The Monument Inscription we are researching here lists the burial of three people. Clementine/Jane Gautier, Joseph Charles Gautier and Mary Gautier. With such an unusual surname I thought this would be easy!
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The first issue was that the transcription seems to have an error with JC Gautier’s age on the transcript of his monument inscription. Looking at all the available data, I am confident he died aged 54 not 34, placing his year of birth as 1738 not 1758.
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We find records of a Joseph Charles Gautier born in Leeds in 1838 to father James Gautier. Joseph Charles has at least two siblings, James and Elizabeth, and they lived on Lydgate in Leeds. His father James subsequently passed away in 1757.
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Once he reaches adulthood, Joseph Charles gets confusing! We have a record dating to May of 1764 where a Joseph Charles Gautier (aged 24, so right year of birth) marries Elizabeth Hutton (23, born 1741) in York.
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Then....
We have a record dating to October 1764 of a Joseph Charles Gautier marrying a Mary Walker in Manchester. He is recorded as a Merchant from Leeds.
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What happened to Elizabeth Hutton and if it was the same man, he moved on fast! We have a burial of an Elizabeth Hutton (which should be her married name, Gautier?) in January of 1765 stating she was a widow. But I am not convinced this is our Elizabeth. Maybe there are two Joseph Charles Gautier’s, but I doubt it.
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Joseph Charles Gautier and Mary his wife move to Halifax and begin living in Warley. The West Yorkshire Archive Service has an apprenticeship indenture dated 1768 where Joseph Charles Gautier takes on an apprentice from the Poorhouse called John Townend, age 13.
Signature of Joseph Charles Gautier from Apprenticeship indenture until the age of 24. West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale, SPL:108/263
In the indenture document, they are living at Hoyle House, a Listed building that is still standing today. Joseph Charles was a Merchant and a manufacturer.
Hoyle House. Photograph by H P Kendall. Calderdale Libraries
In 1769 their daughter Clemen(tine) (Jane/Jenny) was born. Their first son, James was born but died almost immediately. They had another son, also called James, then Joseph and their daughters Martha and Mary.
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Clemen(tine) (Jane/Jenny) died in 1780 aged 10yrs, she was buried at the Square Chapel.
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Throughout the 1780s there are land tax records showing JC Gautier is renting a house in Warley from Dr Alexander - Hoyle House. Joseph Charles will later build a warehouse in nearby Meadow Close. This was used as a cotton mill, Hoyle House Mill, that was later converted to cottages before being demolished.
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Whilst living in Warley, Joseph Charles Gautier was seen as an influential man, he was one of the first to found the Warley Grammar School and became a Trustee. In 1792 Joseph Charles Gautier died at the age of 54 years. He was buried with his daughter Clementine at the Square Chapel, Halifax.
Spring Garden/Warley Grammar school record book, 1785-1969. West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale, MISC:159/1
The West Yorkshire Archive Service have three wills that help us trace what happens to the family after Joseph Charles’s death. In 1792 they have a will concerning estate of a Martha Mort of Warley, widow, deceased.
This is Mary Gautier's (nee Walker) mother. Clearly, Mary’s mother had moved from Manchester at some point to live with or near her daughter and son-in-law. All these wills show Mary is using her money and estate to help her surviving children, both married and unmarried.
Mary Gautier died in 1798 aged 57. She was buried with Joseph Charles and Clementine at the Square Chapel, Halifax.
Joseph Charles and Mary's youngest daughter Mary had married James Boardman in 1783, age 19. Their Banns were witnessed by her father, Joseph Charles Gautier. Mr Boardman was a merchant from Manchester. She moved to Manchester and appeared on Census records there.
Researched by Anna Roe
Photograph of gravestone made for exhibition