A weaver and his wife, with somewhat unremarkable lives. Still lives, though, and it goes without saying that as a group we are very unhappy about the big fencepost that’s been driven through their bodies… But who were this unfortunate couple? Thomas Blakey was born in Habergham Eaves in 1830. The Blakeys were all cotton …
These Congregationalists are just a small fragment of a large, blended, and ultimately rather mysteriously tragic family. The tragedy of this family is a fairly standard one for its time, if an exaggerated version of it. Medicine wasn’t all people wanted it to be back then. But even so… To start at the beginning we …
Two Williams, father and son, with a world between their two jobs, and one of them with one eye on worlds other than these… William Dixon Sr. was born in 1772, probably in Batley near Leeds. Mary Hepworth was born in, we think, Huddersfield in 1776. Somehow they met, married in 1807, and started a …
One of the more impressive plot markers in the yard here, it consists of a full-sized flat ledger with two initials at the base: G on the left side, F on the right. The year for the stones along from it is 1835, so we went looking, and there it was… The story begins with …
Two husbands, four children; some of them are here, along with the woman whose affection they all held in common. John Binns was born in 1811 somewhere outside of Todmorden. The short time he was alive and the time he was alive in means we know nothing else about him apart from that he was …
Read more “42.16 – John Binns and Joshua, Betsy and Richard Taylor”
Much like the story of Peter and James Studdard, this story is also about the people who aren’t here – the bridges. John and Ann are grandfather and granddaughter. Their stories are short, but the story in between…well! But first things first. John Staley was born in 1796 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. Quite a …
These three siblings stayed close in life and death. There are many Crossleys in Todmorden and this batch weren’t one of the well off ones – not Crosslees or Crosleghs, but straightforward Crossleys. Not of Scaitcliffe but of Honey Hole. That doesn’t mean they were poor, but they weren’t the gentry. William Crossley, their father, …
A grave where we know little about the inhabitants, but we’ve done our best to bring them to life a little bit. Robert Suthers started out life with only one parent – born in Mereclough in 1807, by the time he was baptised in October of that year his mother Mary had already died. An …
Read more “42.25 – Elizabeth, Ellen, Robert and Betty Suthers”
The uniquely named Dransfield was a surprise for us – what a name, but what was its origin? If you want an answer don’t read on, because we don’t have one. Now that that’s out of the way, onto our story! Joseph Ratcliffe was born around 1815 to James and Sally (Fielden) Ratcliffe of Roundfield …
Read more “42.26 – James, Sarah Ann, Maria, Dransfield and Joseph Ratcliffe”
There are two names on this stone, a father, and his son, but only the father is actually in the grave. His son, Peter who is named died at sea, so has no known grave, which is why he is remembered here. The sole occupant of the grave, James Stuttard, was born in Oldham in …