Robert BALMER ⁴

  Notes:

Robert was born at Sandford where his father was a farmer. In 1841 he was an agricultural labourer at Coupland Beck, presumably learning his trade. In the early 1840s he took over his father's farm at Tarn Moor near Bleatarn, where he was also a grocer (in 1851) and lime burner (in 1861). In the early 1860s he moved to 'The Fold', a larger farm of around 230ac in the neighbouring Parish of Soulby. (Tarn Moor was next farmed by Robert's brother Reginald, and then by Reginald's son George.)

Robert married twice. He had five children with his first wife Margaret Harrison, all born at Bleatarn. Their eldest son Joseph was a labourer, did not marry, and died at the Kirkby Stephen Workhouse at the age of 54. The next two sons both died young from diphtheria. Their older daughter Agnes also did not marry, lived at home on the family farm until the late 1890s, then moved to Gorton in Lancashire with her half-brother Henry, where she died at the age of 49. Their younger daughter Sarah married William Wilson, a Vetinerary Surgeon from Nottingham: they lived in North Yorkshire, first in Hawes and then from the early 1880s in Askrigg.

Robert next married Isabella Parker, the daughter of an agricultural labourer from Colby near Appleby. They had 12 children, 10 of whom survived infancy. The first three were born in Bleatarn, and the rest in Soulby. Their eldest son Robert helped on the family farm until his marriage at the age of 37 to Mary Nicholson, a farmer's daughter from Crosby Garret. He was a butcher in Kirkby Stephen, then moved to Yorkshire, and at the time of his death in 1926 was an egg merchant. The second son Thomas ran the family farm at Soulby with his younger brother George after the death of their mother in 1897; they later farmed at Kings Meaburn near Appleby. Their eldest daughter Jane married Robert Kirk, a farmer from Yorkshire: they lived in Lancashire.

Their third son John was a policeman, married Jane Hutchinson, the daughter of a police sergeant, and retired to Millom in Cumberland: he was outlived by his second wife Elizabeth McLaren. Their fourth son George was a farmer in partnernship with his older brother Thomas, and married Sarah Hutchinson, a farmer's daughter. Their next daughter Isabella married John Holmes, a clerk in Liverpool. Their fifth son was Reginald (qv). Their sixth suviving son Septimus married Margaret Irving, the daughter of a stone mason from Soulby, and farmed at Little Asby. Their youngest daughter Mary was housekeeper for her younger brother Henry in 1901, when he was a grocer in Gorton in Lancashire. Henry emigrated to New York in 1905.

Additional sources:
Census returns
Kelly's 1921 Directory of Cumberland and Westmorland
TNA ref BT27 (passenger lists)

Robert married Margaret HARRISON on 13 Nov 1845 in St Lawrence the Martyr, Kirkland, Cumberland.^{1 2} (Margaret HARRISON was born in Drybeck, Westmorland ⁸, christened on 9 Apr 1815 in St Lawrence, Appleby, Westmorland,⁹ died on 29 Jun 1855 in Bleatarn, Westmorland ¹⁰ and was buried on 1 Jul 1855 in St Columbe, Warcop, Westmorland ³.)

Robert next married Isabella PARKER, daughter of Robert PARKER and Jane PEARSON, on 3 Nov 1858 in St Columbe, Warcop, Westmorland.³ (Isabella PARKER was born in Colby, Westmorland ⁵, christened on 25 Jun 1836 in St Lawrence, Appleby, Westmorland,⁹ died on 23 Jul 1897 in Soulby, Westmorland ¹¹ and was buried on 26 Jul 1897 in St Luke, Soulby, Westmorland ⁷.)