Genealogy Chat

Hi there I'm drawing a blank - My great Grandparents supposedly ran a pub called The Golden Fleece in either York or Leeds and all i know is his first name..... and it would have been around the early 1900's. Not much to go on but I thought knowing the name of the pub would be a great start - obviously not! Please please please Can anyone suggest where I start? I cant find anything on Ancestry or google or Leeds / York History sites..... Thanks in advance

Can you give a little bit more info. about why you think they are great grandparents but you don't know a surname.? Is the man not named on his child's ( your grandparent's) marriage certificate....if so when was this? Gwyn

Hi This may not be any good at all. But I put the name Golden Fleece in the 1881 Census and this is what came up. Its listed as Churtwell but its on the Leeds/Elland Road Name: John Iles Dodgson Relation: Grandson Gender: Male Where born: Churwell, Yorkshire, England Civil parish: Churwell County/Island: Yorkshire Country: England Street address: The Golden Fleece Education: Employment status: View image Registration district: Holbeck Sub-registration district: Holbeck ED, institution, or vessel: 1 Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age John Iles Dodgson Selina H. Dodgson 20 Thomas Dodgson 26 Harriet Eliza Iles 22 John Iles 47 Sarah Ann Iles 49 Charlotte Lunn 52 Cheryl x

Dear Kim Perhaps you could try the brewery history society - www(.)breweryhistory(.)com - remove brackets. They look at the history of defunct breweries and have an archivist who might be able to point you in the right direction. Best of luck Maria

Hi I've found a Golden Fleece in York: The Golden Fleece is situated in the heart of York opposite the Shambles. The Full Address is The Golden Fleece 16 Pavement York YO1 9UP You could always write to the present Landlords they might point you in the right dirrection Cheryl x

Have you tried the Historical Directories site? I don't have the URL here, but you should be able to google it. Christine

Try this: www.historicaldirectories.org I have found lots of trades for my tree

Sorry but Im with Gwyn on this. There seems little point in tracking down the pub landlord without having the certificate saying a name first ..unless your trying to track down with just clues because theres no name mentioned? Family gossip is often like chinese whispers. Sheila

Hi Firstly thank you all for your replies - I have since discovered the pub was called Golden Barrel not Fleece! I appreciate what you're saying about the surname but the reason I need to trace the landlord history is to find this out. I cannot trace my grandmothers (now dead) birth or marriage and I'm wondering if she maybe never married my grandad and the surname she always told my mum (her daughter) was smith but she never liked speaking of the past. It's all a little suspicious. But my mum remembers from when she was a child my nan spoke of a pub called The Golden Barrel in York / Leeds. If in deed the surname is correct then it would be Smith. Many Thanks for your help and I shall check out all the suggested links Please let me know though if anyone finds anything else of importance / help..... Very much appreciated

I just googled this set: ''Golden Barrel'' (- that's WITH the inverted commas so that it gets treated as a single item.) pub yorkshire and got a number of hits- the second is a 2001-2 Rootsweb discussion of possible interest to you. It seems that Golden Barrel is a much less common name, so ''103 Walmgate, York'' is likely to be the address. Historical Directories suggests the publican in 1913 was William Letby. In 1895 it was William Smith. Christine

Thanks Christine. I'm still no further forward though after spending the majority of today searching. There is only one little piece of evidence as you've said Christine from 1 website saying there was a pub called te Golden Barrel and that it was run by a William Smith late 1800's but no where else does it support this... I'm not sure where else to turn and where else to look and I dont have anyone else helping me on this either... If anybody can think of anything else at all that may help, please reply.

Try Kellys Directories. Lots of my ancestors ran pubs and I've found most of them this way.

This may be too early to help, but www*1881pubs*com gives full details of anyone living in what may loosely be described as a pub in that year's census, searchable by name of occupant or name of pub. Duncan

I wrote to my grandfathers old Pub - letter just addressed to 'The Licencee'. They were thrilled to hear from me, and couldnt have been more helpful. We exchanged photos of the pub then and now. They had my 1913 photo of the pub framed and hung it up in the public bar.

He would have needed a Licence to run a pub. Records of applications for licences will be in the relevant county records office, probably in the Magistrate's court records, but the staff at the RO will be able to tell you where to look. OC