Leighton Family Genealogy
The LEIGHTON family name has been spelt in several different ways over the last 150 years. The earliest spelling of our family name is CLAYTON, 1809 - 1851. However, marriage and birth certificates from the family show that there was a variation as early as 1833 when the name is shown as LAYTON in Marriage Register of Manchester Cathedral for the marriage of William Clayton and Alice Garner. Presumably as both partners made their mark with a cross they were not able to tell if the spelling was right or wrong as they were most likely unable to read and write! The entries in the registers at St Mary's Church, Bowdon for the baptisms of their children were all spelt as Clayton, yet on William junior's baptism certificate from the Church, copied in 1909 it is spelt LEYTON, and on his birth certificate from the Register Office, it is spelt Layton. The 1871 Census shows a change in spelling to LAYTON. When William Jnr married Sarah KELSALL in 1860 the orginal certificate shows the name spelt as Clayton and by 1881 William jnr spelt his name LEIGHTON and his brother Samuel who was living in Salford by this time still used the older spelling of Layton. All William jnr's children appear to have adopted the Leighton version whilst all of his brother Samuel's family have used Layton. What a tangled web this has become. So, we have two families who are direct descendents of William Snr spelling their names differently. It could well be that there are others whom we do not yet know about using different versions.
FAMILY TREE
Census Returns
1841 Census
Dwelling: DeansgateWilliam CLAYTON, 30, Agricultural Labourer
Alice Clayton, 30, Housewife
Samuel Clayton, 7
Sarah Clayton, 5
William Clayton 2
1851 Census
Dwelling: Wash Lane, TimperleyWilliam CLAYTON, aged 42, as a farm labourer, born in Cheadle Hulme.
Alice, 42, labourers wife
Samuel, 17, farm labourer
Sarah, 15, house servant
William, 11, scholar
Mary, 6, scholar
Elizabeth, 4, scholar
The rest of the family were all born in Timperley.
Living adjacent to the Clayton family on both the 1841 and 1851 Censuses is Daniel Garner and his family. This indicates that the family had not moved but that the part of Wash Lane they were living at was in the Deansgate area of Timperley Township.
William Snr's wife Alice was Daniel Garner's sister.
1871 Census
Dwelling: 59 Hayes Lane, TimperleyWilliam LAYTON, Head, 64, agricultural labourer, born Cheadle Hulme
Alice, wife, 66, Timperley
Martha GERMAN, Granddaughter, 12, Domestic Servant, Timperley
Thomas MADDOCK, Grandson, 7, Scholar, Timperley
Dwelling: 31 Wash Lane
William LAYTON, Head, 32, Agricultural Labourer, Timperley
Mary, wife, 33, Laourer, Sale
Emma, daughter, 10, Scholar, Timperely
Hannah, daughter, 8, Scholar, Timperley
William, son, 6, Scholar, Manchester, Lancs
Henry, son, 1, Timperely
1881 Census
Dwelling: Wash Lane Census Place: Timperley, Cheshire, England Source: FHL Film 1341840 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 3507 Folio 93 Page 31
William Leighton Married 42 M Timperley, Cheshire
Rel: Head Occ: Platelayer (Ry)
Mary Leighton Married 43 Sale Wife Occ: Farm Servant (Ag)
Hannah Leighton U 18 Timperley, Daur
William Leighton U 16 Manchester Bradford, Son Occ: Farm Laborer
Henry Leighton 11 Timperley, Son Occ: Scholar
John Leighton 8 Timperley, Son Occ: Scholar
Hannah Leighton 15 Timperley, Niece Occ: Nursemaid Unemployed (Dom
Serv)
Dwelling: Heyes Lane Census Place: Timperley, Cheshire, England Source: FHL Film 1341840 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 3507 Folio 94 Page 33
Thomas Hodgson Married, 37 Tidesley, Lancashire
Mary Hodgson Married, 37 Timperley, Cheshire
Alice Layton, mother in law, Widow, 74 Timperley, Cheshire
Alice A. Maddock, neice, U 16 Timperley, Cheshire
1838 Tithe Map
According to the 1838 Tithe William Clayton occupied a Cottage and garden (ref 212a) and Daniel Garner also rented a Cottage and garden and part of a field (Ref 212). Both properties were on Wash Lane (now Park Road) almost opposite its junction with Heyes Lane and were rented from James Taylor of Riddings who held them leasehold from Lord Stamford.
The map below circa 1880 shows Wash Lane (red) on the far left - Heyes Lane (blue) runs vertically and the Chapel House is on the junction.
Material Copyright © 2001 Gwyneth Bryant