1784
Born
1784
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
Joseph Houlton
1784 – 1851
✓ Validated against records · 2026-07-07
Joseph Houlton is where this line's record currently begins: a Lincolnshire farm labourer, born about 1783–4 — at North Elkington, a small parish high on the Wolds, by his own statement to the 1851 census — and married to a Mary whose surname no record has yet given up. Their two known sons, John and William, were both born at Hull around 1817–21, an interlude in the family's Lincolnshire life that nothing yet explains; by 1841 Joseph and Mary were farm-labouring at Thealby, a hamlet of Burton upon Stather above the Humber, a few doors from John's own cottage.
The Thealby years ended in widowhood. Mary died late in 1846, her death registered in the Glanford Brigg district; her burial has not yet been found. The registers then lose Joseph until the 1851 census, which finds him twenty-five miles away and much changed in circumstance: a widower of 68, still a labourer, living alone — a one-man household at the Boucherett Arms corner in North Willingham. Why there is an open question; an Ann Houlton had married a Withcall man, William Raws, in that same parish in 1838, and if she was Joseph's daughter — the register names no fathers, so this is only a hypothesis — the widowed labourer had come to lodge near his married girl.
Four months after that census he was dead. His death was registered in the Glanford Brigg district in the third quarter of 1851, and Mum found his burial at All Saints, Winterton — back by the Humber, two miles from Thealby — on 31 July 1851, aged 67. At the bottom of the register page she found a note in the clerk's hand: 'This man committed suicide'. The Winterton register is not yet online, so the note stands as her reading of it; the site presents it as she recorded it, without embroidery. Above Joseph the record does not yet exist — his baptism is unindexed on every service searched, his parents unknown. His son John's line runs on through Alice Houlton into the Frith family.
Composed from validated records · 2026-07-07
- Birth
- 1784
- Marriage
- To Mary
- Burial
- July 31st 1851 Winterton, Lincolnshire aged 67 years
- Children
- John Houlton born Hull 1817 William Houlton born Hull
- 1841c
- Living in Thealby, Burton upon Stather Joseph Houlton aged 60 born 1781, Ag. Lab. Mary Houlton aged 55 born 1786
- 1846
- Death of wife, Mary
- 1851c
- Living in North Willingham Joseph Holton, widower aged 68 years, born 1783, North Elkington Address: Boncherett Arms Corner inn, North Willingham, Caistor Occupation: Labourer
- 1851
- Burial July 31st aged 67 years in Winterton A note at the bottom of the parish register said "This man committed suicide"
In your grandmother’s words · from her notebook
Family
Marriage
Children
Life
Confirmed — anchored to a recordEstimated — inferred
1841
A farm labourer at Thealby — with Mary
1841
Joseph Houlton | 60 | Ag. Lab— | Yes [born in county] — Mary — Do — | — 55 | Yes— 1841 census — Thealby, with Mary
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
- 1841 census — Thealby, with Mary — TNA HO 107/629, book 17 (Burton upon Stather, Thealby), folio 24, page 13 (last household); sub-district Winterton, district Glanford Brigg; read at the image on findmypast, 7 Jul 2026. John's own cottage is the last entry of page 12 of the same book read at the image
1841
Crossing the water
How a Thealby family came and went from Hull, on the far side of two rivers, is less of a puzzle than it looks: the water was the road. Burton upon Stather's very name means a landing place, and by the family's time the Gainsborough–Hull steam packets were calling at its wharf daily — a property notice in the Leeds Mercury of 27 April 1822 recommends an estate as '3 [miles] from Burton Stather, and to which latter place Steam Packets touch at daily, on their Passage to and fro, between Hull and Gainsbro'' (as findmypast's transcription of the notice reads), and the Stamford Mercury of July 1821 reports the Nottingham, 'a fine new steam-packet, built at Burton Stather', sailing with 260 passengers — the village built the boats as well as boarding them. The South Humber Heritage Trail (Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust) records the packet trade at the parish's Kings Ferry Wharf continuing into the twentieth century. So John's courtships, weddings and removals across the water could run by steam from the bottom of his own parish; the crossing to Hull was an errand, not an expedition.
Historical context Evidence
Background composed for this site from published history. It frames the family’s world; it is not one of Mum’s records.
1846
In 1846
1846
Mary Houlton | quarter 4 | 1846 | Glanford Brigg | Lincolnshire— GRO death index — Mary Houlton, Q4 1846, Glanford Brigg
Confirmed in index record Evidence
Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:
- GRO death index — Mary Houlton, Q4 1846, Glanford Brigg — England & Wales Deaths 1837–2007 (GRO index via findmypast), checked 7 Jul 2026: the only Lincolnshire Mary Houlton death registered 1845–47. Her burial is not in findmypast's Lincolnshire Burials — a coverage gap, still to find index entry — original not yet seen
1851
Alone at the Boucherett Arms corner — North Willingham
1851
[No.] 20 | Joseph Holton | Head of Family | Widower | 68 | Labourer | North Elkington | Do [Lincolnshire]— 1851 census — the Boucherett Arms corner, North Willingham
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
- 1851 census — the Boucherett Arms corner, North Willingham — TNA HO 107/2115, folio 65, page 6, schedule 20; ED 6, sub-district Market Rasen, district Caistor; house name in the transcription 'Boncherett Arms Corner Inn' [= the Boucherett Arms — the Boucheretts of Willingham House were the parish's landed family]; read at the image on findmypast, 7 Jul 2026 read at the image
1851
In 1851
1851
Joseph Holton (or Houlton) | Male | Birth Date 1784 | Death Date Jul 1851 | Death Place Winterton, North Lincolnshire | Cemetery: All Saints Churchyard— Find a Grave memorial — All Saints Churchyard, Winterton
Secondary research record Evidence
From another researcher’s work — not yet verified against the originals:
- Find a Grave memorial — All Saints Churchyard, Winterton — Find a Grave memorial 231653239, 'Joseph Holton (or Houlton)', consulted 7 Jul 2026 — an index entry with a member bio, corroborating the churchyard and month; not a record read at the register another researcher’s work
1851
Buried at All Saints, Winterton — 31 July 1851
31 July 1851
Joseph Houlton | quarter 3 | 1851 | Glanford Brigg | Lincolnshire— GRO death index — Q3 1851, Glanford Brigg
Confirmed in index record Evidence
Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:
- GRO death index — Q3 1851, Glanford Brigg — England & Wales Deaths 1837–2007 (GRO index via findmypast), checked 7 Jul 2026: the only Lincolnshire Joseph Houlton death registered 1850–52; Winterton lies in Glanford Brigg district. Corroborates Mum's 31 July burial index entry — original not yet seen
Our research
Joseph is this line's wall. What stands open, in order of promise:
- The Winterton burial register itself. Mum read it — 31 July 1851, aged 67, and the note 'This man committed suicide' at the foot of the page — but no online service has Winterton's burials (findmypast has none at all; Ancestry offers no image). Lincolnshire Archives holds All Saints Winterton's registers; a FamilySearch film may exist. Reading the page would upgrade the burial and give the note verbatim. The Find a Grave memorial (231653239) has a member bio that may quote it — a free first check.
- His baptism, ~1783–4, North Elkington. His own census statement is the only birthplace evidence. North Elkington's 1780s registers are unindexed on findmypast and FamilySearch — Lincolnshire Archives again. Caution: a second Joseph Houlton born ~1784 existed (buried Coningsby, 1860) — do not conflate.
- The Ann Raws hypothesis. Ann Houlton, resident North Willingham, married William Raws of Withcall there on 2 March 1838 (register read this pass — the old-form book names no fathers). If she was Joseph's daughter, his lodging in that parish is explained and the family gains a child. The GRO copy of the same marriage (Q1 1838, Caistor district) would name her father — a purchase.
- Mary. No marriage record found (so no maiden name), no burial found (Q4 1846 Glanford Brigg registration only). The GRO death certificate would give her age and informant — a purchase; the Burton upon Stather area burial registers around December 1846 are the free route.
- The Hull interlude — both sons born at Hull ~1817–21 while Joseph's life is otherwise Lincolnshire. No Hull baptism found for either boy on either service. Whatever took the family across the Humber (dock work? militia?) is round-two colour waiting for a record.