William Shawcroft (4th Great Grandfather)

The Ripley Colliery

The Memorial to William Shawcroft in Riddings Churchyard

Memorial to William Shawcroft in Riddings Churchyard

WILLIAM AND ANN HUNT SHAWCROFT William Shawcroft was the son of John Shawcroft and Sarah England . He was born May 23/24 1814 in the Pentrich Parish of Ripley in the county of Derbyshire, England. He became a coal miner and on 6 Jul 1847 at Duffield, a town very near Denby, where the Hunts lived, he was married to Ann Hunt. Ann, born 12 Dec 1828, was the daughter of John Hunt and Sarah Bardell, and was the first of her family to marry. They lived in a little town called Belper, also near Denby. Their first son, John, was born 8 Sep 1847 . Their second son, William, born 11 Dec 1849, died 2 Feb 1851. In the 1851 census, the Shawcroft family, William, Ann, and John, age 3, were either living with or visiting her parents, John and Sarah Bardell Hunt. They had a daughter Ruth born 21 Dec 1851 and another daughter, Sarah Ann, born 19 Mar 1854. On Jun 2, 1856, Ann had a son she named Frederick. She had had a little brother named Frederick who died at the age of three. Some time during the year 1857, William Shawcroft was hurt in the coal mines, with a back injury that crippled him for the rest of his life. This must have been a blow to their families. Their son John, then nine years old, had to go to work in the mines to support the family. How hard it must have been for William and Ann to see their young son go off to work in the mines before the sun came up each morning and come home after dark at night! School was of course out of the question for John. The work in the mines was hard and dangerous. There were no child labor laws to protect them, and children often went to work in the mines at age five or six. Many received severe injuries or were killed. In 1858 the family was living at Belper, and a daughter was born 8 Aug1858 whom they called Harriet, and twin sons were born on 25 Jan 1862. They were named Joseph and Hyrum, showing Ann's love and respect for the martyred brothers and for the Church. The little twins, however, both died in their first year, leaving the Shawcrofts with five living children. Ann had been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church in 1851. As with most converts at that time, they dreamed of going to America and living among the Saints in Utah. They were not discouraged by William's injured back or the other problems involved in planning and carrying out such a move--and somehow they made ready to sail for America. They sailed on the ship General McLellan on May 2, 1864. This would have been a heart-breaking time as well as a joyous one for the Shawcroft family--they had only love and respect for their homeland, and memories they all held for England. They would always yearn to see England and their family there again, but they probably knew in their hearts that they would never see their land or their family again. They did not leave England because they disliked it, but because they loved their new religion and wanted to have the freedom of religion and the joy of living among the Saints that they could have in America. Besides the Shawcroft family, there were 802 other saints on the ship. The voyage was long and wearisome, seven long weeks on the water, under conditions that are not pleasant to think about. As they neared Newfoundland the ship hit an iceberg, causing a hole large enough for a man to crawl through. But with cleverness and skillful manpower, the ship was fixed and all arrived safely in New York in June, 1864. With the ocean voyage behind them, they hurried toward their goal--Utah. Their route was up through Canada (because of the Civil War) and down to Missouri where they joined other emigrants in the company of Captain William Warren and his wagon train drawn by oxen. There were three hundred twenty-nine in the brave little company that organized in Nebraska.on July 19, 1864 for the last lap of the journey. Valiantly they lifted their faces toward the west and braced themselves for the thirteen hundred miles of rivers, mountains and desert and rugged country that must be conquered before they reached their destination. Facing the cold, hunger, and danger from the Indians the crippled William Shawcroft and his family, little Harriet being only six years old, courageously set out for a new life. They arrived in Salt Lake 6 Oct 1864, five months after leaving England. A majority of the party walked a good part of the thirteen hundred miles. Buffalo chips were gathered for fire, herbs and roots were gathered for medicine, and they searched for greens and berries and game for food. They would sing and joke and had good times, and faith, hope and love of a religion were the driving force which carried them to Zion. The crippled William was able to ride in a wagon because his son John had a job driving a wagon for another emigrant family. Still, the trip had to be almost unbearably hard for him, being barely able to walk and in great pain, the bumpy trails, heat, and dust. One thinks of their families in England--were they able to know that all arrived safely across the ocean? Did they know about the hardships of the plains and the trek to Utah? How they must have worried and prayed for their crippled son and brother and his family! William lived in Fountain Green until he passed away in 1884 and was buried in the Fountain Green cemetery. Ann went to Colorado with her son John and lived until her death in 1908. She was buried in the Sanford cemetery.


http://www.wardrasmussen.com/Family_History/Blog/Entries/1824/5/24_William_Shawcroft_files/Story%20of%20Shawcroft%20.PDF