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THOMPSON I am looking for information on Ben Thompson, a famous Texas gunfighter and lawman of the 19th century who was born in Knottingley and to whom it seems I am distantly related. Having also been born in Knottingley I was interested to see several references to 'Ropewalk School', 'Ropewalk Chapel' and also 'Metcalfe Farm'. My interest is occasioned by the fact that the ropewalk is probably that of the ropery business founded by my great-grandfather in partnership with his son, Arthur Kellett, and going under the name 'David Kellett and Son Ltd'. The business relocated to Hull in the 1930s, a year or two before my birth in 1933, but my mother returned to her mothers home in Knottingley for her confinement. My grandfather Arthur's brothers were Edwin, who I believe was an opera singer, and Walter. His sisters were Ada and Florence, neither of whom ever married. I remember all these siblings and even, very vaugely, my great-grandfather David who died when I was four or five years old, at which time he was in his mid 90s. At some point in the 20th century, possibly even in my own lifetime, Florence travelled to Texas, I suppose to visit her Texan relatives descended from Ben Thompson. MY paternal grandmother's maiden name was Hollingworth. I don't know which side of the family was connected to the Thompson's. I know that my father Clifford played cricket as a young man with the remaining Knottingley Thompson's but although they were related I think even he was not sure of the exact relationship. Ada and Florence lived out their whole lives in Knottingley, apart from Florence's travels. Having spent 30 years in Africa and another 30+ in North-West Scotland, I am totally out of touch with anyone in Knottingley. The reference to Metcalfe Farm drew my attention because Belle Metcalfe, nee Horn, who married Fred Metcalfe, was my mother's cousin. I remember visiting the Metcalfe's on that farm as a child in the war years before going to Africa at the age of 13. Fred and Bell's daughter Olga would be about the same age as myself. Thanks to a family tree immaculately compiled by John Drinkwater, my second cousin, I have a wealth of information relating to my mother's forbears, Kelly's, Horn's and Sylvester's. The Kellett family bible going back to the birth of David Kellett in the early 1840s should be in my possession but for some unfathomable reason beyond my control it remains in Africa. I am hoping that you might be able to give me some idea of the lines to pursue on the Internet to try to find some information about my forbears on my paternal side, i.e. Kellett's amnd Hollingsworth's. I'm afraid I don;t know or have forgotten, the maiden name of my great-grandmother, David's wife. Peter
Kellett
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