Ref. S7
See here for an alphabetical list of all surnames in the Bolam pages with links to the relevant text.
For a long time, the only member of this family that we knew about was Margaret Ann Bolam (1839-1918), Sheena’s great-grandmother, who married Thomas Tait (Ref. S5.) at Chester le Street Parish Church 24.7.1859. This was because we had misread her birthplace on the certificate and were looking in the wrong area of County Durham.
Bolam Stothard Family
Margaret Ann Bolam was born 12.2.1839 at Bournmoor, County Durham where there was a colliery, the daughter of John Bolam and Mary nee Stothard [see Ref. S8]. John Bolam had married Mary Stothard at St Andrews (C of E) Chapel Lamesley*, in March 1836. Both were said to be of the parish and both made their mark. As it is the only Durham marriage with these names that we have seen and because it fits in well with Thomas’s likely date of birth, we accept it as ours.
* Lamesley, is in the Team Valley, north of Kibbleworth and Birtley. On a modern OS map it is at Map Reference 250581. The church appears to be still there, on the east bank of the river.
Family folklore had it that Margaret Ann had been suddenly orphaned as a child, so having attended a talk about historic plagues and pestilences, we looked up the last outbreak of cholera in County Durham and found that it was in the autumn of 1849. Sure enough, we found that Margaret’s parents, had died at Bournmoor within a period of nine days in September 1849, aged 40 and 38 respectively. John Bolam was a waggonman, presumably at local colliery where the family lived. The deaths were reported by John’s brother, Ralph Bolam who was a farm steward living at Bowes House, near Lambton Castle. Margaret was then 10 and she had a 12 year old brother, Thomas. At the 1851 Census the latter, as a fourteen year old farm servant, was with his widowed grandmother Mary Bolam at Bournmoor, with Margaret next door , as a scholar lodging with widower Nicholas Graydon and his son Anthony, along with her paternal spinster aunt Rachel (53). Young Thomas survived only another three years, dying of TB in August 1854, so at the age of 15 Margaret Ann had lost all her immediate family. However, we know that she would have been surrounded by a great many uncles aunts and cousins, as the Bolams proliferated in that area.
According to family legend, Margaret’s education was paid for by the Lambtons who owned the land and collieries thereabouts. The Lambtons also were prominent in the Wooler area and we think that that is why two Tait brothers found their way to that part of Durham.
Bolam Kellot family
We found John Bolam’s parentage through his younger brother Ralph, who was listed in several censuses. Thomas Bolam had married Mary Kellot 28.9.1793 at Houghton le Spring and they had nine children, details being given in Appendix 1. For the Kellot (various spellings) family see Ref. S71. Thomas and Mary were both on the 1841 Census at Bowes House, County Durham, Thomas’s occupation being given as storekeeper. He died there 6.10.1843, aged 76, the cause being “gradual decay” and profession husbandman. The informant was his wife Mary.At the 1851 Census the widow Mary, aged 79 and born at Old Lambton is at Bournmoor with her son youngest son Ralph. She died there 25.7.1854 of “old age” (actually 83).
We still have, in the family, a sampler worked by Margaret Ann Bolam in 1853 when she was 14 (and the year before her brother died). Numerous initials (some now damaged) are worked into the five rows of stitching, as follows.
| ET MS |
| IB WB |
| THB TB ?? WS MS TB IB GB MB |
| WH IB RB MB ?? CB RB JT |
| RB MS RB EP ?? IH BH IT TT |
It is thought that some of the letters I may have been J. What they stand for is unclear, but we might expect them to be the initials of Margaret Ann’s relatives.
Bolam Greenwell family
Given Thomas Bolam’s age at death we looked for Durham births around 1767 and found a baptism 23.8.1767 at Chester le Street, the father being George Bolam, husbandman, and his wife Rachel. Other researchers have the birth as only three days before that, so perhaps Thomas was making a difficult start to life. The obvious George Bolam marriage to go with was that at Chester le Street 13.12.1766, the bride being Rachel Greenwell [see Ref S72].
Naturally we cast around for other siblings but, although Chester le Street teemed with Bolam baptisms, no others were for George and Rachel. We then considered the possibility that one or other parent had died after Thomas Bolam’s birth but there were no such deaths in the County in the next few decades. However, there is a burial entry at Chester le Street for a George Bolam 22.12.1766, i.e. just nine days after the above mentioned marriage. However unusual, the only narrative that fits these facts is that Rachel was married for just nine days, conceived and duly bore a son, somewhat premature, the next Summer. A precarious way for a family historian to inherent genes perhaps – but possible. Admittedly, the records of the baptism entry that we have seen do not say “the late George Bolam”
Bolam Dodgson family
Somewhat speculatively, we looked for George Bolam births in County Durham pre 1745 and found only two – in 1740 and 1710. There was a George Bolam baptised at Chester le Street (once again!) 28.12.1740, the son of George Bolam and Jane Dodgson. They had married 27.12.1737 at Chester le Street and for what it is worth we give details of their four children at Appendix 2.
It is possible that the father in the previous paragraph is the George Bolam baptised at Gateshead 21.5.1710, son of Roger Bolam. Jane Dodgson did not appear to have originated in County Durham – more likely Cumberland or Westmoreland but we do not have enough evidence.
November 2017
Appendix 1 to Ref. S7
Thomas Bolam and Mary Kellot Family
Thomas Bolam and Mary Kellot married 28.9.1793 at Houghton le Spring. They had children as follows:
George
Baptised 16.3.1794 at Chester le Street. Married Mary Milburn 15.9.1819 Chester le Street. Worked in various roles in coalmining at Little Town, Durham. Children, all baptised at Penshaw, were:
George Kellett 1820. Engine man/driver. Married Elizabeth Turnbull of Penshaw 1841 at Pittington. No children
Robert 1821. Engine man. Married Mary Hepburn 1847 at Shincliff. Children (at least) Mary 1848 and George 1850. 1861 Mary with father-in-law, no further children. Robert unaccounted for. There was a death 1853 Q1 at Durham.
Thomas 1823. Presumed to have died young.
Mary Ann 1828. Married George Johnson, coal miner, 1846 at Pittington. Children (at Least) George Kellett 1848, Ann Ward 1850, Mary 1855, William, 1857, Rachael 1859 and Hannah 1861.
Rachel 1827. Married William Banks, blacksmith, 1849 at Pittington. Children (at least) John 1850, Charles 1852, Jane Ann 1856 and William 1859. Widowed 1851-61.
Thomas 1831. 1851 still at home at Little Town as engine man. Married Margaret ??, possibly 1851 Q3. Children Mary 1855, George 1856, Jane 1858 Elizabeth 1870, Isabella 1874 and Margaret A 1875.
William 1833. No further information.
Thomas
Baptised 21.2.1796 at Chester le Street. Colliery worker. Married Isabella Hardy 12.7.1823 at Penshaw. She was born 1798 in Newcastle upon Tyne daughter of William Hardy and Jane Conyers. Children were:
William 1824 at Chester le Street. Postman then colliery worker.
Thomas 1827 at Penshaw. Presumably died young.
George 1828 at Penshaw. Colliery worker.
Thomas 1831 at Penshaw. Colliery worker.
Jane 1834 at Pittington.
Rachael
Baptised 13.3.1798 at Penshaw. Never married. Died 1882 Q4 aged 84.
Mary Kellett
Baptised 18.10.1800 at Penshaw. Nothing more known.
Jane
Baptised 6.4.1803 at Penshaw. Married William Todd 27.1.1827 at Penshaw. Known to have had children Thomas c.1830 and John c.1832. 1861 as outdoor worker at Bournmoor with Ralph and Rachael.
Catherine
Baptised 24.12.1805 at Penshaw. Seen at 1881 Census as Catherine Forusta.
John
Baptised 15.12.1810. See main text.
Mary
Baptised 22.8.1813 at Penshaw. Nothing more known.
Ralph
Baptised 3.8.1817 at Penshaw. Ag. lab. Remained unmarried and died 1888 Q2.
Thomas Bolam died 5.10.1843 at Bowes House, aged 76 and buried at Chester le Street. Mary Bolam, nee Kellot, died 25.7.1854 at Bournmoor, Wapping of old age, i.e. 83.
Appendix 2 to Ref. S7
George Bolam and Jane Dodgson Family
George Bolam and Jane Dodgson married 27.12.1737 at Chester le Street. They had children as follows, all baptised at Chester le Street:
John 6.8.1738.
George 28.12.1740. See main text.
Eleanor 7.8.1743
Henry 30.8.1747.
Young Family History 