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 …
A lot of people are remembered on this stone, although they aren’t all buried here – at least one is at rest over the pond. Abraham Crossley, the patriarch of this grave, might be a familiar name to you already. Fast forward and he was one of the two men killed when a fireplace they …
Read more “56.44 – Abraham, Susan and John Crossley, and Susan, Mary, Sutcliffe and Willie Mitchell”
This is another of our graves that was missed last time around, and that is linked to other graves within the yard. Who were these people? Elizabeth Ann Helliwell was born in 1863 to William and Hannah (Normington) Helliwell of Square, Walsden. Her baptism at St. Peter’s was on September 24th of that year and …
These Lords were Shade through and through, and this grave spans 68 years of burials, those of a couple and three of their daughters. Moses was born in 1824 to Charles and Sally (Stott) Lord of Walsden. He was one of seven children whose parents were cotton workers and who almost all became cotton workers, …
Read more “56.46 – Jane, Sarah Hannah, Moses, Annie, and Jane Lord”