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Gee of Dukenfield

The earliest reference found thus far to a Gee in Dukinfield is Thomas Gee of Dukinfield, who recorded the baptism of his son George on 17 Feb 1599. One line of Gee of Australia, descendents of Alban Gee, trace from Joel c 1773. Joel’s son Ira was christened in Dukinfield, but Joel apparently was not. This line shows a Stockport connection, which may have been that Joel and Nancy were married at Stockport, which at that time was the parish church for Dukinfield.

The earliest reference found thus far to a Gee in Dukinfield is Thomas Gee of Dukinfield, who recorded the baptism of his son George on 17 Feb 1599. One line of Gee of Australia, descendents of Alban Gee, trace from Joel c 1773. Joel’s son Ira was christened in Dukinfield, but Joel apparently was not. This line shows a Stockport connection, which may have been that Joel and Nancy were married at Stockport, which at that time was the parish church for Dukinfield.

A Joel Gee was christened at Gee Cross Unitarian on 28 Feb 1773. Hyde Chapel, originally Presbyterian at its founding, had become Unitarian. Hyde Chapel/Gee Cross Unitarian is only two miles from Dukinfield. It is less than a mile from the places previousaly mentioned—Nathaniel owned Knotts in Gee Cross, Gee’s lived at Foxholes and Apethorn, the coal seam outcropping at the banks of the River Tame.

The river was likely navigable then. The trip from Gee Cross to Dukinfield Old Chapel is around three miles, but each is only a few blocks from the river. Since the canals were built, the water has largely been diverted. However in those days before the canals it was likely navigable to smaller craft. If so, the journey would have been much easier.

Joel may have been a stonecutter. Joel’s great-grandfather was “Nathaniel Gee, clerk at the Old Chapel, schoolmaster and collector for the Dukinfield Estate, as early as 1717. He [i.e. Nathaniel] was a famous teacher of penmanship, known throughout the district as Domine [meaning pastor or clergyman in Latin] Gee. He died on 28th August, 1767. His great grandson, Joel Gee, a stonecutter, was sexton from 1812.”

That is the proper age for Ira’s son Joel. He may not only have been a stonecutter but also sexton of Old Chapel from before 1717 until 1767, so born in the late 1600’s. A “Nathanael” Gee was christened 9 Feb 1700 in Dukinfield Old Chapel. At 17, would he have been too young to become clerk of a chapel in those times? If not, then he is a candidate for Nathaniel (“Domine”) Gee.

There is also a Nathaniel Gee in early Land Tax Records from 1714 for Knotts in Hyde. This would have been shortly after the foundation of Hyde Chapel in 1708.

Nathaniel is a very unusual name for Gee's at that time. Yet no fewer than six Nathaniels were christened at Stockport St. Mary during the 21 years between 1609 and 1640. Apparently three died soon after. The fathers were George, Robert and John (they did not record the mother at that time). Apparently each named a son Nathaniel who died young and then later named another son with that same name. The working hypothesis is that George, Robert and John were likely brothers, born in perhaps the 1580’s give or take, and that at least two of them were living in Werneth by 1609.

The parish records (Stockport St. Mary) are indexed, but there is a gap running from 1646 all the way to 1782. Do Edward, Thomas and John appear in these unindexed records, all born to the same father around 1670? Do they show Edward's marriage to Mary. What about the parish records for Denton Chapel and Hatherlow (Old Chadkirk Chapel)? Both were non-conformist and nearby.

The parish records show Nathanael/Nathaniel’s father to have been Edward, so we would be looking for an Edward, who would have been born perhaps 1670 or so. From the birth entries in the parish register, there is a very strong probability Nathaniel’s mother was named Mary. He would have very likely been a dissenter, that would have been before the Act of Toleration, his family would have likely been recording in a Church of England parish register.

The earliest Nathaniel that we’ve seen was buried in Stockport in 1639, if he was an adult then he went back into the 1500’s. It is an early name in the family and regularly appears both at Stockport and, slightly later, at Mottram. George Gee of Werneth baptized his son Nathaniel on 16 Julye 1609, and Robert Gee of Werneth baptized his son Nathaniel 3 Nouember 1616. Nathaniel is an unusual Gee name, this indicates a relation between the three and points to perhaps an even earlier Nathaniel. Interestingly the oldest grave at Duckenfield Old Chapel is that of Nathaniel Gee.

The Christian names Nathaniel and Joseph at this time very likely indicated Puritanism. Henry Gee d. 1545, Mayor of Chester, was Puritan. His daughter Anne married Henry Hardware, who also became Mayor of Chester and was a Puritan, her daughter Elizabeth Hardware married John Bruen, a Calvanistic Puritan.

The Gee of Dukinfield may have been Nonconformist all the way back to Puritans in the early to mid-16C. We do not know what periods they recorded in Church of England parishes, but we do know that the Bishop of Chester sheltered the ageing minister of Dukinfield Old Chapel (of course it was a very young chapel at that time) until his death.

It would be interesting to know where “dissenters” would have worshiped prior to the creation of the dissenter chapels Dukinfield Old Chapel and Hyde Chapel in the early eighteenth century.

Also interestingly, the Gee of Australia descending from Nathaniel Gee show a gggrandfather who was a tin-plate worker and coppersmith. From this background he graduated to the early tinned meat trade, becoming a meat preserver and packer, as was his son who emigrated to Australia. This connection with metallurgy may be yet more evidence for a mineralogical theory of this line’s arrival in Gee Cross/Dukinfield.

Dukinfield touches Hyde/Gee Cross. Old Chapel Presbyterian was two or three miles north of Apethorn and Foxholes in Gee Cross, and Hyde Chapel was about a mile to the east.
Attached is a document signed by John Gee the Elder, yeoman, of Gee Cross, which references a Shallcross. Recall that that the daughter of Henry Gee d 1545, Sheriff and twice Mayor of Chester, married a Shallcross. The evidence points to the Gee of Gee Cross and Dukinfield descending either from Henry or at least from the immediate family.

Religion
Both Dukinfield Old Chapel and Hyde Chapel were originally built as Presbyterian churches. Old Chapel is much older, and before Old Chapel its congregation was meeting in private houses. It arose out of what today we call Dukinfield Old Hall, which had a family chapel.

The Dukinfields were Puritans. “Puritan” would have been a term in use in the 1600’s. Gee of Dukinfield seem to have Presbyterian by the very late 1600’s and early 1700’s.
Dissenting from the established Church was illegal until, and even for long periods after, the Glorious Revolution and the Toleration Act of 1689. The congregations generally moved toward a belief less like Presbyterianism and more toward Arianism, we see the consequences today in the current Hyde Chapel, which is now Unitarian.

When the Act of Uniformity (1662) was passed, thousands of ministers refused to accept it, including Rev. Samuel Angier. His uncle Rev. John Angier was one of a very few dissenting clergymen allowed to continue without conforming.
Rev. John was at Denton Chapel, which is now St. Lawrence’s, and his nephew Rev. Samuel Angier joined him there. This makes Denton Chapel worth examination, i.e. many of his congregation likely followed him. [Do Denton Chapel’s records date back that far?]

Following his time with his uncle at Denton Chapel, Rev. Samuel went to Dukinfield and began conducting services in 1681. At first services were in his home, from 1686 they were held in a barn. This is why parish records in Dukinfield go so far back, even prior to the Act of Toleration (1689). It was not only illegal to conduct services but also to attend. They would turn the chapel back into a barn quickly when they attracted attention. Rev. Samuel was known as a good man, and the Anglican bishop of Chester protected him.

His small congregation called themselves Presbyterians. The Dukenfield family [the family spells its name differently from the town] donated the building materials for the first chapel, which was later called the “White Chapel” or “th’Owd Chapel”.

The Australian line descending from Alban Gee may descend from Edward Gee, born around 1670. From parish records, it is likely that he had brothers Thomas and John, and his mother was likely named Mary. His son Nathaniel (b 1700 in Old Chapel Dukinfield) was clerk and sexton of Old Chapel, Dukinfield from 1717 to 1767. Nathaniel likely owned Knotts in Hyde. This is likely near today's Knott Lane, Gee Cross. It is only blocks away from Foxholes, Gerrards and Apethorne. The parish records for Stockport St. Mary are not indexed for the period around 1670, and the original records have not yet been checked, however the years before 1646 have been indexed. They show six Nathaniel's born between 1609 and 1640, which is highly unusual since the name Nathaniel is such an uncommon Gee first name in other locations.


Place  Dukenfield 
Latitude  53.469427 
Longitude  -2.089623 
File name  Dukinfield Old Chapel 1708.jpg 
File Size  49.62k 
ID  75 
Dimensions  436 x 298 

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