This was a confusing tale to research, complicated by the large number of Greenwoods in Todmorden and the regular recycling of names; we even wondered if one of these couples was first cousins! In the end the relationships were simpler than we feared. This grave holds a couple, their granddaughter, and her (no relation!) husband.
Sarah, or Sally, is the oldest person buried here so we’ll start with her. Sally Barker was born in 1805 in Todmorden, at Swineshead, to Thomas and Betty Barker. She was baptised at Cross Stone in September of that year. Of course, we know nothing else, because she was a woman and the records at that point aren’t so good. But in 1827 she married William Greenwood twice – at Heptonstall on December 23rd, and at St. Chad’s in Rochdale on December 31st. He was a joiner and carpenter who lived in Stansfield who was a year or two her junior, and from what the newspaper would later call “an old yeoman family”. Lucky Sally! Perhaps the double marriage was to reassure their families, since they had already had a child born out of wedlock in 1826, their son Thomas. He’s important to this story as he’s the link between the two generations.
Even though he wasn’t able to sign his name when he married Sally the couple must have put an emphasis onto their children as well to constantly seek ways to improve their lot in life beyond manual labour. Their backgrounds would have given them more financial flexibility to do this as well. Certainly we can see that such a thing was taught to him at a young age; his obituary years later would reveal that he was taught to play the violincello as a child and that he would walk to Rochdale and back for his lessons! He played the organ on and off at Patmos Chapel on Sundays but when Christ Church was opened, he felt called, or was headhunted for the position, and took up the role of official organist there.
The Greenwoods lived in the town centre, along North Street (aka Burnley Road) and Thomas initially became William’s apprentice. William and Sally had an impressive nine children together that we know of, most of whom made it to adulthood. William was intelligent and perhaps used his work contacts to leverage a less physical career for himself later, since by 1851 he had left carpentry to become an auctioneer. The family moved then to Ridge Street. Most of his sons had becomes musicians during the interim, in and around their other work – Thomas was the organist at Cross Stone, Charles moved around the churches in Burnley, Accrington, and surrounds, eventually going to Wiltshire, and James went south to Bristol where he became the organist and choirmaster at St. Mathews, Kingsdown. Another son, Henry, filled in for William when he was unable to perform his duties, and would later step into his shoes at Christ Church (and is buried in the private area of the yard).
What of Thomas? Well Thomas also became an auctioneer and bookkeeper after some time and began teaching music on the side, and advertisements for his business always ran below William’s ads. His brother Charles’s life on the Lancashire side meant that he went to Burnley on and off for visits. This is where he met Elizabeth Widdup of Habergham Eaves, and the couple married in May 1848. They had four children together before Thomas’s untimely death in late 1863, one of whom was Mary Greenwood who was born in 1857. Mary went into weaving since after Thomas’s death Elizabeth had to go back to her old work making dresses, and all the children were needed to pitch in to keep things going at their home on Ridge Street. William was beginning to suffer from ill health periodically and so she couldn’t rely on her in-laws for full support. Elizabeth never remarried and many years later would be buried with Thomas and their daughter Sarah up at Cross Stone. Mary, meanwhile, kept on going, also finding meaningful outside-of-work work as a Sunday School teacher at Christ Church. In 1890 she married Charles Greenwood. Yes, another Greenwood…
…and you see why we had to do a lot of digging to see what relation, if any, all these people were. Charles was a name that obviously ran in her family, and Charles’s father was named Joseph just like one of Mary’s uncles. Their birthdates are 5 years apart but as both predate the GRO it was hard to ensure that they weren’t both the same man. This Charles was the son of Joseph and Mary (Hargreaves), born in Todmorden in 1863, and a lifelong resident of Cornholme. He and his parents and eight siblings grew up at Holme House Road, all working as weavers or warehousemen at Frostholme Mill. Joseph was a hard worker though, doing all sorts, including bricklaying. Charles stayed in the weaving business though and, like Mary, filled his leisure time with other pursuits. His were a little less religious though – he played for Lydgate Rugby Football Team. After their marriage he and Mary stayed in Elizabeth’s home on Gledhill Street in the town centre and for a brief time his life in Cornholme was suspended.
Meanwhile, though, we’ve been skipping the 1880s which were important for William and Sally – as that’s the decade when they died. Sally went first, in April 1883. Her death warranted only a single line in the BMD column of the paper – considering all she did for her family behind the scenes, it’s not very respectful is it? But many people were only ever given a single line to mark their passage from the world. And some didn’t even get that.
William had given up playing the organ in 1874 due to deafness, and his ill health only worsened. By 1886 he was very sick indeed, and in April he finally found some rest. His obituary, in contrast to Sally’s, took up a column and a half in both local newspapers. He was buried here at Christ Church on what would have been his 81st birthday, April 27th, to much religious fanfare.
Back now to Charles and Mary, who after 1890 grew a small family of their own – not the 9+ children common with both Greenwood families, but just three daughters, Bertha, Doris and Jessie. After Elizabeth’s death in 1893 the family moved back to Cornholme and to Brookfield Terrace, not far from Mary’s childhood home on Holme House. By 1911 they had gone nearer to Frostholme and settled at Oakleigh Terrace for several decades. The couple were lucky not to have any sons when WW1 broke out.
Charles eventually retired from his job as overlooker and he and Mary spent their last days on College Street. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1940 and, in the reverse of William and Sally’s newspaper coverage, Mary got the bulk of the writeup.
William and Sally both died in April, years apart; Charles and Mary’s coincidence was that they both died in 1944. Charles got the same brief treatment that Sally had received all those years ago. And Mary? Mary got no mention at all! It’s strange, yes, but true.