William Pattison 1827-1905 and Ann Brown 1831-1885

Martha Ann Pattison's parents were William Pattison and Ann Brown

William Pattison was born in 1827 in Newbottle, Co Durham, England, the son of miner Thomas Pattison and his wife Ann Moor. Newbottle was one of many small mining villages on the Durham coalfield. In the late 1830s the Pattison family moved to the mining village of Coxhoe. The 1841 census shows the family living there, at no 24, Oxclose. Only Thomas is listed as working, but it's likely that 13 year old William was already working underground in the coal mine. By 1851 the family had moved to West Hetton Houses, still in Coxhoe, and the 23 year old William was listed as a coal miner, along with his father and two younger brothers.

Ann Brown was born in Easington Lane, Co Durham, England, the daughter of another coal miner, Ralph Brown and his wife Mary Hall. In 1841 the family was living in Brick Garth, Hetton le Hole, but soon after they, too, moved to Coxhoe. By 1851 Ralph was an overman (a foreman in a coal mine) living in Joint Stock Row, in Coxhoe.

William and Ann married on 12 March 1855 at St Helen's Church in Kelloe, Co Durham (the parish church for the village of Coxhoe). The couple settled in Joint Stock Row, near Ann's parents. Their first two children followed in 1856 and 1858.

At some point in the 1860s the family moved to Longframlington, Northumberland. Longframlington is another mining village, and this move meant promotion for William. By the time his third child, Martha Ann, was born in 1869, he had been promoted to overman. In 1872, the couple's last child, Mary Elizabeth, was born. In 1873, William received his certificate as a colliery manager, and he held the job of manager of Longframlington Colliery until his death.

The couple's only son, Ralph, died in 1882. Soon after, Ann fell ill and she eventually died in January 1885. Youngest child Mary Elizabeth was handicapped (in the censuses, with typical Victorian candidness, she was described as an imbecile), so from 1885 Martha Ann was responsible for keeping house for her father (considering her mother's illness, she'd probably been responsible for a couple of years previously as well). When she married in 1896, William needed a new housekeeper, and so his oldest granddaughter, Jane Ann Straughan (daughter of oldest child Hannah) moved in to take care of her grandfather and aunt. William died on 14 December 1905.

The couple's children were:

Hannah Pattison 1856-1907
Ralph Pattison 1858-1882
Martha Ann Pattison 1869-1949
Mary Elizabeth Pattison 1872-1927