Notes for Thomas Barstow: per Roger Beament notes "Thomas was the eldest surviving son of Benjamin. Like his father and uncle, and other members of his family, he was apprenticed into the Merchant Adventurers Company. He would have begun his apprenticeship in 1728, and he is recorded as a Freeman in 1736 when he would have entered the Merchants Company. He served as a Juryman at Old Malton in the North Riding in January 1749/50. He served as Governor of the Merchant Adventurer's Company from 1764 - 6. He was extensively involved with the City Corporation: he served as Sheriff in 1762-3, was elected Alderman on 31 July 1777 and became Lord Mayor ofY ork in 1778.
It is worth adding that since 1396, York had the status of City Corporate and was completely separated from the County of York. All important decisions were taken by the Lord Mayor or his fellow aldermen(l2 in number) assisted by a Junior Council ( The Twenty Four). The City Council comprised of some 35 members. In addition, there were 2 Sheriffs, a Recorder and a Common (or City) Clerk. This form of government of the City lasted substantially unaltered from 1396 to 1835. 16
His business was in timber. He was a Raffmerchant, that is the importer of foreign timber usually in the form of planks. He had a timber yard on the Staith, the unloading quay. He must have prospered because the following announcement appeared in the Yorkshire Courant on the 9th November in 1764:
"Mr. Thomas Barstow, RaffMerchant, having declared business in favour of us we take the liberty of acquainting the Publick that we have just imported large Quantities of all kinds of Raff and shall always take the utmost care to have a proper Assortment at our RaffYard on the Staith, York, lately occupied by the said Mr. Barstow .. , ....
Their most obedient servants Ralph Dodsworth Edmund Knipe
York Nov.6th 1764.
In the Poll Book of 1758 for York, Thomas Barstow Esquire has no profession recorded but his Place of Abode is stated at Ousegate. He voted for Mr. Thornton, who won by 1239 votes to 994. It is interesting to note that the three names above Thomas in the Poll Book were a glover, I labourer (from Hull) and a City Informer. Below his name were a shoemaker (from Hull), a stay maker and a joiner. The electorate in York was not confined to the elite or gentle classes.
Thomas married three times.
(1) We have no date for his first marriage to Everilda Hewan (1711-1744), but it must have been between 1736 and 1738, when he was between 24 and 26 and had just completed his apprenticeship. They had five children. The eldest was Alice, born in 1739 who died aged 6. Then Michael born in 1740, Alice in 1741 who died in the same year, Mary who later married a Dr. Judson of Doncaster, but they had no children. The youngest was Thomas who was born in 1744 and it looks as ifhis mother died when or soon after he was born. She was buried on 13 November 1744.
(2) Seven years later, on 29th January 1752,Thomas married Judith Stainforth in York Minster. She died in 1772 aged 60.
(3) In 1777, at the age of 65, Thomas married Ann Blanchard, a widow. She was described as a "buxom widow". His son, Michael, still unmarried at the age of37, did not like her and it was said that he left home to 'seek his fortune' elsewhere. He became a Baltic timber merchant and ended up in Danzig.
His will registered in 1787 mentions the properties he owned: a house in Kilnsey, the Manor of Ryton and houses in South Duffield (Holme House?), Wressell and Fulford. It seems that he had two houses in Fulford. The first acquired became Fulford Park [near the traffic light], but we do not know when it was acquired. The house is essentially mid 18th century: "There is a handsome pillared entrance hall ..... with a pair of Roman Doric pillars. The staircase has umbrella knopps, the upper staircase barley twist pillars possibly by John Carr.,,18 It may be that he built a new house here although there was one already on site. Certainly he bought new plots of land in 1759 and in 1764. Seven years later, in 1771, he bought another house in Fulford, on the site immediately north of the Plough Inn."
Children of Thomas Barstow and Everilda Hewan are:
+Michael Barstow, b. June 23, 1740, York, d. March 10, 1794, Danzig.
Thomas Barstow (b. June 01, 1712, d. March 05, 1786)
Notes for Thomas Barstow: