William
Price & Family
From left: Anna Maria Male, her
brother William, her father William, brother James Price, sister Jane
(Price), brother Caleb and his twin sister Mary Shilvock.
You have found your way to a branch of the Price family tree. According
to the
1851 and 1861 Worcestershire censuses, Joseph Price
worked as a
stone cutter. Joseph, Alfred, Maria and Sarah Price
emigrated to New Brunswick
Canada from Hasbury,Worcestershire UK c. 1870. Joseph
and his 14-year-old son
Alfred resumed their trade New Brunswick, Canada. Both
Alfred and his father
were employed by the Fundy Red Granite Co. in St.
George by 1877. They may have
worked in Saint John prior to this.
In England, Joseph`s brother
Stephen lived nearby at Well Wall, and they
worked at the quarry near Margaret Hill Lane ( now
called Quarry Lane) in
Hasbury (a suburb of Halesowen), Worcestershire.
William Shenstone, the
renowned Halesowen poet, wrote that stone from this
quarry was used on the
`Ruined castle` a folly in Hagley Park (1749). Also,
the granite was probably
used in the construction of the Abbey and Halesowen
Church. In the booklet
`Hasbury from a Haystack` by Alan Bissell, Joseph
Price`s family is mentioned
for their work.
`One of the men who was much
in demand when the first chapel was being built was
a Welshman named Price. Mr. Price was a stonemason who
had been working on the
Canal Locks at Northfield. Hearing of work available at
the Sandstone Quarries
at Hasbury, he came to live here and would have been
very useful in cutting the
sandstone blocks from the quarry in the field near the
site of the present
church. Sadly, Mr. Price died at the age of 43 leaving
a wife and six sons.
His wife had to walk to Northfield every week to get
half-a-crown to help her
bring up her family.The chapel prospered in a spiritual
sense and the trustees
acquired more land from Mr. Partridge who owned the
quarry at that time. Mr.
Partridge was a stone mason and the headstones that he
made could be seen
standing in the quarry as the members of the
congregation made their way to the
services. A sharp reminder of their mortality and need
to make their peace with
their Maker. ...So the building of the chapel
commenced. We have no record of
the men who did the brickwork except for the very fine
bit of stonework which
formed the arch over the front doors. This stone work
was the gift of William
Price, who like his father had become a stone mason. He
gave the stone and the
labour on it as his contribution to the new chapel. The
stone came from the
quarry, which was situated in Quarry Lane. They also
borrowed the tackle needed
to lift the beams for the gallery from the quarry`.
The area around the quarry is
now residential, and there is nothing left of
the work area. It is unclear who owned and or leased
the quarry when the Prices`
worked there. Henry Rudge, Joseph`s nephew through his
sister Jane, is
thought to have been instrumental in bringing the
Joseph Price family to New
Brunswick, Canada c. 1870-1871 to work on the
foundation of the Marks Street
School. Henry was a contractor for the project.
I would like to thank Stanley
Price and Vivienne Pestridge for tracking down
Prices who I have sought for about 20 years; Stephanie
Robinson for contributing
the many, many generations of Crumpton/Cromptons and
intermarried families; Kim
Gamble for some elusive Bennetts and Crumptons; Emilie
Bubin Green for the vast
sea of Waddinghams; Julia Mayotte for the catalogue of
Palmers and Theriaults;
and lastly (but not least) Linda Lamberg for invaluable
knowledge of
Halesowen and her tireless location of sources.