Thomas was born in 1781 and was baptised on 4th June 1871.
He married Isabella Kirkup on 6th May 1804 at Horton by Blyth.
Isabella Kirkup had been christened on 27th January 1782 at Bedlington, and the daughter of William and Dorothy Kirkup
Their first child was William born in 1805, then Frances (another Frances) in 1806, Elizabeth 1809, Edward 1811, Thomas 1816 and finally my ancestor John. who was christened on 8th March 1818. This where it gets sad as his mother, Isabella Henderson died on 8th March 1818 aged 36 so she died in child birth and John was christened on the same day.
It was noted on both Thomas’s and our direct relative John’s christening that Thomas was a publican
We know from an entry in Parson’s and White’s Trade Directory of 1828 that Thomas Henderson was the proprietor of the Dunn Cow. In 1828 he would have been about 48 years old. He had plenty of competition as there was also the Black Bull, Blue Bell, Free Masons Arms, Red Lion, Turks Head and the Swan Inn. Pub names have not changed a lot in nearly 200 years.
There is no information in which Public House John Henderson was in before he fell in the river in 1804!
Diana and I went to Bedlington when we were in England on the death of Mary Pearson, my mother-in-law, and later I found on the internet the The Dunn Cow has been renamed a number of times Including originally The Dunn Cow, The Millford and eventually back to the Dun Cow (one ‘n’)
but have some photos of what it looked like now
but also what it probably looked like when my ancestor, Thomas Henderson, owned it when had been renamed The Millfield
As you can see in the first ever National Census, in 1841 in the gallery on the ancestry site, Thomas was living in the High Street in Bedlington. He was termed a widower (as Isabella had died in 1818) and a publican. At the time living with him was a grand-daughter Catherine Atkinson aged 12 and a servant Ann Joice.
In the 1851 Census you can see that Thomas was noted as 70, and an innkeeper In this census. He had grand-daughter Isabella Atkinson aged 26 living with him (Isabella was his wife’s name). Also living with him was Hannah Lamb a 29 year old servant.
I had not traced his death but he was 70 in 1851. However a recent entry on another Henderson ancestry site says he died in between July and September 1860, so he was 79. I’ve added this record to my site – lots of Hendersons!!
He wasn’t in the 1861 Census so this date was probably correct.
His information can be found on my ancestry.com site Thomas Henderson