THE ROADHOUSES IN YORKSHIRE.
The village of Monk Fryston in Yorkshire, is near and not far from the Humber River. It had a Manor House and it was the seat of St. Wilfreds, an ancient Church, the lower part of the tower of which is early Norman, about 1080. The Chancel was rebuilt about 1230. In the middle of the 15th Century the tower was raised and adorned with pinnacles and battlements.
The present Vicar at Monk Fryston says the Parish Registers are very old, the oldest in Yorkshire. Although it is a long arduous task to search those registers, this was done, for the Roadhouse family, by the vicar and his assistants in 1950-51.
It was found that William Roadhouse (original name “Rhodus”) moved to Monk Fryston after the birth of his daughter, Sarah, in 1768, and before the birth of his daughter, Mary, in 1771. The registers do not show where he came from.
This first William Roadhouse of record was a stone mason and stone engraver, by trade. Monk Fryston is said to have been famous for its stone at the time. So it can be assumed that he was a skilled artisan and it is known that some of his grandsons were apprentices in this trade in England and followed it in Canada.
Family records show that this William Roadhouse was born in 1740. His tombstone at Monk Fryston has the following inscription. “Here lieth William Roadhouse, a man of great moral worth, who departed this life April 3, 1831, aged 90 years,also Sarah, his wife, who dies December 17, 1778, and Rebecca his second wife”.His first wife was Sarah Sykes. There is no information about the second wife.
William Roadhouse and Sarah Sykes had seven children:
o Elizabeth, b. Jan. 20, 1764
o Joseph, b. Jan. 22, 1766; died young
o Sarah, b. Nov. 30, 1768
o Mary b. June 5, 1771
o William, b. Jan. 23, 1774; came to Canada
o Henry, b. Dec. 19, 1775; came to Canada
o Ann, b. Sept. 7, 1777
William and Rebecca Roadhouse had one child, John, b. Sept. 20, 1783. He became a Wesleyan Minister and died at Leeds, Yorkshire, Dec. 17, 1872. His only known child was David Cooper Roadhouse, a surgeon, who died May 2, 1838.