Johnson Genealogy

William Astle b 15 May 1825, Aston on Trent, Derbyshire.
m Hannah Higgins 31 May 1852 at Breedon.
m Frances Johnson Bott 26 Dec 1864 at Breedon
d 19 Sep 1899 at Beeston, Nottinghamshire, at the home of his daughter Elizabeth Hassall Turner (b1857).

William Astle was born 15 May 1825 in Aston on Trent, Derbyshire, some 8 miles from Lount, where Frances Johnson was living with her parents Joseph Johnson b1809 and Sarah Watson b1809. In the 1851 census, taken 31 March 1851, his name is reported as William Astall, and he is living in Lount, the same village where Frances Johnson was also living. So this puts them together at the crucial time, being as Thomas Johnson was born in April 1852.

The question is, why didn't they get married? Well, William, the young rascal, was not only in a relationship with Frances Johnson, he had also had an illegitimate child called Sarah (b1849) by a girl named Hannah Higgins, who not only was from the same village of Lount, but lived next door to Frances! He then got Hannah pregnant again in early 1852! We can imagine young William being asked to account for his actions by the two girls, as by early 1852, both of his girlfriends were pregnant! In the end, he decided to marry Hannah, which he did 31 May 1852, just one month after Frances had her child!

In the 1861 census, William and Hannah are still living together, and now they have 5 children, Sarah b1849, William b1852, Benjamin b1855, Elizabeth b1857 and Mary, b1860. William's brother Edward (b1822) was living with them at the time.

In the meantime, in 1855 Frances has got pregnant again, this time by James Bott, who she married in January 1856, before giving birth in July 1856 to John Bott.

James Bott, however, is hardly the ideal husband for Frances, in 1857 and 1858 he is convicted for beating her up, and spends some time in prison. Frances moves in and out of the poor house in Ashby, sometimes with both children (Thomas b1852, John b1856), othertimes just with John.

During the 1861 census, Frances and son John Bott are to be found living in the poor house in Ashby, while Thomas Johnson is living with grandparents Joseph and Sarah.

Then Hannah dies Apr-Jun 1863 and James Bott dies in July 1864, leaving the way open for Frances and William to finally get together again. They married 26 Dec 1864, had 2 further children in 1867 and 1874, and lived together until William died 19 Sep 1899. Frances died 22 Jan1903.

In 1871, when Frances and William were living together with William's children by Hannah, Thomas Johnson, also a child of William and Frances, was not living with them. Neither was John Bott, Frances's child by James Bott. Both of these children of Frances had earlier gone to live with their grandparents, Joseph and Sarah. Presumably, when Frances and William got married in 1864, son Thomas, then aged 12, was not completely happy, and could have argued that being as William didn't want Thomas before, why should Thomas, now a teenager, go and live with someone who had previously refused him? In fact there seems to not have been much further direct contact between Thomas and his biological parents. Thomas was though in contact with other members of the Astle family, he and his half-brother William Astle (b1852) both moved to Tibshelf at the same time and lived within100 yeards of each other for a while.

In the census returns from 1871 onwards, the Astle family is registered as Hassall, and this name seems to have remained with them for the rest of their lives. When William died in 1899, he was registered as Hassall, and when Frances died in 1903, her death was registered as Hassell.

William had a brother Edward, b1822-3 in Aston, an agricultutal worker, and a brother Benjamin b1821 in Aston.