[13]^[14].

Sources

1. BP2003 volume 3, page 4004.

Vestey, R. A. 1970 'The Foundation & Development of the Vestey Fortunes', notes compiled by R A Vestey, (Vestey history.pdf)
thepeerage.com (#319550)
Residence: Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Class: HO107; Piece: 2320; Folio: 831; Page: 13; GSU roll: 87545-87547.
Arrivals: Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Year: 1893; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Line: 24; Page Number: 26.

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Samuel Vestey (1832 - 1902)

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