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The geography of the area.

Upleatham is a small parish of about 1100 acres about 7 miles to the east of Middlesbrough in the County of North Yorkshire, England. The parish of Guisborough is to the west and Marske by the Sea is to the east. To the north lies Upleatham Hill and to the south Skelton Moor. Running through the centre of the parish from east to west is Skelton Beck, with the village of Upleatham to the north of the beck.

Historical summary

The parish has a very long history - it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Uplider - and was given by William the Conqueror to the Earl of Chester. It subsequently passed to the Lowther family, many of whom are buried in the family vault in the churchyard. The Conn family graves are next to the Lowther vault. Just to the north, over Upleatham Hill, lies the estuary of the River Tees, and in about 1300 two brothers called Johannes and Rojerus Conne were farming at Caldecotes (now called Cargo Fleet). They were tenant farmers of land belonging to Guisborough Priory. It seems possible that the descendants of these two men moved the few miles over the hill to Upleatham and were the originators of this line of the Conn family.

There are two churches in the village, the modern church of St Andrews built in 1854, now used as a house, and the old church just to the south of the village which is reputed to be the smallest church in England. In fact the present building is merely part of a much larger 13-14th century church which was excavated in the 1960s. It has a single room of about 15ft. square with a window and a door. The tower has a plaque stating that it "was builded in 1684". It was, in fact, built by William Crow of Guisborough to celebrate the marriage of his daughter Dorothy to Peter Conn. This old church has not been used since the new church was built, although the churchyard was used for burials until the 1930s when the parish was absorbed into the adjacent parish of Skelton. In about 1840 the last of the Conns moved from the village, ending an association with Upleatham that had lasted for perhaps 500 years.

The parish documents

1) The parish registers (from 1654).
They are unusual in that they are not consecutive documents, but a series of overlapping books. An entry in one book can be found in the next book with different dates. This makes the creation of family trees somewhat problematical, and must be taken into account when viewing the following family. An additional problem is that Upleatham Parish owned about ten houses in the adjacent parish of Marske, and several of the Conn family are recorded in the records from this parish.

2) The Bishops Transcripts (from 1607).

3) The survey of 1653
The Conn family had about 60 acres of land spread across the village fields. The survey lists the holdings of each of the villagers, although because there wasn't a map attached to the survey it is difficult to identify where the holdings were. The Tithe map of 1848 still contains many field names found in the 1653 survey. Their main home was at Wortswell, an area to the west of the parish adjacent to the Skelton Beck, and it was from this beck that they obtained the water neccesary for their tannery. The homestead itself has disappeared , but the well from which it is named was still producing water for the local water company in the 1960s.

4) The Dundas Archives
During the 1700s the agent for the Dundas family of Aske Hall, Richmond, was busy buying most of the land in the parish of Upleatham. In about 1790, the Dundas family built Upleatham Hall, and under Lord Dundas became the Lords of the Manor. By this time the Conn family were mere tennants of the Dundas family - John Conn for example was the Ale-conner, ie he made and checked the quality of the local beers and wines. All of these land purchases are documented in the Archives held at the North Riding Archives Department, Northallerton. They are found in a vast collection of documents, in which the index alone runs to twelve volumes. They contain tennacy agreements, wills, family trees, land sales etc., many of which are relevant to the history of the Conn family.

5) Sweet Upleatham.
This book by Rev. Walters in 1932 gives a glimpse into the life of the village, and includes much of historical importance. As the vicar of Upleatham, it is possible that he had access to material that is no longer available.

6) Monumental Inscriptions.
A transcription of all of the graves is to be found along with the parish register transcription in the Cleveland Archives.
There are four grave stones in the parish churchyard belonging to the Conn family.

The Conn Family in Upleatham.

The family has been reconstructed using all of the above named records and many of the relationships involve considerable speculation. Because of this, the source of the records are not indicated.

It is thought that there were two brothers alive in the early 1600s called George and Peter Conn. They both appear in the Dundas Archives witnessing documents in the 1616-1633 period. George and his subsequent family appear to have lived at Wortswell and to have been tanners, whilst Peter owned the farming land to the east of the village. It is easier to document the two halves of the family separately.

The family of Peter Conn

29 Jun 1687. Burial of Peter Conn.
His son is thought to be Robert, who married Dorothy.
This Robert is thought to be the Robert Conn that appears in the 1653 survey as owning 14 acres of land spread throughout the village fields. His wife was called Dorothy.

The children of Robert and Dorothy Conn.

The children of Robert Conn and Margaret Burton.

The children of Peter Conn and Elizabeth Gofton.

The children of Robert and Ann Conn

As far as can be ascertained the Conn name died out in this line.

The family of George and Jane Conn

The second brother alive in the early 1600s was George Conn. He was signing documents in 1633 and was called George senior. It is possible that he may have been dead by 1653 because the survey of that year shows that Jane Conn, widow, owned 46 acres of land. Four sons have been assigned to him, although it is possible that one or more could have belonged to his brother Peter.

The children of George Conn, a tanner of Worswell.

The children of Peter Conn of Wortswell and Dorothy Crow.

The children of Peter Conn of Wortswell and Jane Tanfield.

The children of Peter Conn and Elizabeth Bennison.

It is thought that this family moved to Whitby and then to Sunderland.

The children of Thomas Conn and Jane Graham

The children of Thomas Conn and Ann Dunn

Ann Conn (Dunn), aged 80, was in Darlington in 1881 with her som William. He is said to be married, but his family is not with him. Nothing further is known about these children.

The children of Robert Conn and Sarah Ableson

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