Researching the Todmorden families that came before us is a wonderful privilege and highly rewarding thing to do, every single name provides a whole new and entirely different story, you just never know where the research will take you. Sometimes you have a giggle at something quirky, sometimes it’s simply ‘wow’, quite often though (especially …
Read more “18.21 – Frances, Minnie and Annie Verity (unmarked)”
On the back of the stone wall at the rear of the graveyard is a slate plaque, placed relatively recently, commemorating Thomas Greenwood the “Mechanic of Millwood”, which was put there to replace a supposedly lost gravestone in that area. When we arrived and cleared those final two rows, we found quite a few gravestones …
Read more “57.54 – Betty, Mary Ann and Thomas Greenwood (previously unmarked)”
This grave sparked a lively post on our Facebook group, when FOCCer Elaine noticed it one day while tidying and asked “so where’s George?” First things first, the people who are here. Maria Brown was born in 1844 in Coventry to David and Phoebe (Gilbert) Brown. She was baptised at the parish church there, St. …
Thanks to family member Christopher Hiley for contributing this article – you can find his family history blog here. Jesse’s grave Jesse Hiley occupies an unmarked grave, 11.37, in the churchyard at Christ Church, Todmorden. He died on 15th July 1901, aged 8 months, and was buried on 17th July. The death certificate shows the …
This transatlantic grave had a larger story than met the eye at first. Mary Jackson (nee Ashworth) was born in 1813 at Roomfield Lanes, the daughter of Abraham Ashworth, a butcher, and his wife Betty (nee Barker). In 1834 she married Edmund (also known as Edward) Nuttall a cotton weaver, at St. Chad’s, Rochdale. In …
Read more “16.26 – Mary Jackson and Barker, James and William Nuttall”
This grave story will straddle two graves, but the background for John is already told partly at S6.6 and 13.12, and the Ackroyd family extends well beyond just those two graves as well…for now, though, it’s easier to combine these two stones into one story. John Ackroyd’s background is well known so first let’s start …
Read more “54.45 and 13.11 – John, Sarah, Thomas and Barker Ackroyd”
This plot marker has only initials, and only one set of them. Initials on plot markers can either be those of the person buried there or those of the plot’s owner (in one instance here, both initials are on the stone) and in this case the V gives us a pretty good clue as to …
Emma’s backstory is told in the story of her parents, sisters and niece – but we thought for the sake of the medium read not becoming a long one that we would separate the stories out. Emma Pickup, as she was before marriage, was born in Newchurch, Bacup, in 1858. She had lived in Todmorden …
The relationships in this grave are complex, and figuring them out was complicated by the blended family unit that these people formed over decades. We’ve done our best here but there are still some questions. The Eastwoods here are Grace and Susan, but there’s a third Eastwood sister not named on this stone; Ellen, the …
Read more “56.43 – Grace Eastwood, Betty, Susan and James Dawson, and William Albert Clewer”
All records spell it Akroyd, their grave reads Ackroyd. Rather than waste time arguing about it let’s find out more about the people in this grave. One, at least, has a great number of records behind him, because he rose through the ranks of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. But was he as respectable as …