In the summer of 1833, the Yorkshire and national newspapers were gripped by the story of 'the Kelfield Prophetess', a young girl called Hannah Beedham. Hannah described having a vision where she was told her death date. Two thousand people flocked to Kelfield to see her 'die'. Only she didn't...
By mid August 1833, the press were calling Hannah 'The Nine Days' Wonder'. Here's her story.
LIVING all but the final two years of her life before civil registration, there is only a limited 
amount of bare facts we can reconstruct, regarding Hannah Beedham. Our researches continue, though so we will update this information as we get it.
There is only one monograph on the life of Hannah Beedham, "Strange Infatuation, The Curious Tale of Hannah Beedham: Forgotten Prophetess of York and Kelfield", by J.E. Muldowney and C. A. Cade, (self published), 1989, written when a group of Kelfielders decided to put on a play (in original lcoations) re. Hannah's life. In the book, they speculated that members of their audience could even feasibly be descendants of the characters in the story, but at the time of writing, they had no knowledge of any White, Beedham or Sturdys nearby. In their introduction, Muldowney and Cade describe how "Initially, we had only the names Beedham and Beedham's Court to go on...." They had no way of knowing even the decade when Hannah was active. Apparently Tommy Harrison (a Spencer descendant) gave them the lead they needed, when he told them in researching the Stillingfleet disaster he'd come across mention in the 1833 newspapers of Beedham. It is quite amazing when you think, that the tiny village of Kelfield hit the national newspaper headlines twice in under 6 months - Hannah's story in the summer of 1833, and our church singers in the December. Also amazing that no-one made the link between names in the two stories - the victim, school-teacher's daughter Clara Sturdy and James Sturdy, the Kelfield gardener/farmer who allowed Beedham to 'die' (or rather not die) in his house. Our own research told us that James Sturdy was in fact Clara's uncle. In 1833, the Sturdys had one hell of a year of it!
Research is slightly easier these days, with so many genealogy resources online. With that, plus visits to the Borthwick Insitute, we were able to fill in a few of the missing pieces of Cade and Muldowney's jigsaw.
The Beedhams first crop up in York in the records of St John's Ousebridge, Micklegate in the centre of York. This church was deconsecrated in the 20thC. Ouse Bridge was at one time covered in buildings - in medieval times there were 36 shops on it, and 5 tenements. Fortunately, Hannah's father's birth was one of the unique to Yorkshire, Dade records, so we can trace where the Beedhams came from, before York. In fact, the Reverand Dade who developed the more detailed baptism entries in parish records, was incumbent at St John's York, at one point which means when we looked at aprish records, we had a slightly fuller account than you'd get many other places, for the late 18thC,
According to records, Hannah's father was the third son of a farmer, William Beedham, and grandson of a Dunnington labourer, also WIlliam Beedham.... and his mother Elizabeth Whitteron was daughter of a Knottingley (West Yorkshire) mariner. The record reads:
"9.1.1788 John Beedom, 3 son of 3 born of Beedham. Wm Beedom, Farmer, son of Wm Beedom of Dunnington, labourer, by Ann his wife. Mother's Name & Descent: Elizabeth, dr of John Whitteron of Knotingley, mariner, Mary [Leadston?] his wife. Born 9.1.1788 bap 11.1.1788"
The Whitterons appear to have come to York maybe pursuing their business of being watermen (like so many other families in our story), as when John Beedham was six years old, his uncle, John Whitteron, also a mariner, married at Ousebridge.
There seem to be a number of unrecorded little Beedhams, because the next recorded birth to William and Elizabeth was in 1802, that of their eighth child. By 1802, William was no longer described as 'farmer' but as 'joiner'.
William Beedham appears to have been substantial enough, as he was granted the Freedom of the City six years later, no small feat for any York tradesman; in 1807 and the subsequent generation of Beedhams lived at Beedham Court, not far from the river. Muldowney and Cade say:
"The name Beedham's Court is misleading. It turned out to be an enclave of squalid lodging houses off Skeldergate, in an area known graphically as Hagworm's Nest, notorious for prostitution and disease. Quite how Beedham's Court came to be named is unclear, but Hannah's grandfather, William Beedham, was living there in the very early years of the nineteenth century. William was granted the Freedom of the City in 1807 and we therefore assume that the buildings were named in his honour, but there is no evidence that he owned them...."
In fact, the Beedhams seem to have turned away from farming early in the 19thC. The fact someone in the centre of York around the turn of the 19thC is described as 'farmer' is not surprising. There are 19thC prints of farmyards within the shadow of the Minster, and as Censuses show, many terraced cottages in many a Vale of York village housed farming families - even if their couple of acres of land was the other end of the village. They seem to have gone into the field of carpentry - William and later his sons, William and John, both turn up in Trade Directories described as 'cabinet makers' which suggests a level of competency. Whoever built a small yard of tenements in a gap site first would have named it after themselves - Leeds at this date is full of Yards. If he was a Freeman of the City, had once farmed and now was a cabinet maker, there's no reason why Beedham wouldn't have owned the place in Skeldergate and, according to later Trade Directories, the Beedhams were in the building trade anyway - as well as cabinet making they seemed to turn their hands to other carpentry trades.
Although there is extant the familair later 19thC 'slum clearance' type photo of Beedham's Court reproduced in the monograph, it's fair to say we cannot judge the Court of 1800 by what it became say 80 years later. In fact, the Beedhams may well have been prosperous enough in Hannah's early years as Baines' Trade Directory of 1823 lists:
"Beedham John, Fetter lane
Beedham William, Skeldergate"
As cabinet makers, carpenters and house-builders.
And in the alphabetical listing of the same year contains something more intriguing:
"Beedham Elizabeth, gentlewoman, Beedham's yard, Skeldergate
Beedham John, cabinet maker, Fetter lane
Beedham William, joiner and cabinet maker, Beedham's yd. Skeldergt. "
Elizabeth could not be down as 'gentlewoman' with an 'un-genteel' address, which suggests Beedham's Court was indeed, not a nest of disease and prostitutes in 1823. A look at Beedham's Court's inhabitants twelve years on, in the Census of 1841, suggests otherwise. (And again, these kind of sources are freely available in the age of the internet but back in 1989 when the book was being researched, Trade Directories and Censuses were not so readily available). We can now revise our view of Hannah a bit, in the light of this newer information.
Finding this, also begged the question of who Elizabeth Beedham 'gentlewoman' was? The most likely candidate is Elizabeth Beedham nee Whitteron, Hannah's grandmother. Again, this goes against the current received opinion of Hannah being the lowest of the low, and the poorest of the poor.
If on the other hand, she was some other Beedham entirely, maybe an elderly spinster, could I find any candidates on the IGI? One possibility was the Elizabeth Beedom of Easingwold, baptised 6.9.1786, daughter of a John Beedom of Easingwold. I later rejected this theory but it did show that there were Beedoms in Easingwold in the 18thC-19thC, which was to prove useful information. Remembering some Easingwold reference in the contemporary accounts, I kept that one at the back of mind as I researched further...
To get a better sense of Beedham's Court, we turned to the 1841 Census, where we found 31 households in Beedham's Court. Butchers, joiners, cabinet makers, watermen, labourers, mariners, tailors, printers - mainly family groups, not households of single people, and mainly working folk with trades. No doubt the elderly Elizabeth Beedham 'gentlewoman' was dead, by 1841.
Both the Beedham lads, William and John, became cabinet makers and joiners themselves and the parish records take up the story, again.
In 1808, aged 22, John now a joiner himself, married Ann Simison, also of St John's parish. John was literate enough to sign the register, but Ann signed with a mark - not uncommon at this date as working class men often received some sort of a rudimentary education - moreso than women.
Only two months after the married, two days before christmas, 1808, their first child Eliuzabeth was born and baptised the same day. Often a birth and baptism on the same day suggests the baby was weak, and not expected to live which indeed was the case as on the 2nd January 1809, only one week old, little Elizabeth was buried. In July 1810, John and Ann had a son, James.
Hannah was John and Ann's eldest surviving daughter, baptised on 18th April, 1814. John and Ann's address is given as Skeldergate which could well mean Hannah was born in Beedham's Court.
On the very same day, there is recorded in the same register the burial of one Ann Beedham, aged only 2 years old:
"18.4.1814 bur. Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, 2 years"
We have no baptismal record for this child for either of the Beedham brothers - again not uncommon for this date, especially for girls - and we are still pre civil registration. The baby buried the day Hannah was baptised must have been Hannah's sister or cousin, as John Beedham's brother, William and his wife were also having children at this time and their adress is also given as Skeldergate. Either way, it may give us some insight into why Hannah grew up to be such a remarkable character - baptised the same day her sister/cousin was buried - and presumably the much loved replacement of an older daughter who had died in infancy. Hannah was possibly the focus of much attention in the Beedham household, and grew up feeling 'special' in some way.
Her remarkable start in life might have been a familiar family story, something that she grew up with and that marked her out.
A year after Hannah was born, she had a sister, Elizabeth, and two years after that, in 1817, she had a brother, Thomas. In 1819, there is recorded the burial of an Ann Beedham, aged 42 years - but we cannot know whether this is John Beedham's wife, Ann or William Beedham's wife - also Ann. John's brother William was buried at St John's in 1823, aged 37 years and at this point, no more Beedhams are recorded in St John's parish records.
Muldowney and Cade make the point that York in the 1820s and 30s, would have been home to various of the Millenarian sects, like the Soutcottians and Wroeites of 'Wroes' Virgins' fame. These people had their roots in the 17thC Fifth Monarchy movement, which preached that there was to be a second coming. They often preached a brand of hellfire and brimstone; some had charismatic leaders. If Hannah came across the story of Joanna Southcote, shemust have figured that she too could gain notoriety by dying on cue. Certainly, there does seem some possible manipulation of the press, as Hannah appears to have told of scenes around her much like those described by early spiritualists of twenty years later - various happenings we'd now equate with 'psychic phenomena' - thigns flying around the room, strange nosies, etc, which many 20thC psychologists believed had mroe to do with female girls and puberty, than the supernatural. The press seem to have got hold of a story that Hannah lay in a hospital bed at the county hospital (first misreported as the Easingwold Hospital), when she had her first visitation from god.
The York Courant of the week after the-death-that-never-was, in 1833, refers to "ravings", also "trances, predictions and street preachings". Her precise predictions (apart from the one that she was going to die on 1st August, 1833) are not known. And we have no idea of which sect she belonged to - although the papers make reference to her having her 'ticket withdrawn' by the Methodist chapel. We have recently found evidence of a possible reason for this - and it has little to do with theology, a bit more to do with raging hormones!
We can get an idea of how Hannah operated, though. There is an account of her preaching, on Queen's Staith (very short walking distance from her parental home in Skeldergate). The story went national - 'The Times' of July 18th, 1833 reprinted a York Courant report:
"A FEMALE PROPHET. - A young woman, named Hannah Beedham, addressed a large congregatuion of people from a cart on the staith, on Wednesday evening. She lately lived at Easingwold, where some weeks back, it is reported, she was in a trance for three days. During that time many wonderful things were tevealed to her....she was instructed that her own death will take place on Thursday, the 1st of August; and on Monday next she is to leave York for the house of some gentleman, where she will remain until her death....."
Again as the story unfolds, we will see that 'Easingwold' may have been a bit of a cover. There were Beedhams in Easingwold - and she may have visited there in the past and used it as the first place that came to mind to explain an absence from home... But Hannah was somewhere else entirely, in 1832. The papers of August 1833, say she was at Kelfield for three months before the great event was staged - and yet the dates here make it look more like three weeks. Times, places and dates are always elusive, in this story. Also the August papers mention that she was in York County Hospital three YEARS earlier when she claimed to have had her first vision (which would make her 17 when the delusion/attention seeking scam/whatever it was started). But that they'd reported Easingwold County Hospital in error. Certainly there is some garbled story around Easingwold, that we can't really untangle at this distance in time.
We must now visit William White, Hannah's future husband, to get a fuller sense of the story.
William White was baptised at Stillingfleet 20.2.1814, son of prosperous George White, 'gardener' and his wife, Mary. George's property in Kelfield is shown on the 1830's tithe map. (COMING SOON!) The Whites had originally come to Escrick, and some remained there. George White seems to have been comparable in status to James Sturdy, his fellow Kelfield gardener/farmer, being substantial enough to appear on the tithe map. Many a yeoman farmer's son is down in parish records as 'labourer' as technically, labouring on their family farms that was what they were. William White's status as farm labourer and later slide down into poverty may not reflect his true status, at the point he met Hannah.
We should recall that at the height of her fame, being written about not only in the York papers but also the nationals, and having enough impact to fill Kelfield in the summer of 1833 with over two thousand people - Hannah White was still just a nineteen year old. We are certain White knew her by 1831, when she would have been only seventeen. It's a salutary thought that both William White and Hannah Beedham were virtually the same age as our teenage church singers when they drowned. The singers may well have been to school (or Sunday school?) with White. Clara Sturdy of course had even more reason to know White and maybe Hannah also as she spent three weeks/months in Clara's cousins' home in Kelfield.
William White is quite a mysterious figure but we do know he was literate enough to sign his name on his wedding to Hannah, and so it is likely to have been educated at the Kelfield village school, which was close to his home.
Our preliminary work suggests Hannah already had a relationship with White before the summer of 1833, as we found reference in the IGI to the birth of a baby, Eliza White, in Thorne, quite some distance from Kelfield or York, where the Whites appear to have had relatives. On the 5th October, 1832 at the Unitarian Christian, Thorne, Yorkshire, England, Eliza White was baptised. Her parents are given as: "William White, Hannah Beldom" (sic). Too much of a coincidence to not be relevant. This also suggests in mid 1832, Hannah was active with the Unitarian sect - there has been no previous mention of this in any sources. It's impossible to believe if the 1833 newspapers - who seem to have derided Hannah mercilessly - had hold of the fact she had only just given birth to an illegitimate baby ... they would have had even more ammunition on her and would not have failed to mention it.
We have found no burial or death record for any Eliza White between 1832 and 1841, and she cannot be found in Thorne, Kelfield or York in the 1841 Census where William, now widowed, was living alone in the Bedern. Clearly the baby was either dead, adopted, or kept out of the way for the summer of 1833 when Hannah had press attention and there was constant public interest at least in Yorkshire, regarding her doings. Being with family in 'Easingwold' seems to have got the press off the scent. And the locals. It's unlikely James Sturdy would have linked his name to Hannah's and lent his support to the extent of hosting the 'nine days' wonder' - if he'd had a whiff of scandal.
Trade Directories tell us there was plenty of traffic by road and river, towards Thorne. Again, from Baines' Directory in 1823 are listed the weekly boats going from York to Hull, which would have taken Hannah in the right direction - and going from the Wharf in Skeldergate:
"The Old Contract Butter Sloops,
* The following Vessels sail from Skeldergate New Wharf, York, to Hull every Saturday evening, and from Hull to York every 6 days:
* *The Hopewell - John Stephenson
* The Friends - James Watkinson
* The Britain - James Swift
* The William & Sarah - Richard James
* The York Merchant - Wm. North
* The Ploughman - James Stephenson
* York, Henry Mills & Son.
* Hull, G. Darbyshire, Blackfriargt.
* *The Masters of the York and Hull vessels, attend at the Black Boy, High street, Hull. "
There were also steam packets and coaches but the river, by cover of evening, would have been a subtler way to slip away for the latter part of nine months.
Cholera swept York in 1832, which would have made it all the less remarkable that Hannah stayed away for some of that year,'with relatives in the country'.
Back from Thorne, (or 'Easingwold')... Hannah seems to have been in York again by early 1833, and then, three months - or three weeks - before the 'death', at the Sturdy's house in Kelfield.
With much less to go on, Muldowney and Cade and others since, have assumed Hannah maybe met White at this stage, in those 'final' weeks leading upto the 'death' in Kelfield. Yet she already had at least one child by him, by now.The 1833 papers made reference to Hannah having been ejected from the Methodist movement, which may mean the Unitarians took her in. It now looks rather like she lost her ticket because she lost her virtue. Muldowney and Cade comment on the paucity of evidence - either in the Methodist records, or contemporary Anglican accounts of the time - bearing in midn Sir Clements Markham's unpublished history of the parish covered this period and yet no mention, once, of Hannah. The most newsowrthy story the parish ever saw - until that night four months later, when the tragedy overshadowed all. It is possible that the establishment (both methodist and anglican) simply didn't think it worth a mention - a young woman, little more than a teenager, with radical views. Also it's worth pointing out, John Wesley had had no problem with females preaching but with his death, the methodist movement became more conservative and by this date, Hannah would have been an embarrassment for those who wanted to move on - leaving women back in the congregation, not leading it.
We cannot know whether William White was present or not, during the death that never was. Or where baby Eliza was - if she was even still alive.
It's possible White was a labourer for James Sturdy, who took Hannah in and allowed the multitudes to file past and give their respects to Hannah, as she lay in state, waiting for the hand of god...
The Sturdys are an old Cawood family, who crossed the river to Kelfield and Stillingfleet parish around the same time as the Fishers. In the early 18thC, in Cawood, the Sturdys (then 'Stordys') married into a family called the Mulkeys - also my ancestors - so we're indirectly related to James Sturdy. James Sturdy must have gone over to the Methodists by 1833. Whether his association with Hannah lost him his ticket, we don't know. Although the Times refers to him as 'gentleman', that may be a little tongue in cheek. He was usually described as a 'gardener' and his land comprised of a garth, orchard, probably a house and barn.
It is also possible, John Fisher's sister, Jane Guy had some involvement in the Kelfield Propetess story - as it looks likely Jane and Robert Guy were also Methodists as the new Methodist chapel in 1852, was built on what used to be the Guys' land. (Guy's cousin, Barnard Clarkson, seems to have financed the building of many methodist chapels in the area). The Sturdys and the Fishers were typical of local families - half going over to the Methodists and half staying with the old church. But then, pretty well everyone on the boat on the Ouse that night in December 1833, would have had Methodist relatives. Locals always say it is interesting that in the 19thC Stillingfleet is described as having 'people' or a 'population'. Kelfield, on the other hand, is a village of 'souls'. By 1852, the tiny village was served by two Methodist chapels.
The full account of August 1st can be found here. It was thought there were upwards of two thousand visitors camped out in Kelfield, at the height of things, and coaches returning to York from Kelfield were mobbed by people anxious for the news from Kelfield. People came from as far away as South Yorkshire (one account ominously mentions DOncaster - rather close to Thorne, so who's to say there wasn't a coach load or two of Thorne Unitarians up for the day!)
In The York Courant of 13.8.1833, Hannah's shameful return to Bedern is described with The Courant's usual cynicism:
"... The prophetess - the 'nine days' wonder' -, she whom the people went far to see, arrived yesterday in Beddern, in this city, from the scene of her imposture, at Kelfield. Her coming excited some little interest in the neighbourhood, and several eprsons congregated in front of her dwelling; but after having stood some time, and held a talk... and there being neither sign nor wonder wrought on the occasion, they dispersed, and the street resumed its wonted quietude."
Which tells us Hannah spent around twelve days after the 'death' still at Sturdy's house, presumably.
The story is taken into its final chapter, in the records, with the next York parish I could find the Beedhams in the records - Goodramgate. This is the small church almost opposite the Bedern, where we know Hannah seems to have spent her married life.
On 29th December, 1835, three years after the birth of their 'secret' baby in Thorne, two years after the ill fated 'death', William and Hannah married. At their wedding at Goodramgate, he signed the register and Hannah marked. Remarkable that a woman who couldn't even sign her own name must have been an orator, enough to take some thousands want to travel the length of Yorkshire to see her. Hannah's father was witness at her wedding which suggests her York family didn't give up on her, either.
William and Hannah's marriage was only to last four years as we have no baptismal records for Hannah's children - if any more were born, it's likely they are in the nonconformist records somewhere - but there is a record of Hannah's burial on Christmas Eve, 1839, aged only 27 years, at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate. On that christmas eve, only six years on from the death that never was and almost exactly the anniversary of the Stillingfleet Tragedy, a lot of Kelfield and Stillingfleet families must have been considering their lost loved ones, especially those girls born in the Regency years - like Hannah. It is easy to forget how young she was. It's possible some made the journey into York for the funeral, thinking of their own lost loved ones - girls of the same generation as Hannah White.
Muldowney and Cade mention two daughters born during the marriage - Ann and Elizabeth. I found no reference to either, and could not find them on the IGI.
After Hannah's death, William seems to have drifted to York and ended up a 'labourer'. usually this meant 'day labourer', someone without a year's contract who would drift from one menial job to another. When looking for him, I had to disentangle him from several other William Whites of a similar age - one, by a spectacular coincidence, was the Druggist who wrote the report into the workhouse conditions.
The Whites were neighbours of James Sturdy in Kelfield. Possibly, returning to Kelfield and his own family was untenable for William White after the events of the summer of 1833. In the 1841 Census, William could be found still in the Bedern - York's most notorious slum - in a multi-occupier building, listed as 'labourer'. His child/children with Hannah nowhere to be found. By the 1851 Census, William disappeared into obscurity. It's possible he disappeared into the anonymity of Leeds or London, and more than possible he ended his days in the workhouse, like so many others in our story.
It's impossible to decide whether she was deluded, or someone who set about manipulating others, for attention or some obscurer motive. The York press made their scepticism pretty plain, referring to her with terms like "imposture" spouting "rhapsodies" and call her a "fanatic"; also making reference to her "limited intellect". They imply that the whole Nine Days' Wonder, where thousands of people descended on Kelfield was probably for most, just a bit of a jolly - no-one seems to have taken her all that seriously. Maybe the press have always had their summer 'silly season' and Hannah just fitted perfectly into that mould, as silly season fodder.
I do think we can revise our view of her as impoverished - the Beedhams clearly had more substance than we'd previously thought. We should also be informed by the 1832 Thorne incident - she clearly wasn't above some expeditious lying to cover her tracks - maybe hypocrisy too, when you consider how many people took her seriously as a prophet sent straight from god. (How differently would Joanna Southcote have been viewed, if she'd had a "secret love child?")
Certainly the whole incident, would have confirmed for some of our fourteen on the boat on the Ouse, that they had made the right choice, not going over to the 'mad' Methodists. At this time, the hottest debate of the day was whether to give non conformists the vote - and many of the same newspapers reporting the Beedham incident were also at pains to argue the corner of Methodist farmers like Sturdy who were still compelled to pay the anglican church tithe - without wanting to set foot in the anglican church - a growing cause of friction in places like Kelfield.
Certainly, taking her place with the Stillingfleet Church Singers, Sturdy's niece Clara must have felt a little bit more secure from ridicule, as that little boat pulled oat across the Ouse, that night in December, 1833.
York Parish records - Beedhams
St John's Ousebridge, York.
1788 (Dade) 9.1.1788 John Beedom, 3 son of 3 born of Beedham. Wm Beedom, Farmer, son of Wm Beedom of Dunnington, labourer, by Ann his wife. Mother's Name & Descent: Elizabeth, dr of John Whitteron of Knotingley, mariner, Mary [Leadston?] his wife. Born 9.1.1788 bap 11.1.1788
1794 14.6.1794 mar. John Whitteron, mariner and Ann [Beadney] of this parish, widow, by banns. Wits: Elizabeth Whitteron, John Bennett [he signs, she X]
1802 Thos son and 8th child of Wm Bedeham, joiner, by Elizabeth his wife, dr of John and Mary Whiteron, born 20.3 baptised 20.6.1802
1806 18.9.1806 mar. Wm Beedham, joiner and Ann Buck - both of this parish, by banns [he signs, she X] wits: Mary [Turner?] John [Wrathe?]
1807 17.5.1807 Mary, first child of Wm Beedham, joiner by Ann his wife, late Ann Buck, born 12.5 bap 17.5. 1807
1808 23.10.1808 John Beedham, joiner, and Ann Simison 'of this parish', by banns, he signs she X. Wits: Elizabeth [Maddcath?] Samuell [Birtney?]
1808 Elizabeth, 1st child and dr of John Beedham, joiner, by Ann his wife late Ann Simison, was born 23.12 and bap 23.12
1809 Esther, [2] child and 1st dr Wm Beedham, joiner, by his wife [crossed out] was born 9.8 bap. 15.8.1809
1809 2.1.1809 burial Elizabeth Beedham, dr John and Ann. died 31.12.1808, buried 2.1.1809, age 1 week
1810 20.7.1810 bap. James, son of John and Ann Beedham, 18.7.1810 bap. 20.7.1810
1813 18.4.1813 bap. Hannah, dr. John and Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, joiner
1814 18.4.1814 bur. Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, 2 years
1814 17.9.1814 bap. Wm, son of Wm and Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, joiner
1815 8.4.1815 bap. Eliz, dr John and Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, joiner
1816 10.11.1816 bap. John, son of Wm and Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, joiner
1817 20.4.1817 bap. Thos, son of John and Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, joiner
1818 3.12.1818 bur. John Beedham, Skeldergate, 2 years 1 mth
1818 30.12.1818 bur. Thos Beedham, Skeldergate, 2 years
1819 14.11.1819 bur. Ann Beedham, Skeldergate, 42 years
1821 3.5.1821 bur. Wm Beedham, Skeldergate, 60 years
1823 5.3.1823 bur. Wm Beedham, Skeldergate, 37 years
Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York
28.9.1835 Emma White, parents George and Jane, Low Goodramgate, shoemaker.
16.8.1837 Harriet White, George and Jane, Low Goodramgate, shoemaker
14.1.1838 Catherine Ann White, Wm and Eliz, College St, Druggist
29.12.1835 Wm White of the parish of Bedern, adjoining this parish and Hannah Beedham of Bedern, by Banns, by Raines, curate. He signs, she X, wits: John Beedham, Elizabeth Barker
24.12.1839 burial Hannah White, Bedern, 27 years. Raines, Rector
19.6.1840 burial Eliza Jane White, Low Goodramgate, 3 years. Raines, Rector.
20.7.1810 James Beedham son to John and Ann Beedham born 18.7., bap. 20.7
Escrick PR
16.5.1813 George, son of Wm and Ann White, Deighton, Labourer
NB: IGI 1832 baptism Eliza White:
15 OCT 1832 Unitarian Christian, Thorne, Yorkshire, England
Parents given as: William White, Hannah Beldom (sic)
1841 Census, of all the William Whites in York, most likely candidate is 'Labourer' in Bedern. Living in same building as other labourers, a butcher and a charwoman. No children with him. I could find no record of any children's burials at Goodramgate.
Deaths April-June 1840: Eliza Jane White, York
IGI Birth William White, son George and Mary White, Stillingfleet, 20.2.1814
Baines Trade Dorectory, 1823, Professions and Trades, York (Alphabetical Listing)
Elizabeth Beedham, Gentlewoman, Beedhams Yard, Skeldergate (born Easingwold 1786?) Confusion with Easingwold in papers explained if her story seems partly there?
Beedham John, cabinet maker, Fetter lane
Beedham William, joiner and cabinet maker, Beedham's yd. Skeldergt.
3.3.1849. York Assizes, Elizabeth Beedam, age 27. 8107. Index to records at York Ref Library.