Joshua Madeley of Lancashire, England

My last two posts described the family of Joshua and Martha Madeley of Philadelphia using documents which I rescued at a local thrift store as my starting off point.  I previously mentioned I had one more record to show you.

Among the papers was a document I first thought might have come from a family Bible.  I am not so sure that is the case, though.  It looks to me like it was a series of loose papers that, at some point, was then cut down and bound.  I know the paper was cut down because the handwriting flows right off the page.  It makes you wonder what else was on these pages.

There are a total of six pages with the last page being blank.  Here are the pages as they appear in the booklet.

Joshua Madeley (crossed out)

Thomas Madley was born June 11th 1807

John Madeley was born Oct 25th 1809

Mary Madeley was born Apr (?) 23rd 1813

Joshua Madeley was born June 7th 1832

Thomas Madeley was born July 26th 1835

Ann Madeley was born July (the rest falls off the page)

 Died Augt 19th 1834

James Madeley was born Oct 17th 1836

Levena Madeley was born Feby 3rd 1840

Walter Madeley was born Augt 9th 1842

James Scholfield   Book 1824
  December 10

I James Scholfield was born Agust 7th 1768 babtis Oldham Church (click on link to see a picture of the church in which he was baptized)

John Madeley was born October 25 1809

Mary Madeley was born August 23 181X (falls off page)

Joshua Madeley was born June 7 1832

Ann Madeley was born July 23+ 1834 Died

Agust 19 1834 (?) (falls off page)

Joshua Madeley was born June 7 1832

Ann Madeley was bo(rn) July 23+ 1834

Died August 19+ 18XX

Hannah Madeley was born June 9 1849

George Madeley was born June 9 1849

John Madeley was born March 7 1852

Sarah Madeley was born January 10 1853

Edwain Madeley was born October 13 1857

Emma Madeley was born October 13 1857



















On 18 September of 1848, Joshua Madeley and family immigrates to the United States.  They arrive in Philadelphia and interestingly enough, several Scholfield's (spelled Scofield on the list) accompany the group. I clipped this image from Ancestry and it is part of the passenger list of the Saranak.

It appears James Scholfield b. 1768 is related to Joshua Madeley somehow ... I'm just not sure yet what that relationship is ...

Mary Medeley Reynolds

My previous Medeley post introduced the family of Joshua and Martha Medeley.  I mentioned that they only had one child that lived to adulthood, Mary.  Mary Medeley was born 16 Aug 1860 and this post will include the documents that were lovingly preserved by Mary's only child, Edith.

 Mary Elizabeth Medeley married John B. Reynolds on 22 April 1884.  Two other related documents to their marriage certificate are shown below.

    Both the marriage announcement and the reception announcement were saved along with the marriage certificate.  I tried to locate the church, but didn't have much luck.  There is a reference to an 'Old St. Paul's' but I am not so sure it is the same church.

The reception hall is even more difficult to locate.  Google maps has a pretty neat feature that allows you to actually see the street as if you were standing on the sidewalk.  There is a boarded up building which might be the reception hall, it is just hard to say.  It does appear like the area has seen better days.

The remaining two items are related to Mary's husband John B. Reynolds.  He was a druggist and worked for Harrison Duffield located at 2601 N. Sixth Street at the corner of Huntingdon.  John's business card was also lovingly saved.

I had a little more luck locating the drugstore.  There is one storefront still standing at the corner of N. Sixth Street and Huntingdon.  It looks like there may have been another storefront across the street at one time, but it is now a vacant lot.  The other two properties are still standing but look like residential rather than business properties.  

Is this the home of Harrison Duffield Druggist?

The remaining item is a clipped obituary for John B. Reynolds.  I wonder if Edith clipped it from the paper?  Now she would be alone.

I Googled the address listed in the obituary and, assuming the addresses have not changed the house is shown below (you've just got to love Google!)  The drug store might be the image on the right.

Edith Reynolds dies on 23 April 1959.  With her death, the line of Joshua Medeley and Martha Sweeting comes to an end.  An end that is until I scooped up a handful of documents in 2012.  For sixty-three years these documents were kept together by someone.  Now this family lives on.

I've still got one more document to share with you - a Bible record which takes os back to merry old England!        

Joshua Medeley and Martha Sweeting of Philadelphia

Genealogists look at old stuff differently.  You know what I mean.  You are walking down the aisle of a thrift store, flea market, or antique shop and you spy the yellowish paper covered with handwriting.  I have to admit, it makes me come to a dead stop every time!

I always think of those documents as having a life of their own.  You know they must have been important to someone at sometime or they would long ago have disappeared into the trash or used as a fire starter.  And when I see a stack of documents related to the same family, I rarely can walk away without rescuing them.

This post was created from such a stack of family documents.  It makes you wonder how these family papers ended up in a thrift store?  Maybe it represents 'the end of the line' for a family descent.  Unfortunately, a stack of family documents quite often become scattered to the wind when they find their way into the thrift stores and the like.  Many collectors look for specific categories of documents and leave the others behind.  Such was the collection I purchased for the Madeley family.  By the time I came along, several of the documents had already been purchased and I rescued the rest.

So let's see what we can find out about the Madeley family.

Joshua Madelely married Martha Sweeting on 17 November 1859 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.  Witnesses to the marriage were Thomas Madeley and Emma Sweeting.

Joshua and Martha Medely (listed as Medly) are living in the household of Samuel and Laura Eckerly in the 1860 census for Philadelphia Ward 18.  I am pretty sure this is the same Joshua Medeley in the marriage record especially since Martha is there also.  They both are listed as being born in Lincolnshire, England.

1870 finds Joshua and Martha Medeley with a young family still living in Philadelphia.  Mary b. circa 1861 and Clara b. circa 1862 are also living in the house.  Joseph and William Sweeting are also living in this household.  They, almost certainly, are related to Joshua's wife, Martha Sweeting.

Joshua and Martha are living in Philadelphia in 1880 with their daughter Mary E. Medeley.

1900 has Martha Medeley, listed as a widow, living with her daughter Mary E. Reynolds.  Mary and her husband, John B. Reynolds have one child, Edith Reynolds b. 15 July 1886 (the census-taker was gracious enough to record everyone's birthday).  Martha Medeley also listed she was the mother of three children with only one child still living.

John B. and Mary E. Reynolds along with their daughter Edith are still living in Philadelphia in the 1910 census.

1920 has no change, John, Mary, and Edith Reynolds are still living in Philadelphia.

1930 finds John B. Reynolds, now a widower, and his daughter Edith still living in Philadelphia.

1940 finds Edith Reynolds living alone and unmarried at the age of 53.  It appears Edith Reynolds is the end of the line.  I would assume she was the owner of the documents I would purchase in 2012.

A quick Ancestry search for Joshua Medeley turns up several pertinent documents for this family, including the marriage record I copied above.

Joshua Medeley dies 02 May 1887 with the funeral services being conducted at St. Marks Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.  Martha Sweeting Medeley dies 15 Mar 1906.
Martha Sweeting and Joshua Medeley have four children:

• Mary Elizabeth Medeley b. 16 Aug 1860
• Clara Medeley b. 26 May 1862 d. 18 Mar 1871
• William Medeley b. 1865 d. 26 Mar 1871
• Anna Medeley b. 1869 d. 11 Aug 1869

I wonder if Martha misunderstood the census taker when they asked how many children she had because she said she was the mother of three with 1 child still living.  Maybe she thought the census taker asked how many children she had who were deceased which would have been 3 and 1 child living.  Notice she lost two children within 1 week of each other.  Imagine the sorrow which must have descended on this family late in March of 1871.


My next post will cover the family of Mary Elizabeth Medeley Reynolds...