The story of the Leah family buried here is mostly told through advertisements and notices – sometimes when public records don’t come through these are your best bet for fleshing out the life of an individual. Robert Leah was born around 1803 in Erringden, and we don’t know much more beyond that. When he married …
This stone now lies flat, but the grave it marks is one of the “sweetest” graves at Christ Church. This confectioner, his wife, and two of their sons helped keep the town supplied with biscuits and candies. Abraham Crossley was born in Todmorden in 1832 to Abraham and Esther (Haigh) Crossley. Abraham Sr. was a …
Read more “38.14 – Abraham, Margaret, Esther, Mary, Deborah, William, John and Mary Jane Crossley”
There are many people named Pickles in the yard but these Pickles here hailed from Bradford – and one is actually buried there! James Pickles was born in April 1816 in Haworth, near Bradford, home of course of the Brontës. They weren’t there yet (they were still in Thornton, not too far away) but even …
Read more “46.54 – James, Rachel and Emmanuel Hudson Pickles”
The Taylors were hard to research, quiet-living people, and as such their story is very short. Read to the end though to find out why their stone is flat. John Taylor was born in either Todmorden or Whalley in about 1813 (it would vary on the census later on), to parents we haven’t been able …
Another infant gets their name back; Mary Kay, who died in April 1878 only two weeks old. First, though, her parents. James Kay was born in Rochdale, Hopwood in fact, in 1835. His father John was a tailor and his mother Catherine was a silk hand loom weaver, and he grew up with seven siblings …
Read more “46.63 – Mary, James, Ellen, John and Elizabeth Kay”
This is the tale of two Cleggs – siblings Mary and William – and their spouses, James Fielden and Rachel Marshall. Mary was the oldest daughter and William was the youngest son of John and Hannah (Shackleton) Clegg, both hand loom weavers from Todmorden. The pair had married at Heptonstall by banns in September 1828 …
Read more “47.53 – James and Mary Fielden and Rachel and William Clegg”
Well, most of her children. Susanna had ten children all told, and four of them are here with her, but the three children of her husband and his second wife are also buried here. It’s a sad grave and the ledger which has been laid flat is easy to miss. Susanna Marshall was born in …
Read more “47.55 – Susanna Barker and her children, and Jane (Jennie) Barker”
A final Davis family post – William was another of Fred and Rachel’s sons – and one yet again featuring a tragic, sudden death. William Davis was their third son, born in 1867, and was one of the ones who deviated from the family trade. Where the other Davis boys became plumbers or gas fitters, …
This is another post about the Davis family, this time following one of Fred and Rachel’s sons with a less tragic life trajectory than his brother George, but certainly not untouched by it. And also his wife Betsy Ann, whose only presence in the newspapers was down to the curious terms of a will. Thomas …
Read more “11.24 – Bertha, Frederick, Betsy Ann and Thomas Davis”
We usually cover family graves separately from each other, but this is an exception – the Davis family unit here is very important to our group for a number of reasons. Fred and Rachel’s grave reads “Dead, Yet Speaketh” at its base, and what else are we doing here if we aren’t giving the dead …
Read more “V7.8, 31.43, and 47.60 – Frederick, Rachel, Eva and George Davis”