James Colley

Background History

According to my 4x-Great-Grandfather Charles Colleys' 1837 wedding certificate, his  father was called James Colley - Scysussmith. (I believe this to be scissorsmith).

Sheffield's records, from the beginning of the C19th, are either extremely vague or non-existent , so guesswork plays a big part in working out who was born when or married to who. Theories are sometimes all you have until concrete evidence appears to support  or quash them. One thing I have learned through doing genealogy is to keep every scrap of information. Just because something doesn't fit now or is spelt differently or the dates don't match or your computer genealogy program tells you your subject is 'too old to have children at fifty', does NOT mean they are wrong.

It might not fit now but it might later, when you have that 'ha-ha' moment. Before the late C19th most people couldn't read or write so it was generally left to the educated few that could, to make a record of events. Names were often written how they were heard and with local dialect thrown in, the name Colley could end up as Colley or Cooley, Cowley, Caulley, Coley, Calley, Kolley, Collie, Collye, etc. As the person in question often couldn't read or write themselves, they couldn't very well argue either. An added bonus to the confusion is someone else misreading the names when transcribing the hand-written census sheets. So you could also have, Golley, Clay, Copley, etc. It is that easy to overlook a name "because it's spelt differently". Beware!!

Anyway, here are my theories about my 5x-Great-Grandfather James Colley.

Theory 1

Fact: Buried in St. Georges, Sheffield, having died at Brightside Poor House on 27 Feb 1831, aged 71 is one James Colley.

Fact: He was born in 1761 and christened on 23 Sept 1761 at St Peters, Sheffield, a son of David and Alice (Smith) Colley of Campo Lane.

Fact: David Colley, Scissorsmith, had six children, James (1761), Sarah (1763), William (1765), Ann (1768),  George (1770) and Joseph (1773).

Fact: According to the Sheffield Cutlers Apprentice Records, James, William and George were apprenticed to their father as scissorsmiths.

Fact: James gained his Freedom in 1787 (he could make scissors for his own profit, if he so wished) and that is the last record of him, in Sheffield at least, until his death in 1831.

James probably married, but who, when and where? He probably produced children, but how many? Hopefully, one of them was my Charles.

Fact: James' brother William was the Master Cutler of Sheffield in 1821 and had a road named after him, Colley Road no less. He had seven children, five of them sons, Frederick (1799), Henry (1802), Edward (1804), James (1806) and Joseph (1809). Three of those, Henry, Edward and James went into business together as the Colley Brothers making scissors at 98 Lambert Street, Sheffield, during the 1830's and 40's.

Fact: Henry later became a cutlery merchant and city gent.

Was my G-G-G-G-Grandfather Charles a cousin of Henry and his brothers? They all lived and worked in the same area, all making scissors, and if he is descended from this line then my family history can be traced back to Ecclesfield in the 1540's.

Possible Line Of Descent

Theory 2

Fact: Buried in St. Georges, Sheffield is another James Colley (1773). This one died at Sheffield Poor House on 14 Aug 1833, aged 60. I can find no other records of this man.

Fact: He totally cocks up theory 1.