Revised Minutes of Wagstaff Meeting

Wagstaff Family Meeting


This is to report on the meeting of Utah Wagstaffs on 28 Sep 2009 at the home of Wayne and Clarissa Wagstaff in Bountiful. Wayne Wagstaff presided.

Attendees:

1. Craig Shelley: Descended from John..Isaac...Samuel...Ruth Wagstaff & George Jacklin...Mart (?) & G. F. Shelley
2. D. Jesse Wagstaff E-mail: djwagstaff@msn.com
Address: 276 E 100 N, Pleasant Grove, UT 84062
Phone: 801-785-5660
3. Ann Taft Wagstaff 
4. Yvonne Parkinson 
5. Cindy Pearson
6. Ray Fallows 
7. Kim Jacobson 
8. Naoma W. Sessions 
9. Willis & Elna Petersen 
10. Linda Maxfield 
11. Barbara L. Carlson 
12. Wayne & Clarissa Wagstaff 

Jess Wagstaff gave a poster presentation on the ancestry of the Wagstaffs of Utah. We all descend from three sons of John Wagstaff and Elizabeth Larkins from Northill, Bedfordshire. Thus the thee branches of the family.

Branch I

William Wagstaff, son of John and Elizabeth moved to Derbyshire where his son William joined the LDS church in 185- and later migrated to the Preston, Idaho area but was buried in Ogden. His brother John emigrated to the Evanston area and ranched on the Bear River. He did not join the church until 18–. We do not yet know if all of his family ever joined. Some of the Evanston family got into railroading and later moved to Ogden. No one at the meeting has contact with a member of this branch.

Branch II

Isaac Wagstaff married Mary Bathsheba Gillions in Northill. After Isaac’s death Mary and seven of her children and their spouses and children joined the LDS church and emigrated to the US. Mary and six of the children with their families came to Utah. William and his multiple wives lived in Salt Lake city, as did his brother John and sister Sarah Ann who married a Sears. Mary married a Bone and lived in Lehi, Samuel lived in American Fork, and Rachel Eleanor married a Hayes and lived in Pleasant Grove. Anne married a Juchau and did not get beyond Brooklyn, NY.

Branch III

The great grandson of John Wagstaff, Henry Wagstaff came to Brigham City via Canada. This branch has been documented in a number of publications.

The Wagstaffs were rural agricultural people of northeastern Bedfordshire, “The Wagstaff Belt”. The largest number lived in Wilden. They have been there since the early 1500s. Some of them were property owners and held governmental and parochial positions. Later large numbers appear in Great Barford and Potton. Still later the name appears in Northill. The county seat of Bedford was of some importance but the market town of Biggleswade was of greater importance because here they brought their produce for rail shipment to London, mingled with people of nearby parishes perhaps meeting future spouses, sought employment as servants and agricultural laborers for local farmers and “gentleman” of the manors, and here they walked to register births, marriages and deaths after 1 July 1837.

Much of the discussion centered on the reliability or lack thereof of a series of the 11 or more genealogical research reports dealing with, among other things, the ancestor of John Wagstaff. The research paid for by several Wagstaffs and others organized by Mary Peterson, was conducted by Brian Leese. Years after these reports were issue Leese was accused of fabricating pedigrees. Thus our Leese reports are under a cloud of suspicion although no glaring errors have yet been found. Roger Ward, a Bedfordshire Wagstaff descendant with a reputation as a meticulous researcher, has said our Leese reports are largely correct. Linda Maxfield has voluminous handwritten material from Roger. Cindy Pearson and Kim Jacobson have volunteered to help her organize, computerize and share this information. There are others of us who would be willing to help if need be. Other people in England such as Barbara Kent apparently do not always agree with Roger. Willis has said since the meeting that he has put them on our contact list.

Jess, being confronted with the confusing convoluted Bedfordshire Wagstaff pedigrees in New FamilySearch and being intrigued by broad statements in the Leese reports of wide area radius searches has started to extract all entries for Wagstaffs and some related surnames from the printed parish register transcriptions for all 130 Bedfordshire parishes extant in 1812. Progress reports can be made available to anyone requesting them and they will be put into our website when it is ready.

Discussion then shifted to identifying practical means of communicating amongst ourselves. A simple Email list was first proposed. Then there was some discussion of a blog. From there a website was discussed and Craig has since volunteered to set one up for us.

Jess Wagstaff

Wat's New

Well, I am back in business. I had computer problems that took a few months and then I spent the winter in Yuma, Arizona where the internet access was not the best. I have my excuses but in the meantime readers of my blog really laid some bombshells on me.


1. After thinking that I might never know what happened to Susannah Wagstaff (1866) I received two comments on my blog from John Earl from Portland, Oregon. He told me that she went to the mining district of Western Montana with two of her half sisters, Margaret and May Carlin who had married miners. John Earl is a descendent of Margaret.

Susannah Wagstaff married John Mentrum on 1 Nov 1888 in either Clark or Helena, Montana. She had three sons. John born in 1890 died as a teenager. Leonard born in 1891 married and eventually moved to Portland where his descendents still live. They have been in the sheet metal business. One of the family has put a pedigree and some fabulous photos, certificates and other images in Ancestry.com. Clarence born in 1894 moved to New York City where he was in the US Marines. I have not yet looked for more information about him.

Susannah Wagstaff was buried as Susan Mentrum in 1897 in the Forestdale Cemetery in Helena, Montana.

Oh Susannah, you are found at last!

2. Roger Ward contacted me to tell me that he had read my blog. He is one of our distant cousins who resides in Upper Caldicote, Bedfordshire. I have been hearing about him for decades. He probably knows more about Wagstaff Family History that any of the rest of us. He volunteered to help in any way he could. He has a pedigree in Ancestry.com but it is still private. We have been thinking about the best way to share what we have. One possibility is through Ancestry.com. I have an international subscription (it actually belongs to my wife but she lets me use it). With the recent announcement that Ancestry will be in all Family History Centers, there is the possibility that anyone even without a subscription could see the pedigree at any Family History Center. Ancestry's capablity of showing sources, images and stories is quite exciting.

Let me know if you have any ideas or would like to see some of the materials that we are accumulating.