Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

John Dixon brought his family, including his wife Ann and teenage son Joseph Freemont Dixon (Sr.), to America from Leeds, England.

Leeds is in West Yorkshire. That's due north of London and about halfway from London to the border with Scotland. It's landlocked rather than coastal.

Wikipedia has a couple of great articles. The main article on Leeds has a good introduction and an abbreviated history. You can stop after the introduction, when the article's table of contents appears in a box.

Wikipedia has links (in blue) and you probably don't want to click on all of them. However, in this main article, you might want to click on West Yorkshire, River Aire, West Riding, and Elmet. Didn't our Geography teachers explain that major human activities historically always centered around water... either the coast or a river? Notice that Leeds is a major city today, the 4th largest in England and one of 8 cities that are regional hubs outside of London. Leeds, however, wasn't so large when John Dixon was born around 1800. It grew rapidly between the time of his birth and the day he left for America, increasing from 30,000 to 150,000 in population in just 40 years. The cause? Ever hear about the Industrial Revolution?

Learn about that and more in the History of Leeds article on Wikipedia. I have listed below some points of interest, arranged like the article by major eras in the history of England. Where there are links associated with these points, you might click on them in the Wikipedia article. By opening the Wikipedia article in another browser window, you can move back and forth between this post and the Wikipedia History of Leeds page easier.

Roman and Anglo Saxon Period

Click on Norman, Domesday, William the Conqueror and Harrowing of the North. Most of the history covered here is during the Norman period. The Normans were from Normandy in France (as in D-Day in WWII). This is the period where the French ruled England for a long time and our English language and customs were influenced by the French language and customs.

First Charter

Leeds was the property of a single family... the de Lacy family, for many years. They even rented out the place for many years to another family! Leeds wasn't so much a town as a region back then... very, very rural and sparsely populated. Eventually, the area was merged through marriages with the personal property of the royal family of England. They literally "owned the place". Click on Duchy of Lancaster. Apparently the Duchy still exists!

Late Middle Ages

Click on "modern one", which takes you to the article on the Leeds Parish Church.

Tudor Period

Click on Leeds Grammar School. The establishment of a school was very important, and there were some slots provided for poor kids initially. However, as an English "public school" it is essentially a very expensive, private school. The school still exists and has a web site listed.

Read especially the last paragraph of this section. This paragraph reminds us that the people living in England were not free people during much of history. Some significant rights, but nothing like a representative democracy, were established in this period.

English Civil War

This section describes The English Civil War, a series of wars between Parliament (sometimes led by Puritans) and Royalists in England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles I was eventually defeated, and executed. The Crown was later restored under Charles II. In between, parliament ruled by committee and then Oliver Cromwell ruled as a military dicator. Two end results of this era were the modern relationship wherein Parliament has much more say compared to the King or Queen and that protestant groups other than the Church of England had more freedom. Tolerance still did not extend to Catholics and Catholic-Protestant issues resurfaced later in history.

Woolen Cloth Trade

Raising sheep and producing wool for clothing bloomed in West Yorkshire in the 1700's. This brings to mind that John Dixon's occupation was once listed as "cloth dresser", meaning that he worked with wool as it came out of a loom. Interestingly, I remember Uncle Warren raising sheep on the farm in Spencer, Indiana when I was a teenager. Not many sheep are raised in Indiana.

Industrial Revolution Expansion

New canals, the development of rail transportation, and large steam-powered machines in mill "factories" came to Leeds in the early 1800's. Not covered in this article is the Luddite movement, which our John Dixon could have participated in, even though he would have been about 12 years old. If he didn't know Ned Ludd personally, he surely knew of him! It was essentially a short rebellion of wool trade craftsman who felt that powerful mill owners where abusing them.

Interestingly, there are two novels, including Charlotte Bronte's second novel, (Shirley) and one by Phyllis Bentley (Inheritance), that are based on this theme of struggle between mill workers and mill owners in the Leeds area in the early 1800's. Both are generally favorable to the workers. The Bentley novel, was made into a 1967 TV movie in England and was very popular. So far, I have been unable to locate a copy.