We are researching our Travers ancestors and their links with the historic Travers families of Lancashire. Starting in the late 1700's many of them were watchmakers in Lancashire and some lived and worked for a time in Clerkenwell, Middlesex. Our earliest known ancestor was Matthew Travers, a shoemaker from Windle, now part of modern day St Helens, Lancashire. An early source of Travers history is, A Collection of Pedigrees of The Family of Travers; or Abstracts of Certain Documents Collected Towards a History of That Family, by S. Smith Travers and arranged by Henry J. Sides in 1864. His original goal was to document the link between the Travers of Nateby and the later Travers of Horton. Another source of Travers history can be found in Descendants of Henry Travers of London, England and Newbury, Massachusetts, U.S.A. by Nathan Hagar Daniels in 1903 which contains some of the same information published in the earlier book by Travers/Sides. Unfortunately, none of it links directly to any of our known family line although many of the same Christian names and places appear. What is of particular interest is any mention of Windle, Hardshaw, or Rainford as this is where our earliest known ancestors lived.

    This is where the early research currently stands. We are starting to put circumstantial evidence together in support of the link between the historic Travers described by Henry J. Sides and our line. It is our belief that, like many families in Lancashire, the Travers remained Catholic longer than most which ultimately led to the dispersion of the family. We have also started to put together a short synopsis of English history in order to better understand what may have been occurring in England at the time our various family members were alive.

Here is a short chronology for the St Helens area of Lancashire where the family resided.

Here is the pedigree of our line of Travers starting with our earliest known ancestor.

Matthew Travers
Shoemaker of Windle, Lancashire
abt 1715-1786
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William Travers
Watchmaker of Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell
1753-1816
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Samuel Holt Travers
Watch Movement Maker of Rainhill, Lancashire
1807-1863
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John Travers
Chronometer Maker of St. Albans, London and Ramsgate
1849-1937
|
Alfred Travers 1873-1951
Ruth Violet Travers 1874-1954
Oliver Travers 1876-1917
Sidney Travers 1877-1960
David Travers 1879-1899
Charles Batson Travers 1882-1952
Susan Travers 1884-1953
Daisy Travers 1885-1962
John Travers 1887-1942
Percy Travers 1889-1890
Mabel Travers 1891-1975
Frank Travers 1893-1970
Frederick Travers 1896-1977
Ernest Wilson Travers 1899-1969

If you have information that may assist in this research or any question or comments about the website please email: mike@traverslancashire.net.

Last Modified: Wednesday, September 12, 2012