The Timmins Family of Tipton

 My great grandmother, Elizabeth Ruth Timmins was born October 5, 1889 in Salvoy, a village that is part of Syracuse, New York. She was the first member of her immediate family to be born in the United States. Her father claimed to have been born here, but in all actuality, he was born in West Bromwich, England, and as a young child came with his family to the United States. They stayed maybe 12-15 years and returned to England. My great grandmother's father was George Henry Timmins. He was born in the third quarter of 1860 to Joseph Timmins and his wife Sarah Phillips.

George Timmins was a glass cutter in West Bromwich, but likely worked at the chemical factory in Syracuse that both his son and brother, both named Joseph, worked later. George may have met his wife through her father, who also worked as a glass cutter. Given the location of the family, I suspect the family worked at the Chance Brothers Glass Factory, as they all lived within a mile of the factory. His wife, Sarah Brampton and his two sons, William and Joseph, are shown on the Celtic arriving in New York in September of 1884. I do not find him on any boat, so I suspect, he worked his way over. George killed himself November 21, 1891. I found a newspaper article on the inquest. According to the article, he had malaria and when the doctor left the room, he cut his throat with a straight blade razor. 

I can only imagine how Sarah and the children survived, her children were 2, 7, and 10. I know that Joseph, George's brother came to New York about this same time, and perhaps he helped. She took in some boarders, the boys left school and went to work as teens, and my great grandmother went to work also when she was a teenager. By the time my great grandmother was 15, a sister of George and Joseph also arrived in New York, Harriet Timmins Hinton. All of the family is found in the Episcopalian church records for Syracuse. Ironic, because the family from both sides has strong non-conformist religious backgrounds in England.

Joseph Timmins, George's father was born February 20, 1835 in West Bromwich, and he was baptized in the Christs Church there in April. His parents were Thomas Timmins and Roseannah Hale. Thomas was listed as a common laborer in 1841, and his wife a nailer. Joseph and his wife, Sarah, arrived in Philadelphia in 1863, and are found living near his Great Uncle, James Timmins, in the 1870 census in Philadelphia. The youngest daughter, Harriet is found in the baptism records in Philadelphia. Sometime between 1871 and 1881, the family returned to England. Joseph's occupation was as a glass worker in 1870, and unless there was some kind of labor issue, the most logical reason for the return was the death of Thomas Timmins in 1871 and Rosannah in 1876. Joseph Timmins died in West Bromwich in the poor house in the 2nd quarter of 1906. His wife, Sarah Phillips Timmins died in 1895. Joseph and Sarah had 3 daughters and 2 sons. Both sons and 1 daughter emigrated to the United States, and the remaining daughters remained in England with their families.

Thomas Timmins was born October 25, 1813 and was baptized in Mares Green Independent Church in West Bromwich. His parents were William Timmins and Easter Sadler.  Thomas was always listed as a common laborer. His wife, Rosannah Hale was from an area that employed a lot of women as nailers and men as  iron workers in nearby Rowley Regis. Her father's occupation is given as a Tailor on her baptism record. Given that this is the height of the industrial revolution, it is hard to hazard a guess where Thomas worked, since the mining industry as well as the factories were all heavily employed in this region during this time, and for at least a time, he was listed as a watchman. Thomas and Rosannah had 5 sons and 1 daughter. Thomas died in Dec of 1871 and his wife Rosannah died in the third quarter of 1876. The various addresses throughout the censuses put this family within a 2 mile radius for their entire lives.

William Timmins was born in 1789 and was baptized in Tipton in September of that year. He was the son of Isaac Timmins and his wife, Martha Dudley. According to a researcher (I have not seen the document), the marriage of William to Easter Sadler in 1810 is witnessed by his mother Martha and her father in West Bromwich. William was married to an Ann Sadler in 1808, and at this time, it was illegal to marry the sister of your deceased wife, and that may be why he married Easter in West Bromwich and not in Tipton or Dudley. William died in 1839 in West Bromwich, and nothing is known of his occupation. We know that his widow died not long after in 1846, and that two of her sons and one daughter moved to America sometime around 1850. William and Easter had 5 daughters, one who died as an infant, and 5 sons. James Timmins, one son, lived in Philadelphia and left a will that is found in English records, as he gave property to several of his nieces, nephews, and other family members. 

Isaac Timmins was born in Tipton in 1758, and was baptized in the Utilitarian Church in Birmingham in December of that year. His parents were John Timmins and Rachel Standley. All of the children of this couple are found in this church's baptismal records with marriages found in Tipton. Several trees have Isaac as the son of Joseph Timmins and Phebe Nock but their son Isaac died in 1772. Isaac's wife is somewhat controversial for some genealogists as she relates back to the family of Lord Sutton the Baron of Dudley. It is important to consider several things. There is only one baptism in Tipton for a Martha Dudley, and none for a Martha in Sedgely or Dudley, just as there is only one baptism for a Joseph Dudley, her father. Joseph Dudley was not the eldest son, and the Dudley's of Tipton are always shown as gentleman or yeoman in the records. We know his great grandfather Edward Dudley was eligible to be a knight but was elderly and did not show up. We also know that the Dudley's held some land, and had rents, but were not necessarily "wealthy" as the nobility may be. We also know that Edward Dudley's great grandmother, Catherine Sutton alias Tomlinson was the illegitimate daughter of Edward Sutton, the 5th Baron of Dudley. 

Before I go on more about the Timmins, let me give some background. References to the poor handling of his estate spent on the "divers children" he had with his concubine is documented. When Edward Sutton the 5th Baron took over from Edward Sutton the 4th Baron, the estate was already in financial difficulties. And while there is ample evidence his sons with some property, other than marriages that were advantageous, there is not evidence the girls themselves received much in the way of property. Also of note, in her will, Elizabeth Tomlinson, the "concubine" of Edward Sutton did not leave a great deal of money to the girls either, but her "wearing clothes". Thus, the doubt over the claim to nobility based on the family circumstances after Isaac Timmins and Martha Dudley isn't appropriately attributed to their heritage. Especially when you consider that the line of nobility goes back to Martha's 5th great grandfather.  Joseph Dudley did not receive the Dudley property as a second son,  and since there is not will, we don't know if he received anything. Given he had 7 living children, it is not uncommon to see the family members of the Dudley's as laborers, and Martha was on the younger end of the children. Unfortunately, I can't find the hearth taxes or anything about this time frame that gives us an idea what Joseph Dudley did or what kind of property he may have had.  What we know is that even during his lifetime, iron works were common around Tipton, but this pre-dates the industrial revolution for both Joseph Dudley and Isaac Timmins. 

So we have no idea what Isaac Timmins did for a living, or any of the Timmins preceeding him through the late 16th century. It can be assumed they were laborers, and there does seem to be ties to early non-conformist records for this family in Tipton. Tipton has several non-conformist churches, and there is evidence that suggests the Dudley family also were non-conformists. Isaac and Martha had three daughters and three sons. Isaac died July 25, 1827 and his wife Martha July 9, 1839, both deaths recorded in the parish records of Tipton, as were the baptisms of their children. 

John Timmins was baptized in Tipton in April 1727. There was another John Timmins baptized in 1718. Because of the baptismal records, it is my opinion that the elder John is not our family, as he and his wife have children and are married before the baptisms of John and Rachel's children, and they do not have a son Isaac. John Timmins was the son of Aaron Timmins and Elizabeth Downing. He married Rachel Standley November 10, 1747 in Sedgley. Sedgley, Tipton and Dudley are in close proximity, and there are many Timmins in all three. One of my future projects will be to detail the early baptisms for all three in a chronological list. We find baptisms for the following children of John and Rachel, a stillborn daughter in 1758 in Tipton, Abraham, Rhoda, Silvia, Isaac, Moses, and Lettice all in the Unitarian Church in Birmingham. Records for all of these children appear in Tipton or nearby Dudley. 

Aaron Timmins was baptized in Tipton in October 1681. His parents listed were William and Elizabeth. There are two William Timmins (alternative spellings include Timings and Tymings from here forward) in Tipton. One married a Sarah Baker and one a Joan Timmins. There are no marriages to an Elizabeth. William and Joan go on to have a few more children, and it is my opinion that William and Joan Timmins are Aaron's parents. Joan Timmins I cannot find a baptism for, but I think she is the daughter of John Timmins and Jane Peyton who were in Sedgely. I believe William may be the son of one of two Timmins, their is a William Timmins born in Tipton and one in Sedgely. It is my intention to layout these early Timmins because the Tipton and Sedgely bunch seem to have a close tie. The earliest record I have found dates to an Oliver Timmins who married in 1603 in Sedgley. Unfortunately, there are parts of pages at this time that are difficult to read on the parish records, so that may be why it is hard to find the Timmins reliably. Aaron Timmins and his wife Elizabeth had three sons and three daughters. One of the daughters died a a child, but I have been unable to trace any of the other children at this time.

Tipton is the largest place for the Timmins family in Staffordshire, and I don't believe, as we get back to this time, that we will reliably find a lot of movement from one place to another as we do in later years. Though we are no longer in the serfdom period, there were laws that required individuals to be returned to the parish of their birth if they were poor. Tipton does not have a lot of online records that are helpful for this period, unlike Wootton Wawen where we can at least look for other information, like the vestry minutes to find information.