William Walton
William Walton was born on 18 February 1815 in County Durham, by a descendant's memorial, and christened on 31 January 1819 at St John's Chapel, Weardale, in the parish of Stanhope. Weardale is the upper dale of the river Wear, and in his day its people lived by lead mining.
The transcribed Stanhope register has a matching entry on that day: William, son of William Walton, miner, and Elizabeth, of Brotherlee, baptised at St John's Chapel on 31 January 1819. Brotherlee is a hamlet in Weardale. If the entry is his, his father was a lead miner also called William. Another William Walton was baptised at the same chapel on 27 November 1814, so the identification is not certain.
He married Elizabeth Bolton, of Brough in Westmorland, on 16 February 1839. The marriage was registered in the East Ward district of Westmorland in the March quarter of 1839. Their eldest child, Mary Ann, was born on 22 September 1839.
In 1853 the family crossed to America and settled at Vinegar Hill, in the lead country north of Galena, Illinois. There were eight children: Mary Ann; Ann, later Mrs Raworth; James Bolton, born in 1842, who married Margaret Hocking and lived until 1923; William; Sarah, later Mrs Hocking; Jane, later Mrs Liddle; Elizabeth, later Mrs Woods; and Jonathan. Elizabeth died at Vinegar Hill on 27 November 1865. William died there on 18 October 1876, at sixty-one, and was buried in the Vinegar Hill cemetery under a small turned column on a square base.
His daughter Mary Ann married Jacob Peart, a lead miner from Allendale in Northumberland. The two families came from neighbouring lead dales of the north of England and met in the Illinois diggings.
Children
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Cite: Heirology, "William Walton (1815-1876)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-walton-1815-1876-6b26d6.