Life History

Notes

• 1841 census: age 1, living with his parents at East Bridgford.
  1851 census: age 10, living with his parents in East Bridgford.
  1861 census: not found in East Bridgford; perhaps living in Nottingham since he was married there in 1868.  Eldest child was born at Nottingham in 1870.
  In 1870 Jesse was appointed as Port Missioner at Grimsby for the Port of Hull Society for the Religious Instruction of Seamen.  His work was to spread the message of redemption through Christ to the seafaring community of Grimsby, and this involved
  running the Fisherman's Chapel  (Bethel), visiting the fishing fleet and preaching on board, and welfare work amongst the fishing community on shore.  According to a history of the Society, Jesse was "in public a man of much charm and ability.  As a
  preacher he had gifts beyond the ordinary and there was no lack of resolute power in the execution of any scheme upon which he had set his heart."
  Jesse worked in Grimsby as Port Missioner for four years, before moving to Hull in 1874 to take charge of the Society's Orphanage (for the children of deceased mariners).
  [1881 census: age 40, living in Hull as Master of the Port of Hull Society Sailors' Orphans Home, Park Street - with his wife (the Matron), their 3 children, an Assistant Matron, 2 servants, 2 pupil teachers and 206 orphans aged 7-14.]
  Jesse and his wife ran the Park Street Orphanage for 16 years, but towards the end of this period their relationship with their employers at the Port of Hull Society was not a happy one. He had introduced an Orphanage Magazine ("Ashore and Afloat") and
  set up a Orphanage Brass Band, but the Band acquried a dubious reputation for its unsupervised activites whilst away from Hull on fundraising tours.  The Orphanage's annual reports contain many references to the frequency of skin disease amongst the
  children (presumably caused by poor diet).  The Society tried to move Jesse back to his old job in Grimsby in 1885, but he turned down the offer and hung on at Park Street until 1890, when a "management restructuring" saw him reappointed to the job as
  Grimsby Port Missioner.  He only stayed in the post for about 18 months before resigning from the post and severing his connection with the Port of Hull Society in 1892, at which point he was 51 years old.
  Not yet known what happened to him subsequently; not found in 1901 census index.

Sources

• 1. 1851 census.
• 2. 1881 census.
• 3. Notts FHS surname index (Mason marriages).