Joseph BALMER ²

  Notes:

The eldest son, Joseph was described as a collier for the baptism of two of his children in 1813 and 1814, but by 1818 he was a farmer in Sandford. In 1841 he was farming at Tarn Moor (about 40ac) near Bleatarn. These places are all in the Parish of Warcop in the Eden Valley. He is known to have had 10 children with his wife Sarah Faint (qv), eight of whom survived to be adults, and 55 surviving grandchildren.

Their eldest son Thomas was a farmer in the Parish of Warcop until about 1840, then was an agricultural labourer. He and his wife Elizabeth moved to County Durham in the 1860s, presumably to be near their two married children. The second son John was also an agricultural labourer, but stayed in Warcop Parish. The eldest daughter Margaret married Robert Longstaff, a farmer of about 100ac at Dona Close in the neighbouring Parish of Asby: they retired to Soulby. The next daughter Mary married Thomas Hall, a farmer of about 230ac at Crow Hill in the Parish of Ormside: two of their sons emigrated to New Zealand.

Their third son Reginald was an agricultural labourer, although he farmed at Tarn Moor after his younger brother Robert (qv) moved to Soulby in the 1860s. Reginald married Mary Longstaff, the sister of his brother-in-law Robert Longstaff, and also moved to Soulby towards the end of his life. The fifth son Joseph was a farmer of about 15ac at Winton near Kirkby Stephen: he married three times, and two of his sons moved to the south of England. The youngest son William was an agricultural labourer, and died at Winton from TB when he was 27 years old.

Additional sources:
Census returns

Joseph married Sarah FAINT, daughter of Reginald FAINT and Sarah STEEL, on 1 Jun 1803 in St Columbe, Warcop, Westmorland.¹ (Sarah FAINT was born in Soulby, Westmorland ⁴, christened on 9 Nov 1777 in St Stephen, Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland,⁵ died on 17 Sep 1867 in Winton, Westmorland ⁶ and was buried on 20 Sep 1867 in St Columbe, Warcop, Westmorland ¹.)