Sometimes the connections between people in a grave are harder to work out than others. We bring you the story of the Horsfall siblings, and their cousin’s granddaughter. The story really begins with John and Mary Horsfall of Moss Hall. John was a shopkeeper, apparently, and he and his wife raised a little crop of …
Read more “48.57 – Helliwell, Elizabeth and Sarah Ann Horsfall, and Annie Hirst”
These two graves aren’t strictly side by side – at least we don’t think they originally were, even though now their stones are – but they contain the majority of a large family unit; that made up of Thomas and Sarah (Stansfield) Scholfield, their children and a grandchild, and Sarah’s brother and sister-in-law Barker and …
The two adults in this grave share something: they’re invisible until 1871. A strange thing to say, but bear with us. We know that William Henry Greenwood was born at Blackshawhead around 1850; we know Grace Fielden was born around 1846 in Walsden. But until they’re adults, that’s all we know. In 1871 Grace and …
Read more “49.53 – Sam, Grace, Fred and William Henry Greenwood”
43 years sit between the first and second burial here; the two wives of Joseph Sonley, Betsy Forrester and Mary Ann Hollinrake. Two Tod lasses who fell for the same journeyman tailor (although fortunately not at the same time). We’ll also tell some of the wider story of the Sonley family as “how did Joseph …
This plot marker started a spiral down countless search term variations and speculative rabbit holes, as we tried to trace the lives of the people most likely buried here – James, Elizabeth, and John James Laithwaite. Many thanks to the recordkeepers of the 1800s for their many creative spellings of this surname. We appreciate it. …
Read more “49.55 – The Laithwaites (or Leithwites, or Lethwhites…)”
The story of those buried here shows some of the interconnectedness of the yard; peeling apart each grave’s story makes seeing those links possible. It’s part of why we do what we do. The story of this grave can’t be fully told without also telling the story of the Charltons at 49.58, the Buttons at …
Read more “50.57 – Maria, Eveline, William, Isabella and William Thomas Heyworth”
This plot marker labelled B. A. denotes a grave belonging to Benjamin Ashworth of Shade. In it is definitely his sister Sarah, and probably another B. A. – his wife Betty. But what of Benjamin himself? Read on… Sarah Ashworth was born in 1815 in Chadderton to William and Ann Ashworth. She was the eldest …
This plot marker confused us, and still confuses us; is C.M.P. Mary Catherine Pearson? If so, why would it be in an 1878 row? Would they really have gotten her initials wrong? Well…if you’ve seen the “aged 42 yeabs” stone in the private area, you know that all sorts of errors can be made in …
This plot marker took a while to discern, having to manually rule out all the known V surnames in the graveyard and their immediate families. We still aren’t 100% certain about who is in this plot – we have guesses – but we’re certain that F. V. refers to Fielden Varley, and it’s likely that …
These striking sidestones were tumbled over and half-buried when we arrived, and the grave itself recorded but not fully; we’ve put it back together as best we can for now, and despite its humble appearance it holds one of the town’s storytellers: Frederick Lee, of the Todmorden Advertiser and protegee of Richard and Thomas Chambers. …
Read more “51.58 – Frederick, Sarah Ann, Ann, Helen and Alice Lee”