[Peter Sleigh]

Originally Posted by Atarah

Are you from Pennslyvania by an chance? Any Sleigh's on your tree as well?

Atarah

I have a lot of Sleighs on my family tree including the dentists of Accy. This family originated from Derbyshire & Staffordshire before going to Ireland with William of Orange circa 1690. For obvious reasons they weren't too pop with the natives and most had fled to Lancashire by 1800. Great X 3 grandfather, Horatio turned up in Lancaster in 1799, married and had one son, Ralph, the father of my great grandfather, Thomas whose brother William Horatio was the oldest practicing dentist in Lancashire just before he died aged 80 in Winwick Asylum! His son, Randolph was the founder of the Accy dentistry practice.
There are at least two members of the family who achieved a little fame - Colonel (Prince Edward Militia in 1852) Burrowes Willcocks Arthur Sleigh who founded The Daily Telegraph in 1855 (an unsuccessful venture for him but which made a bob or two for the Levy family to whom he sold it!) and Captain Adderley Willcocks Sleigh who became Chief Sureintendent of Police in Manchester in 1840.
Whilst in full flow, my two maternal great grandfathers have strong Accy connections - James Preston (1848 - 1934) born Moscow, Ozzy and Edmund Whittaker (1851 - ?) born Clayton le Moors.
The latter became the first Town Clerk of Accrington in 1878 and "resigned" under a cloud in 1885. Despite the best efforts of the library and other sleuths, I have never been able to discover what happened to him. The council minutes appear to have gone missing from the period and I suspect a major cover up UNLESS SOMEONE OUT THERE KNOWS DIFFERENT. Any thoughts please?
Peter Sleigh (presently in Spain but soon moving to France don't ask why).