Thomas Price (1840-1872)

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

In 1841, Thomas was living with his parents, John and Eliza, in Mary Leys Lane, in the area outlined in red. At the time of the Tithe map (1847), there were 3 houses (one vacant) in this plot. One (number 645) was owned by Daniel Hadley, Thomas’ grandfather, so I assume that that is the house that Thomas first lived in. At the time of the ’51 Census, Daniel and his wife, Maria, lived there. By the time of the first OS map, only one house remained.

Thomas had been baptised the previous year at St Martins Church. John, a carpenter, died 3 years later in 1844, and Eliza died a year before that, in 1843.

For some time, I couldn’t find any trace of Thomas after his parents’ deaths. But I then searched the family records of his aunts and uncles, and located Luke Hadley, his maternal uncle, farming in Wisconsin in 1850. In the same household are Jane, his wife, and Thomas Hadley, both born in England. Thomas was the same age as Thomas Price.

In the next Census, again in Wisconsin, Thomas is recorded as Thomas Price.

Finding Jane’s obituary completed the jigsaw puzzle.

‘Jane Griffiths was born in Monmouthshire, South Wales, about 1813. She married Luke Hadley in 1835. The came to America in the Spring of 1949 [surely 1849] and settled on the old homestead near Providence Church. Having no children, they adopted Mr Hadley’s sister’s son, Thomas Price, who came to America with them. He served in the late Civil War, and died in Nebraska in 1872. Mr Hadley died in April 1874. Mrs Hadley was a member of the Independent Church in England. She Died Feb. 2nd 1898.’

Further searching on the U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, found details of Thomas’ military record. He was enlisted as a private on the Union side in August 1861, in Tafton, Wisconsin. He was wounded a year later, in September, at South Mountain, Maryland, and mustered out.

Thomas was buried in the US National Cemetery in Washington in November 1872.

Researching further, it appears that Mark’s other uncle, Mark, emigrated to the USA from Bristol, arriving in Philadelphia in May 1839. He married and had 5 children in Pottsville, then moved to Wisconsin in 1846, where his brother Luke joined him, three years later.