Introductory Note by the Webmaster Chris Meakin (who can be contacted on J7CHM123@gmail.com).   Please scroll further down this page for:

* A full list of all the family names so far connected into the Tree; * A simple guide on how to enter the Tree and then navigate it; * An explanation of the rules I am adopting for modern names on the Tree; * Hyperlinks to useful public Websites relevant to this Tree.  * But first, some notes on the principal family names explored so far

Please also sign the GUEST BOOK, just click the link above. It is also very helpful to  include your email address there. I have seen how on Tribalpages trees elsewhere the  Guest Book can develop into a handy and very specific Message Board for family historians.

This Tree is gradually expanding into a shared ancestry of established  Sheffield families, and is opening up a kaleidoscope of folk involved in the  town's industrial growth which led to the modern city. Several experienced  researchers into Sheffield roots (Jay Roland, Paula Newton and others) are  already helping and it transpires we are all distantly related, typically fourth cousins, lending some substance to that old adage about Sheffield being "the largest village in England".

Thanks to their efforts, this Tree has lately grown apace in the teelve or more years since its  modest beginnings in November 2002. As the number of people listed increases,  so more researchers can probably link in their own ancestry - do please let us know, and if you wish, we will be pleased to include your data. Some  people like a tree to be "all my own work" but this one is a combined effort.

SOME OLD SHEFFIELD FAMILIES

BARBER: we so far trace them back to about 1750, the estimated birth of the  splendidly-named Georgius Barber whose son, also Georgius, married Sarah  Oldale in 1802. So far we have linked 25 early Barbers, the most recent shown  being Edwin Barber b.1878. Clearly Barber is not an unusual name, but  scions of the family played a vital part in Sheffield's industrial evolution.

ELLIN : ten names so far descended from James Ellin born c 1740-50, who married  Arine (should that be Anne?) Dykes. Their son Thomas Ellin married Ann Oldale  in 1798, and they founded the cutlery firm of Oldale and Ellin. Of particular  interest in Sheffield, both he and his son Thomas became Master Cutler, in 1833  and 1841 respectively.

OLDALE : so far we show 150 descendants. A remarkable old Sheffield family, originally farmers in the Sheaf Valley - see following.

> CANADIAN/American Oldales may well descend from Thomas Joseph Oldale (1859- 98) four of whose sons emigrated to Canada. There is a large Oldale family  website about all this - click on Link shown below;

> AUSTRALIAN Oldales may well descend from Arthur Richard Oldale (1814-92) born in Sheffield, emigrated to Adelaide.

LEVESLEY : a distinctively Sheffield spelling of a name with many variants,  the family descends from a long, possibly ancient, dynasty of farmers in the Loxley  Valley. In the 18th century and later they kept a pack of "fighting men" whom they  hired out for displays at weddings, feasts, and other merry-making events. DJs did not even exist  back then.

We can only assume they were actually the farm labourers putting on a  show, for money. The earliest marriages show Levesleys on both sides, very typical of  small farming communities, thus that of Thomas Levesley to Hannah Levesley in 1766. Before the railways came sixty years later, people travelled around very little so  cousin marriages were far from uncommon.
  
 The great-grandson of Thomas and Hannah ran the Black Swan in Snig Hill, which had  been the principal coaching inn of Sheffield until the railways came. In turn his son  married the grand-daughter of Georgius Barber and Sarah Oldale, in effect creating a  retrospective Grand Alliance between two of Sheffield's principal farming dynasties, the Levesleys  of the Loxley Valley and the Oldales of the Sheaf Valley. Much work has been done on this  family by Geoffrey Levesley and Susan Buffrey (nee Levesley)

HOW TO ENTER AND EXPLORE THE TREE

Choose one of the family names on the list below and click it. That shows a  list of all family members known here; click any of them to extract them from  the family list, then click on their name again to enter the Tree itself. To  start with, just click on their father, or on their spouse's father, to get a  broader view of their family where we have it. Thus you can explore up or down  the Tree, also using the ANCESTORS or DESCENDANTS and other buttons, at the  top, for each main person you have centrally on your page. To move to someone  different quickly, look in the DROP DOWN LIST of all the names at top right.

Generally you will find the FAMILY view for an individual contains the most  detail - that alone includes space for a box in which we can record details of,  for example, their addresses and other helpful detail from the Censuses. On  another Tree I have, it also proves an ideal place for detail about WILLS.

RULES OF THE GAME FOR THIS VERY PUBLIC TREE

We have deliberately not protected this Tree with a Password, so it is not  appropriate here to reveal precise ancestral links right down to people still  living. If we did that, and showed the highly accurate details we typically  have of their parents and in some cases living grandparents, the Tree would be  3-4 times its present size, which is not helpful anyway. So do not be  disappointed that you do not appear yourself. The focus of interest here is on  people born before or around 1900 - most of us can easily work out where we  relate to people of the twentieth century.

Best of luck in your searching.
 Chris Meakin

The following information is general information provided by Tribalpages for all of  their family websites.