Happy Birthday to my 10th Great Grandfather, Stephen Cawood, born 2 Nov 1606 in Ackworth, Yorkshire, England. “Stephen Cawood (son of Robert Cawood and Isabel Jackson ) was born November 02, 1606, and died February 19, 1652/53 in Pointerfract, England. Stephen was a yoeman farmer residing in East Hardwick, in the troublous times of James I, Charles I, and the Commonwealth. The family of Cawoods was, in those times, quite numerous in the neighborhood of Ackworth, as shown in the registers of St. Cuthberts Church, Ackworth, and Stephen Cawoods will and the Pontefract Church registers have alone preserved his memory. By his will, dated January 9, 1653, he left freehold property in East Hardwick, Ackworth, Pontegract, Hemsworth and Kinsley, to six trustees, in trust, to sell the land in Hemworth and Kinsley, and out of the money so raised to build a chapel and a free school in East Hardwick. The revenues from the rest of the Cawood estate were to be devoted to the maintenance of a schoolmaster, to be preaching minister, and to the relief of the poor in East Hardwick and Ackworth. Stephen died on February 19, 1653, forty days after the execution of his will. The trust dating back to 1653, the year he died, and still active in 1985. The endowment had to do with the erection of the Church of St. Stephen. There was in 1985 a memorial stone slab (3x6) laying flat on the ground next to the fence at the back end of the old Stephen Cawood prorerty, where the original Chapel was located. the slab bore this inscription:Near this Place Reseth the Body of Mr. Stephen Cawood Who was the Founder Both of this Chapel And Free School and Died the 20th Day of Feb. Anno Domini 1653. The last ten words have been obliterated from the stone by what appears to have been farm machinery such as a rotary mower, but the complete insription is on the brass plaque on the wall, inside the nearby St. Stephen Church. From parish records, we know he had children. It is possible the establishment of the Trust by Stephen may have been one reason his son Stephen emigrated to America to seek his fortune. The trust provides for salary to the Vicar of St. Stephen, education for those needing monetary assistance, church repairs, and help for the poor of Ackworth and East Hardwick. The income of the Trust is from real estate originally owned by Stephen Cawood, cash in savings banks, stocks, and a British War Loan. The Board od Trustees which administers the Trust, meets twice a year and consist of ten persons. The old schoolhouse and chapel established in East Hardwick are no longer there. In the 19th Century they reach the point of being beyond repair. They were razed and today two fine modern buildings have replaced them: A Stephen Cawood Elementary School, and the Church of St. Stephen. Indeed, the name of Stephen Cawood lives on in the West Riding of Yorkshire. “
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 15:00:32 +0000
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