39.27 – James, John, Elizabeth and Thomas Nash

This grave has one story partly told in the story of Samuel and Susan Scholfield, as Elizabeth is their sister.

She was born in 1814 to William and Mary Scholfield, ironmongers who had a shop on North Street (Burnley Road) and Church Street (Rochdale Road, opposite the gates to St. Mary’s) and so grew up in a peculiar environment where her father and brothers worked a hard and dirty job but were also rather well off. Their success will have made her early life a little easier.

Not much is known about her and Thomas, though, because of their lives mostly predating the census. Thomas was also born in 1814, in Yorkshire according to the 1841 Census, and was a cattle dealer and farmer. He was a member of Harmony Lodge of Freemasons and joined that after his marriage to Elizabeth in 1833. At that time he was living at Millwood, but by 1841 he and Elizabeth and their then two children had moved a little nearer to the town centre, to the Stansfield Hall area.

Thomas and Elizabeth had six children that we know of. The 1841 Census only shows Mary, their eldest daughter, and Thomas Jr., only three months old. But two children had been born in between: the two buried here. The two little boys James and John died within five days of each other, with James (the younger one) going first at the very end of December 1839. John followed on January 3rd 1840. Such things happened, but it doesn’t make it less sad. The burial register shows both boys on the same page, only one burial apart. It also shows us that the Nashes were living near Patmos during this time – the move to Stansfield Hall must have occurred after their death.

Thomas and Elizabeth had two more daughters, leaving three girls and one boy alive and presumably happy with their lives. Frustratingly the 1851 Census only shows Elizabeth and the children living in Todmorden, lodging with Samuel and Susan. Thomas is mysteriously absent. Travelling for work or some other reason? The newspapers give no clues. All we have left is the burial register telling us that he died in June 1853 in Rochdale and was buried at Christ Church.

First though, Elizabeth died. Her death at least made the newspapers; Thomas’s didn’t. If it weren’t for the burial register and GRO index we wouldn’t know he even existed. Elizabeth only exists here in relation to her respectable brother and as a cheerful domestic.

And that’s how the four Nash children ended up in the care of the Scholfield siblings, as previously noted.

Because we hate mysteries here at FOCCT we ordered Thomas’s death registration to try and figure out what was going on. Did he die in a hospital? Workhouse? Was there health drama or a scandal? Not that we can see. He died from heart disease at Amen Corner in Rochdale, a now-demolished large medieval building that was of some size and respectable repute. If Thomas was off sowing wild oats or living a second life we can’t see evidence of it. More likely he was travelling a lot for work and escaped the census that way, and was temporarily staying in Rochdale in pursuit of a sale or purchase. You can write a lot of stories where the information is scarce but the truth isn’t usually that exciting.