AKEN, AIKEN OR AITKEN

[rossylass]

Does anyone know of a local family with the surname Aken (or variations).

Betty Aken married Richard Pickles, a weaver, at St Mary le Ghyll Church in 1804. They had eight children - Ellin, baptised in 1802, James, 1806, Nancy, 1810 (died in 1816), Jinny 1813, Henry 1815, Stephen 1818, John 1821 and Mary born in around 1826. They moved to Roughlee at the begining of the 19th century - possibly after 1806.

[Stanley]

Had a look but nothing in the index Rossy.

[Wendyf]

I checked the Thornton in Craven parish records and there are only three entries. As it is an unusual name in the area there might be a connection.

27/5/1817 Baptism of Jenny Ackin daughter of William, weaver of Gisbourn, and Nancy.
4/4/1824 Burial of William Aiken, 6months, of the chapelry of Colne.
17/1/1827 Burial of Nancy Aikin, 37 of Blacko.

Looks like the same family on the move.

[rossylass]

Thanks for that. My Betty must have been born around 1785. William the weaver could have been a brother & Nancy a sister. I think that children were often named after relatives & interestingly, Betty had a child who was christened Nancy in 1810.

[rossylass]

A quick trip to the Lancashire Archives solved the mystery. From the record of marriage banns of 1804 for St Mary le Ghyll Church, I discovered that Betty Aiken was a weaver from the Chapelry of Colne.

It looks as though there may be a connection between Betty & the Aikens which Wendy found . Nancy Aiken died in Blacko in 1827 & I also discovered today, that my gggfather, Richard Pickles & his wife, the former Betty Aiken, had lived at Blacko Foot Farm. The evidence came from a record of the Quarter Sessions of 1898 when the Guardians of Chorley Union were in dispute with their counterparts in Skipton, who appealed a Removal Order in respect of Stephen Pickles; Stephen must have given an account of his residences & said that before he had attained the age of 16 (in 1824), his father, Richard Pickles, had moved from Barnoldswick to the farm which he rented at Blacko Foot. Following this he moved to "rented tenements known as Judsons Fold otherwise Judsons ?Kitchen (1st letter obliterated by a blot), or Barn Farm......"

If anyone is interested I can type out the full text.

[Stanley]

You've triggered something in the back of my head Rossy. Perhaps Wendy can put me out of my misery. Have I heard the name 'Kitchen' applied to a farm in the Earby area? I looked up the word and it seems to come from old Latin 'coquina', to cook. How does this get to be a farm name? Built in a sheltered position?

[Wendyf]

Kitchen Farm is next door but one to me down Harden Clough. It is a pretty ancient place and I have copies of documents going back to the 17th Century. I have a theory about the name. One document from 1670 records the farm (not identified, but part of a group of documents pertaining to Kitchen) being split between a father and son, both called John Shackleton. In it the father is permitted "to occupy the Messuage and Tenement wherein he doth dwell (excepting one room called the Kitchen and one other room called the Milkhouse...)." His son was to occupy the rest, so perhaps the sons part became known as Kitchen from that point.

I helped to index a batch of "removal" papers a while ago and they are a wonderful resource aren't they? Everyone involved is interviewed and has to explain every detail of their family history and life up to that point.

[Wendyf]

If you haven't already found it Rossy the Lancashire Online Parish Clerks website is a great resource. I just found the banns for Richard & Betty being read at St. Barts in Colne.
Was it usual for the banns to be read in two churches? I wonder where they actually tied the knot?
I volunteer in the local history section at Colne library every Wednesday morning, so just let me know if you need anything looking up.

[rossylass]

They were married at St Mary le Ghyll. I wonder if they lived "over the brush" in Barlick as their first child was born in 1802.

Thanks for your offer. If you happen to come across anything I should be very grateful, but I can't think of anything specific. So addictive this stuff!

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Wendy, I knew I had heard the name. Interesting theory about the kitchen. In the absence of a source of income like HLW splitting a holding was the only way a son/daughter could get financial independence and get married. I wouldn't mind betting that this was behind the division of many farms.