Joseph Crathorn, born in Handsworth in 1741, and marrying Ann Cliff there on 4 January 1774, was probably the ancestral Crathorne of virtually all the Birmingham Crathorns and Crathornes born over the next 200 years. 

Joseph Crathorn signed his name on his Marriage Certificate in 1774 – Ann Cliff just put her mark

The reason for this lies in their 14 children, their 44 Crathorn grandchildren, and all their later descendants...  

Click for a larger image

Joseph and Ann's children also allow the family's movements to be tracked, with first child John born in Handsworth, the next two (Elizabeth and Nancy or Ann) born in Northfield, then all the rest from son Joseph onwards born in Kings Norton where father Joseph became a farmer.  Today the three places are all suburbs of the City of Birmingham, but in Joseph and Ann's day they were separate villages on opposite sides of the town of Birmingham: Handsworth (yellow square) was in Staffordshire to the north, Northfield and Kings Norton (red square) in Worcestershire to the south.

Towns of the West Midlands in 1794

Joseph and Ann must have had a busy life running the farm at Alcester Lane End and bringing up so many children, but he also developed a business as a 'wire drawer', apparently diversifying from farming as industrial demand increased.  However in December 1789 a minor calamity struck when his 6-year old grey horse disappeared, leading to an appeal article in the local paper. (This link and all others on this page, as well as the photos, are all courtesy of Steve Crathorn)

Alcester Lane End Farm, where the Crathorns grew up

By 1822 Joseph Crathorn must have become infirm, as he wrote his Will on 18 March giving all his "farming stock, implements of husbandry, household furniture and all kinds of tools and mill working belonging to the Rowling and Wire Drawing Business and also all my money, bills or securitys of any kind…" to his "dear wife Ann", with instructions for its later disposal to their children after she had died. There was to be an equal share to most of the children, many by then married, but "doughble" shares to daughter Etty and son Edward, "they boath being Cripples". Although Edward doesn't seem to have married or had children, 'Etty' – or Henrietta – seems not to have let her "cripple" status get in the way of having an illegitimate son and then marrying twice. Strangely, at the end of his Will, Joseph then added an extra sentence giving money to son Charles and daughter Ann Kendrick who'd been left off the first list of children to inherit a share of his estate. They were to get three pounds each, but only after his wife's death. It was almost as if he'd forgotten that they were his children!  Click here to see Joseph's Will.

He died aged 81 on 22 May 1822, and was buried in St Nicholas Church, Kings Norton, where his headstone remains to this day.  

Joseph Crathorn's Gravestone, with wife Ann added later

His wife Ann lived on at the farm, with some land at May House Farm now passed to their first son John.  The 1840 Tythe Book lists the fields farmed by Ann (shown in green below) and John (shown in yellow).  However, they didn't own the land: it was leased from a James Taylor.  The land today is taken up by housing and the Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre and Golf Course - see it on Google Earth here.

The 1840 Tythe Map of Kings Norton, showing Ann Crathorn's land in green and John's in yellow 

Ann lived on for nearly 20 years after her husband, dying in 1841 aged 89!  Aris's Gazette of 4 October 1841 reports the sale of the livestock and equipment of the farm.

All but one of Joseph and Ann's sons married, giving rise to an amazing 44 Crathorn grandchildren.  Most daughters married too, adding over half as many 'non-Crathorn' grandchildren.  The links below follow their lines, with details of their Census records provided by Steve Crathorn and stories of their lives written by Patricia Simpson.

If you know more about your Crathorne relatives, please click here