The stepson’s story
Written as part of Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge. This week’s topic: Steps
Thomas Blissett Harley (1836-1873), my great great grandfather, was a stepchild. His mother, Nancy Blissett (1812-1837), died not long after he was born, and his father, John Harley (1807-1884) remarried a year later. John’s new wife and Thomas’ stepmother was Charlotte Middleton (1816-1886).
What was it like, I wonder, to grow up as the oldest child, but a stepchild, in a family which had nine more children? Was Charlotte a loving mother to her stepson, or did she favor her own children? I have no data, but I have speculated a good deal over the years, imagining various scenarios.
While Thomas initially followed in his father’s footsteps as a builder and contractor, he moved away from their hometown of Smethwick, after his marriage to Jane Round (1883- abt.1901) in 1861.
St John’s Square, Burslem, abt 1860.
At the time Thomas, 25, was involved in a major building project in Burslem, Staffordshire, where he and Jane took up residence.
The Wedgwood Memorial Institute, Burslem. Thomas and his partner, Arthur Dean, are named as the builders in a document buried in the foundation stone of the building.
He continued to work as a builder, but at some point he took a different path and trained as a law clerk. In August 1869 Thomas was articled to attorney Isaac Walker, for a period of five years. A year later Mr. Walker left the area to work in Bern, Switzerland, and Thomas’ article-ship was transferred to another attorney, Mr. Frederic Julian. However, he was fated not to complete his term with Mr. Julian either, for Thomas died in 1873 at the age of 36, leaving Jane a widow and mother of their only son, Frank.
But at the time of his death Thomas seems to have been completely alienated from his family in Smethwick. His former business partner, Arthur Dean (who was also Jane’s brother-in-law), was named in Thomas’s will as one of his executors and as Frank’s guardian, along with the statement that there were no other kin. While Jane’s parents were both dead, Thomas’s father and stepmother, John and Charlotte, were both still alive, as were his younger half-brothers, John, Walter and James, as well as several of his half-sisters.
Yet Thomas called on neither his parents nor his siblings to care for his widow and their son.
Thomas died of cirrhosis of the liver, suggesting that he was at the very least a heavy drinker. The Smethwick family were devout Wesleyans and it is possible that herein lies the cause of the breach with his family. On the other hand it may have been built into the relationship of the oldest child, the stepson, that led to the move away from home, the abandonment of his father’s profession and ultimately to his early death.
All speculation, but the only “step” story I have.