LEEMING FAMILY HISTORY

A brief summary of my own Leeming line is as follows:

Ralph Leeming (c1686 - 1751) a sexton at the time of his death in Kirkland, Garstang, Lancashire married Margaret Simpson on 2nd April 1716 at St Helen's church, Garstang. They had 8 children; Mary (1716), Alice (1719), Elice (1720), Eling (1720), Elisabeth (1722), John (1723), Margaret (1726) and Elisabeth (1732). Margaret Leeming (nee Simpson) died in 1732. Ralph married his second wife Agnes Hornby (1700 - 1766) in 1734. They had 2 children together, Agnes and Edmund. Both were baptised in Garstang in 1736. Ralph Leeming died in 1751 and is buried at St. Helen's church, Garstang.

Ralph's son Edmund Leeming married Margaret Rippon in Garstang in 1760. They lived in Cockerham, Lancashire. A short distance from Garstang towards Lancaster. Edmund and Margaret had 6 children, all baptised at St. Michael's church in Cockerham; Matthew Leeming (1761), John Leeming (1763), Robert Leeming (1765), Thos. Leeming (1767), William Leeming (1769) and Luke Leeming (1771). Edmund Leeming died in 1779 and is buried at St. Michael's church, Cockerham.

Matthew Leeming (1761 - 1827), a bachelor of Chipping, Lancashire married Sally Swindlehurst (1764 - 1834) of Over Wyresdale in Garstang in 1786. They lived in Chipping and had their first child, Edward Leeming, baptised in 1787 at St. Bartholomew's church. Matthew and Sally then moved across the moors to the village of Haworth in Yorkshire and had a further 6 children; Mathew Leeming (1791), John Leeming (1792), Peggy Leeming (1794), Peggy Leeming [2nd] (1796), William Leeming (1798) and Robert Leeming (1800). By this time, Matthew was an engineer and machine maker. The family moved back into Lancashire to the town of Colne. They had a further two children, Sarah Leeming (1804) and Matthew (1806). Matthew Leeming (snr) died in 1827. Sally (or Sarah as she was sometimes) died in 1834. Both are buried at St. Bartholomew's church, Colne. The grave is unmarked.

Robert Leeming (1800 -1861), fifth son of Matthew and Sally, was married in 1824 at St. Michael And All Angels church to Betty Feather (1797 - 1857). They were married by the reverend Patrick Bronte, father to the famous Bronte siters. Robert and Betty at that time lived in the hamlet of Stanbury, near Haworth. They went on to have 5 children; Robert Leeming (1824), Joseph Leeming (1825), Mary Leeming (1829), Charles Leeming (1832) and Betty Leeming (1835). The family moved out of Haworth to the far end of Oxenhope. Leeming Village. Robert Leeming (snr) died in 1861 of phphisis (TB) as did his wife Betty in 1857. Both are buried in Horkinstone Baptist Burial Ground in Leeming, near Oxenhope. The grave is unmarked.

Charles Leeming (1832 - 1920), third son of Robert and Betty, married Sarah Normington (or Normanton, 1833 - 1904) in 1851 at St. Mary's church, Oxenhope. Sarah's brother Jonas also married Charles' sister Betty Leeming in 1853. Charles and Sarah had 8 children; Mary Leeming (1852), Elizabeth Leeming (1856), Sabina Leeming (1860), Robert Leeming (1863), Emma Leeming (1866), Annis Leeming (1869), Ada Leeming (1871) and Thomas Leeming (1874). Charles Leeming was a farmer, the family lived at Harewood Hill Farm before eventually settling at Sykes Head in Oakworth in the 1870's. Charles and Sarah also plied their trade as Oat Cake bakers at their house at 176 Sykes Head. Sarah Leeming died in 1904 at the age of 71 and is buried in a big family plot in Dockroyd Wesleyan graveyard in Oakworth. In 1905, some 6 months after her death, Charles married again to Sarah Wood, widow to the late Benjamin Wood of Oakworth. Sarah died in 1917 and is also buried in Dockroyd graveyard but in the grave of her first husband. Charles Leeming died in 1920 at the grand age of 88 years old, at the time he was one of Oakworth's oldest inhabitants. He is buried in the family grave in Dockroyd, along with 7 other family members. The grave is unmarked.

Robert Leeming (1863 - 1924), first son of Charles and Sarah, married Mary Matilda Rushworth at Slack Lane Baptist Chapel, Oakworth in 1889. They lived at Cackleshaw Farm in Oakworth and Robert became a Master Blacksmith. Robert and Mary had 4 children; Milton Leeming (1890), Ada Leeming (1895), Charles Leeming (1901) and Ellis Leeming (1903). Eventually moving up to Sykes Head where his father also lived, Robert made his business there. R. Leeming & Sons, with Milton, Charles & Ellis joining him, became a prominent feature of the community. in later life Robert was troubled by mental health issues, seemingly after the death of his wife, Mary, in 1920. In 1924, he was found in the cellar of his Sykes Head home by son Milton, having cut his throat with a shaving razor. He died later that day in the Victoria Hospital, Keighley. Robert and Mary (and son Ellis) are buried in Oakworth Cemetery. The grave was unmarked until 2009 whereupon a memorial stone was added by his great great grandson, Alastair Leeming.

Milton Leeming (1890 - 1948), first son of Robert and Mary, married Sarah Jane Bower (1889 - 1974) at St. John's church, Ingrow in 1915. Milton and Sarah Jane (or Janey) had 2 children; Ellis Leeming (1920), and Norman Leeming (1924). Milton was a Blacksmith, Wheelwright and Cart Painter carrying on the family business of his father's. Milton lived to see both his sons marry but unfortunately died just before his first grandchild was born. He died on 25th January 1948 and is buried in Oakworth Cemetery. The latest photograph of Milton Leeming was taken at the wedding of Ellis Leeming in 1945, although only 55 years old, he does not look a well man. Sarah Jane Leeming remarried in 1951 to Thomas Lund Riley, an Iron Moulder of Bingley. When Sarah Jane died in 1974, she was buried with Milton Leeming in Oakworth Cemetery. A headstone marks the grave.

Ellis Leeming (1920 - 1997), first son of Milton and Sarah Jane, married Ethel Vera Bradley (1925 - 2003) of Towthorpe, York in 1945. Ellis was at that time in the British Army in The Royal Corps Of Signals and had just returned from service abroad during the second world war. He was based at Strensall Barracks near to Towthorpe. He and Vera had 2 children; Alec Milton Leeming (1948) and Janice Ada Leeming (1951). At first they lived at 178 Sykes Head, Oakworth, then moving to 11 Roseberry Street, Dockroyd. They finally settled at 1 Moorfield Drive, Oakworth where they lived out the rest of their lives. In 1948, Ellis began working at Johns Craft Pyjamas in Oakworth, as an electrician moving up to works manager, then to a director. He worked here until retirement but still occasionally helped out in a consultantcy role. Ellis died in April 1997 in Cookridge Hospital, Leeds at the age of 77 after a battle with cancer. He was cremated at Oakworth crematorium and his ashes interred (unofficially) into the grave of his parents in Oakworth Cemetery. Vera Leeming stayed at Moorfield Drive after Ellis' death until 2003 when she herself died at the age of 78. She also was cremated and ashes interred in the grave of Milton Leeming in Oakworth Cemetery.

Alec Milton Leeming (1948 - ), son of Ellis and Ethel Vera, married Shirley Barrett (1951 - ) of Gargrave, North Yorkshire on the 7th October 1972. They had one child, Alastair James Leeming in 1983. 

Alastair James Leeming (1983 -), son of Alec and Shirley Leeming, married Naomi Debra Wilde (1979 -) on 23rd May 2008 at East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley. Naomi had 3 children from a previous marriage; Jack-Daniel Frederick Beale (1997), Itahlia Lauryn Bronte Rose Beale (1999) and Luca Harry Beale (2001). On 20th May 2009, Alastair and Naomi had a daughter, Caryn Sabina Annie Leeming. They currently live in Leeds, West Yorkshire.