A receipt for the Brigham business with the header "Established 1782"
John the Joiner
John Brigham III was baptised on September 9th, 1753 on Holy Island. As a young boy, it's unlikely he saw much of his father, who went off to fight in the Seven Years' War when John was four and didn't return to live on Holy Island until at least August 1763.
John Brigham III was baptised on September 9th, 1753 on Holy Island. As a young boy, it's unlikely he saw much of his father, who went off to fight in the Seven Years' War when John was four and didn't return to live on Holy Island until at least August 1763.
A contemporary and striking account of life on Holy Island comes from he prominent Methodist preacher William Ferguson, b 1735, who lived there with his parents from the age of 12 to 20. He writes: "The people of this place were mostly smugglers, and the children remarkably wicked.
"Of these I soon learned to curse and swear, and glory in my shame. I learned to tell lies for sport, to play at cards, to dance, to work the greatest part of the Sabbath day, and to make a mock at all religious people."
Not all the outsiders who visited were as scathing. The surgeon Leonard Gillespie, who visited in 1787, noted that "the people speak very broad and seem to be an honest, sober, harmless race," although he was less complimentary of the location which he found to be "a contemptible fishing village without a good house on the island".
But the historian William Hutchinson, writing just seven years later, found it to have been "improved of late years by the building of several new tenements".
"The village consists of a few irregular houses; two of which or more are inns, one appertains to a farmhold, and the rest are inhabited by fishermen."
Indeed he goes further, saying: "The shore of this island is, in many parts, excellent for bathing, and the situation is at once helathy and romantic: it is, of late years, become a place of great resort; and much praised for the beauties that grace its solemn walks."
It is not known whether John in his early life he followed his father and grandfather to the sea, but it is likely he would have served as an apprentice to a local carpenter, as by 1782 he set up the Brigham joinery business that was to survive for the next 150 years.
He married Sarah Thompson in June 1781 and first son John was born the following year. More to follow...
"Of these I soon learned to curse and swear, and glory in my shame. I learned to tell lies for sport, to play at cards, to dance, to work the greatest part of the Sabbath day, and to make a mock at all religious people."
Not all the outsiders who visited were as scathing. The surgeon Leonard Gillespie, who visited in 1787, noted that "the people speak very broad and seem to be an honest, sober, harmless race," although he was less complimentary of the location which he found to be "a contemptible fishing village without a good house on the island".
But the historian William Hutchinson, writing just seven years later, found it to have been "improved of late years by the building of several new tenements".
"The village consists of a few irregular houses; two of which or more are inns, one appertains to a farmhold, and the rest are inhabited by fishermen."
Indeed he goes further, saying: "The shore of this island is, in many parts, excellent for bathing, and the situation is at once helathy and romantic: it is, of late years, become a place of great resort; and much praised for the beauties that grace its solemn walks."
It is not known whether John in his early life he followed his father and grandfather to the sea, but it is likely he would have served as an apprentice to a local carpenter, as by 1782 he set up the Brigham joinery business that was to survive for the next 150 years.
He married Sarah Thompson in June 1781 and first son John was born the following year. More to follow...