The Barkers had been working in Skipton as Blacksmith’s since the early eighteenth century and it seems to have been a family business. Elizabeth’s father John Barker and his two brothers, Christopher and Thomas, all worked as Blacksmith’s and may even have been in business together [GPW3]   [17] . These brothers followed in the family tradition. Their father Thomas Baker had worked as a blacksmith and his father the boy’s grandfather, John Barker, had also practiced as a Blacksmith in Skipton [18] . This John Barker, [GPW4]  Elizabeth’s great-grandfather, had married Susanna Heelis, daughter of Thomas Heelis of Thorlby, on 2 August 1733 in Skipton [19] .

             The Barkers had probably been living in Skipton since the fourteenth century. In the Poll Tax returns of 1379 there is an Isabella Barker who paid four pence tax in Skipton [20] . It is possible that the Barkers even held land in the fourteenth century. A Roger de Barker held one carucate of land in Cold Coniston from a Ranulf de Neville in 1302-3 [21] . In the muster rolls for Addingham of 1510-11 a Thomas Barker is recorded as an archer [22] . Alternatively, the Barkers may have had lands in Halton. In 1538 a William Barke and his heirs paid 3 pence for lands held there which are not specified [23] . In these rolls the lands of the Conyers including Kettlewell are not included. There were also Barkers in Kettlewell in 1522. In the Loan Book of 1522 a William Barker in Kettlewell is recorded as having goods or chattels worth six shillings and eight pence a year [24] . After this date no William Barkers are recorded, or even Barkers in Kettlewell. In the Lay subsidies of 1524 and 1525 George Barker of Halton is recorded as owning lands or goods worth over five pounds a years. In 1524 he is valued at ten pounds a year and paid a tax of five shillings, and in 1525 he pays three shillings on a valuation of three pounds. In 1543 the widow of a Henry barker is recorded as having goods or chattels worth seven pounds a year and pays a tax of three shillings in Skipton.

 The Barkers had been involved in Smithying since the early seventeenth century. In 1609 a William Barker was an officer of Earl Francis Clifford, earl of Cumberland and he supervised searches for Coal at Holden [25] . In 1612 William Barker, Earnley and Peter Jennings, gentleman of Silsden paid the Earl weekly to work on the mines at Holden. In 1613 the Barkers were granted a monopoly of coalmining in the parish of Kildwick and the commons of Morton and Riddlesden. In 1615 the Holden pit was granted to Roger Barker of Skipton and Thomas Barker of Connonley for 3 years from 2 February 1615 ‘with libertie to sink, dig, get, carry away and disperse the coals therein’. For this privilege the Barkers paid Earl Francis ninety pounds rent and three hundred loads of coal a year which they delivered to the castle at their own expense. The Barkers were allowed the use of the colliers houses already built at Holden, and wood but had to pay for building a smithy there. The Holden Mine worked well for the Barkers and the Earl bought 400 loads for 4 pounds over and above the three hundred delivered as part of the lease. He also paid nine shillings to fill in the old pits. However, in 1617 the Barkers made a loss and in 1618 they were reimbursed sixteen pounds by the Earl. The Holden Mines were rented in 1619 at fifty eight pounds eleven shillings and nine pence. The Thomas Barker of Connonley who worked on the mines took possession of a tenement in Connonley in 1603 for the rent of seventeen shillings a year, held of George Clifford, earl of Cumberland [26] . Later on 9 January 1615/6 Thomas bought the property for seventy eight pounds. This property is today found where Gordon Terrace is in Connonley.

Another Thomas Barker of Connonley was recorded in the 1672 Hearth Tax returns as having four hearths in his house [27] .  This was quite a substantial house, and probably the same property bought in 1615/6. This property remained in the hands of the Barker family until 1785 when on the 6 December another Thomas Barker, son of Jonathan Barker of Connonley, Tanner, died. His son, another Jonathan Barker sold the land behind the House called the Croft to a Stephen Hargreaves.

In 1650 Phillip Swale, manager of the Wharton Swaledale estates, was associated with the group of Seekers in Swaledale who became some of the first converts to the teaching of George Fox and Quakerism [28] . This group included Philip Swales uncle Francis Smithson, Richard Robinson of Countersett, John Gunter, Robert and Adam Barker and many others, some of whom became partners in the Wharton and other mines in Swaledale. Philip Swales partner in the Wharton Mills, Adam Barker, continued Swales reports from 1687 until 1721 when Lord Wharton forfeited his estates [29] . In 1663 a Robert Barker, lead miner, smelter and merchant had a partnership with Francis Smithson, merchant of Richmond in the Kettlewell mines [30] . He moved to Kettlewell and took over the management of the mines. In 1669 the lease was surrendered and changed so that Phillip Swale could be a partner. The lease was of all the mines or veins of lead ore on the moors of Kettlewell. In 1669 a Robert Barker from Derbyshire was taken into partnership with Francis Smithson of Richmond and Philip Swale to work the mines in Kettlewell [31] . Barker had a complete half of the mines, paid half of the costs of wages, tools, materials etc. and paid the others twenty shillings per fother of lead of twenty two cwts. So long as Barker lived at Kettlewell and managed the mines he was to have twenty pounds a year as a salary. The mines opened and produced lead quite steadily until Barkers death in March 1680. Adam Barker of Richmond took over Robert Barkers work in Swaledale in 1680 when his brother Robert died. These Barkers originated from Wirksworth, Derbyshire. James Smithson then managed the Kettlewell mines. In 1675 Sir Thomas Wharton bought the manor of Ravensworth and made a partnership with Phillip Swale and Robert Barker in the mines of both lead and coal in the liberties of Feldon, Washton, Applegarth, Thorpe and Thorpe Edge in equal shares [32] . Waitwith Mill was conveniently placed for these mines.  In the eighteenth century these Barkers went into partnership with the Wilkinson family and had a share in seven mines and 4-5 red lead mills and marketed their own pig lead to manufacturers [33] . It would appear that Adam Barker left property to his son William Barker in 1701 when he died. This William Barker was a steward to the Duke of Devonshire and his sons Alexander, George and John carried on the business into the 1750s when they owned 4 smelting mills and shared a fifth with the Wilkinsons. In 1759 the Barkers went into partnership with the Wilkinsons and George Barker was a shareholder in mines on Grassington Moor. However, the problems of exhaustion of ore shoots and the problems of drainage led to the closure of five mills between 1806 and 1810 and the business was eventually sold to Benjamin Wyatt in 1829 for one thousand and thee hundred pounds. The lead from Grassington would have been sent via Skipton to Hull, but in 1774 when the canal reached Gargrave it was sent via Gargrave and canal to Hull. It would seem highly likely that this branch of Barkers was connected to our line of Barkers.

Although these Barkers came from Connonley there were also Barkers in Skipton in the early seventeenth century. A Mr. Barker of Skipton fought for the royalists in the Civil Wars and was a scoutmaster in Captain William Prideaux's dragoons in 1643 [34] . This Barker may be connected with our line of Barkers. In 1652, an Anne Barker held a shop for ten shillings and a backshop for five shillings rent from Lady Anne Clifford. In 1652, a Thomas Barker held a house in Skipton on a twenty-one year lease for one pound and eighteen shillings [35] . A William Barker of Addingham was ordered in 1638 to care for the children of his brother Thomas Barker, including his niece Margaret Barker, as he had taken his brothers goods [36] .

Susanna Heelis, Elizabeth Barker’s great grandmother was christened on 26 April 1696 in Skipton, the eldest of three children born to Thomas Heelis and Elizabeth Crofte. [37]   Susanna Heelis was four years older than her sister Mary, and seven years older than her brother Thomas. This Thomas Heelis may have been the youngest of the family, but as a son, he would have inherited any smallholdings the family owned [38] . Susanna would have been at least thirty-seven years old at her marriage, which may indicate that she may have been married before [39] .

        Susanna Heelis’s father Thomas Heelis was christened on 28 April 1667 in Gargrave, North Yorkshire [40] . He was the third child of Maria Snell and John Heelis of Gargrave, but the first child of that union to be born in Gargrave. His elder brother Robert and sister Agnes had been born in Cracoe and christened in Rylstone Parish [41] .  The family had moved from Cracoe to Gargrave between February 1666, when Thomas’s older sister had been buried in Rhylstone, and April 1667 when Thomas was born in Gargrave [42] .  With only four years between Thomas and his older brother Robert, they must have been fairly close. The two boys were joined in Gargrave by their younger sister Margaret in 1670, but by the time Thomas was eight years old the family appear to have moved to Thorlby in Skipton Parish [43] .  By 1682 when Thomas was fifteen years old, the family had moved to Skibeden and was farming the land there. Thomas’s younger sisters Isabel and Sarah joined the family at Thorlby, and another brother Thomas joined the family in 1682 [44] . Although this last brother had the same name as our Thomas, it was possible to have two brothers or sisters in the same family with the same name. It does not necessarily mean that our Thomas Heelis died. I have also checked that both these Thomas’s are from the same family. Thomas Heelis would probably have worked on his father’s farm and learnt the skill of smallholding from him. By the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Crofte, Thomas would have been farming his own smallholding at Thorlby and later at Stirton [45] .

                   The Heelis family of Thorlby and Skibeden were yeoman farmers and smallholders. As Thomas Heelis was described as a farmer of Thorlby and Stirton in the parish registers, I thought that it was highly probable that he was related to the Heelis family of Thorlby through his father John Heelis. Indeed a John Heelis, eldest son of another John Heelis, ‘of Addingham’, was christened in Skipton on 6 April 1633 [46] . He appeared to be a likely candidate for the father of our Thomas Heelis. This John Heelis ‘of Addingham’ had moved into the Skipton area, and settled at Skibeden, in the 1630s and descendants of his family continued to farm the area of Skibeden during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries [47] . However, a double check of the parish registers soon revealed that the John Heelis, son of John Heelis ‘from Addingham’, died at the age of seventeen in Skipton, before he would have been able to produce a family [48] . This John Heelis’s death meant that our line could not possibly be closely related to this Heelis line of Skibeden. It may also imply that our Heelis line were tenant farmers at Thorlby in the seventeenth century, and would help to explain their movements around the Craven area from Cracoe to Gargrave, from Gargrave to Thorlby, and from Thorlby to Skibeden [49] .

        There are also Heelis’s recorded in the villages of Stirton and Thorlby in the sixteenth century. In 1543, a John Heles was valued at Ten pounds in goods or lands and paid a subsidy to the King of six shillings and eight pence. In 1547, his lands or goods were valued at six pounds, and he paid a tax of four shillings. This does not necessarily mean that his lands had been devalued, but that the commissioners were aware of the dangers of collecting taxes and had altered the values accordingly. Still it gives us a good idea of the standing of this John Heelis. There are also Heelis’s recorded in Skibeden and Skipton in the sixteenth century. These Heelis’s of Stirton and Thorlby and Skibeden may be ultimately related to each other [50] .

          John Heelis, the father of our Thomas Heelis, came from Cracoe, in the parish of Burnsall [51] .  He was the son of Robert Heelis and was christened on 4 March 1629 in the Parish of Rhylstone [52] . His older sister Anne was two years old when he arrived [53] . Margaret, Joseph and Mary later joined them [54] . Mary however died in infancy [55] . John Heles worked for the Lord of Skipton Castle, Earl Frances Clifford, Earl of Cumberland as a barmaster on the Grassington lead mines in 1651 [56] . This shows that he was part of the Earls circle of retainers in Craven. It appears that the Heelis family had lived in Cracoe since the late sixteenth century. John’s father Robert Heelis was christened on 18 March 1587, son of Anthony Heelis [57] . He was the youngest son of a family of eight children. His oldest brother Lawrence would have been about twenty-four years old when he arrived [58] . Two of his siblings, John and Joseph, had died in infancy, but George, Susan, William and Sampson all lived to adulthood [59] . In 1612 George Heles gentleman of Hartlington was a clerk of the courts of Clifford, and this George may have been the brother of our Anthony Heelis [60] .

 Little is further known about the Heelis family of Cracoe. They may have been tenant farmers, smallholders, or freeholders and their landholdings may not have been extensive ^{[61] .}.They may even have profited from the dissolution of Bolton Priory, which held lands in Burnsall, but this has yet to be proved. A John Heeles, son of John Heles, of ‘Skyrom in the parish of Appletreewick’ was granted a lease for forty one years in 4 May 1538 for a tenement in the lordship of Appletreewick [62] . This land was described as the farm of the house called ‘Skerome’ with appurtenances, for which John Heleyes paid a rental of twenty three shillings and four pence a year [63] . For this land this John Heles paid twenty three shillings and four pence a year. In the village of Hartlington in the parish of Kettlewell in 1543 a Robert Heles paid a subsidy of six pence on lands or goods worth three pounds a year, and in Appletreewick a John Helys paid four pence on goods or chattels worth forty shillings [64] . There may even be connections with the John and William Heles of Long Preston who were valued at forty shillings a year and paid a tax of four pence in 1543. It is highly probable that these Heles’s are related to the line I have traced, but as yet this is unproven. Even if the Heelis’s did gain lands at this time, our Robert Heelis was the youngest son and it is unlikely that he would have inherited any lands. He may have gained lands through his marriage to Isabel Coates, daughter of James Coates, but these may not have been extensive [65] . A Thomas Coates of Kettlewell, with seven others, bought the manor of Kettlewell in 1656 from three London citizens [66] . On the death of five of the other buyers, Thomas Coates and John Ibbottson set up the trust Lords of Kettlewell, elected by the freeholders of Kettlewell to act as the Lord of the Manor. Although not directly related to Isabella Coats, Thomas Coats was a man of substance in Kettlewell and shows the standing of the Coats family. It is possible that there are connections with the Coates family of Connonley. They owned Royds House in Connonley and were ardent supporters of the Commonwealth during the Civil wars [67] . A Roger Coates was a magistrate and apparently committed suicide in 1660/1 as he did not wish to see  ‘his family dispossesses were he to be tried for treason by the administration of the newly restored Charles II. His father John Coates had married Elizabeth Swire of Connonley and resided at Kildwick Grange in the seventeenth century [68] .

       Robert’s son John Heelis, grandfather of Susanna Heelis, did not stay in Cracoe, which may indicate that there was not enough income to be gained from the lands his father held. John Heelis’s marriage to Maria Snell may have been of great significance to the family fortunes [69] . Maria Snell was the daughter of Thomas Snell of Gargrave, who may have been connected with the Snells of Eshton [70] . She may have brought land or money, as a dowry, to John Heelis on her marriage [71] .

                       Alternatively, John Heelis’s son Thomas Heelis, father of Susanna Heelis, may have gained land through his marriage to Elizabeth Crofte, on 17 June 1695 in Skipton ^{[72] .}  Elizabeth Crofte was christened on 2 October 1665 in Skipton, the only daughter of Robert Crofte and Susanna Smythson ^[73] . However, Elizabeth had three brothers, Richard, Robert, and Christopher who all survived to adulthood [74] . Elizabeth may have brought a dowry or Dower lands to her marriage, but the substance of the estate would have descended to her brothers [75] . The Smythsons were yeomen farmers of Flasby Moorside, the earliest recorded Smythson being a Christopher Smythson buried on 9 August 1552 in Gargrave [76] . The Smythson family intermarried with the Graindorges of Flasby and the Coulthursts of Banknewton which is indicative of the status of the Smythson.

                       Elizabeth’s Crofte’s father Robert Crofte had been born towards the end of the Civil wars in 1644 and it is possible that the family may have profited from the Wars [77] . I have yet to discover which side the Crofte’s fought on and whether they would have been in a position to profit from the Civil Wars [78] . Robert Crofte was the eldest of three sons to Henry Crofte and Mary Wilcocke [79] . This Henry Crofte was the youngest son of Henry Crofte and Jennett Gannett, christened on 4 June 1616 [80] . His elder brother Richard Crofte was christened on 20 January 1611 [81] . The Croftes appear to have farmed at Stirton and may have profited from the dissolution of Bolton Abbey, or rented lands from the Cliffords of Skipton Castle. In 1538 a William Croft of ‘Nursehouse’ was leased a farmhold in the lordship of Appletreewick by Bolton Abbey [82] . For this he paid an annual rent of twenty shillings and eight pence.  A Miles Crofte of Appletreewick paid ten shillings for a farm and one tenement and three acres in 1538 and may be related to William Crofte [83] . It may be that there was a connection with the Crofte family of Embsay and Eastby [84] . In 1624 an Anthony Croft, of ‘Skireholme’, a servant of Sir John Yorke of ‘Gowthwayte in Netherdale’, gave evidence at Bolton Bridge on the dispute of free chase and Warren in the lordship of Appltreewick against Francis, Earl of Cumberland [85] . This Anthony was aged sixty three in 1624 and was the Bailiff of Sir John Yorke at Appletreewick. If they did gain lands in this manner, these lands would have descended through the line of Richard Crofte, not our Henry Crofte.   

            However, the Heelis family acquired their lands, through marriage to the Croftes and Smythsons, through profiting from the dissolution of Bolton Abbey and perhaps Fountains Abbey, or from the lands redistributed at the end of the English Civil wars, by the early eighteenth century the Thorlby branch of the family were quite comfortable smallholders and farmers. Susanna Heelis’s marriage to John Barker shows that the Barker family was probably of the same social standing as the Heelis family, or was trying to climb the social ladder.

       John Barker and Susanna may have set up home near to the Smithy in Skipton, or even above the Blacksmith’s shop. This was situated in Caroline Square, Skipton until it was pulled down in 1821, along with the Bakehouse and Barbers shop, to widen the road. This position at a junction of major roads from Settle, Ilkley, and Grassington would have been ideal for a Blacksmith’s business. The road that ran through Skipton from Keighley to Kendal was a major highway and was used for the exchange of agricultural products and manufacture. Packhorses also used this route ladened with combed wool to be used in farmhouses and villages by pieceworkers [86] . Before the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike Act was passed in 1753, the roads to Skipton were very narrow, and decayed, ‘not only impassable for wheel carriages, but very dangerous for travellers’ [87] . The improvements to the turnpike road would have brought increased traffic to Skipton, and John Barker’s Smithy would have increased it’s business, and thereby profitability. The road between Keighley and Skipton was one of the first sections to be completed and maintained by the Turnpike Trust. John must have seen the Waller Bridge over Waller beck being dismantled and re-erected on the Turnpike road to be ‘commodious for travellers and passengers’, and resented paying the 6 shilling levy imposed on him for the ‘statute labour’ required to move the bridge [88] . Overall, though John Barker would have plied his trade and have been particularly grateful for the increasing trade in shoeing horses that the new Turnpike roads would have brought him. His services would probably have been in great demand by the local Inns as well, and the advent of the stagecoach and Tarmacadamed roads would have been beneficial. [GPW5]

                  John  Barker and Susanna Heelis had three children, two daughters and one son, of whom only a son and daughter survived [89] . Their only son Thomas Barker was baptized in Skipton, North Yorkshire, on 21 November 1736 [90] . He probably spent his childhood in Skipton, learning the trade of a Blacksmith [91] .  He married late in life at the age of thirty-one to Elizabeth Caton, daughter of Thomas Caton, on 22 December 1760 in Skipton [92] .  Within three months, their eldest daughter Susanna had arrived [93] . By the time Susanna had reached her tenth birthday, five brothers, John, Thomas, Christopher and two Georges, had joined her [94] . Neither of these two Georges survived to adulthood. Indeed the name George seems to have been particularly unlucky in the Barker family as the youngest son, a third George, also died in infancy in 1778 in Skipton [95] . The arrival of Elizabeth, ‘Betty,’ Barker in 1774 completed the family of Thomas Barker and Elizabeth Caton [96] . Of their eight children, five had survived, a fairly high infant survival rate in the late eighteenth century. Certainly bearing eight children was not a mortal experience for Elizabeth Barker, nee Caton, as she lived to a great old age of seventy-two [97] . Her husband survived her, and lived to a ripe old age. Thomas Barker died on 21 August 1820, aged eighty-four years, and was buried in the same grave as his wife [98] .

       The three surviving sons John, Thomas and Christopher Barker set up business as Blacksmiths in Skipton and may even have been in business together.

       Thomas Barker definitely practised as a Blacksmith [99] . He is recorded in 1822 as a Whitesmiths and Bell Hangers in Chancery lane [100] .After his death in 1832 his wife Anne carried on the family business at Caroline Square and in 1837 at Millbridge [101] . It is possible that Thomas and Anne’s son Thomas worked as a Whitesmith. In 1829, 1834 and 1837 a Thomas Barker is recorded as a Whitesmith and bele hanger in Chancery Lane [102] . Thomas Barker, son of Thomas and Anne, married Sarah and they had four sons and two daughters, but the two sons named Thomas died in infancy [103] .   Charles Barker, son of Thomas, Blacksmith, married Mary Hardaker and had three children by 1841 [104] . Charles was a son of Thomas Barker, Blacksmith [105] . In Commercial Street, a James Barker 40 Labourer lived with Jane, 40 [106] . He was a plasterer and the son of Thomas Barker Blacksmith and married Jane Myers d. John Myers 9 November 1838.

       Christopher Barker may also have practiced as a Blacksmith [107] .

       The eldest of these sons John Barker, was the father of our Elizabeth Barker who married Edward Harrison in Skipton, North Yorkshire, 4/06/1812 [GPW7]  .   His only surviving son John Barker Blacksmith married Mary Emmott 15 April 1816, Thomas Barker witness. Their daughter Dorothy was christened 24 January 1817, buried 7 February 1818 aged one, and after john’s death Mary widowed had another Dorothy born on 3 April 1821.Mary Barker widow married Robert Rycroft saddler, 23 January 1826.

       A Christopher Barker, Blacksmith, of Club Buildings, married a Margaret [108] . An Edmund Barker also lived at Club Buildings in 1841 [109] . Edmund was a witness at the marriage of Thomas Harrison and Margaret Scott in 1836. In Newmarket Street a Thomas Barker, 30, Grocer lived with his wife Jane, 30, and their children Mary Ann, 4 and a 9 month old. A John Barker, 40, also lived in Newmarket Street with his wife Ann, 40, a bread maker, George, 15, Mary, 15, Rachel, 13, Thomas, 11, John, 9 [110] . William Barker married Margaret Towers on 19 December 1830 [111] . A John Barker, 55, Grocer lived at Canal side with his wife Charlotte Barker 50.' In Thompson’s Yard a Frances Barker 70, Mangle woman lived with Sarah Hargreaves 15 Factory [112] . In Union Square a Joshua Barker 45 Gardener, lived with his wife Susannah, 45, James, 20, Hannah, 17, John, 15, Sam, 13, Joshua, 9 and Eli, 6 [113] . In Wilson’s Buildings a Mary Barker, 65, lived with Elizabeth Barker 25 [114] . In Mount Pleasant in High street a John Barker 25 Masons labourer lived with Ann, 25, Thomas, 3, John, 3 months.