Percy’s story is short, but the story of why he’s alone here is longer – so have both! First, his story as summarised by our Chair, Andy: “This is the grave of Percy Gill, he is reposing in Christ Church Graveyard. Percy is my 1st cousin, 3 times removed …… Aye, I don’t understand it …
Jeremiah is one of many people with a very “Todmorden” surname buried here who, on investigation, turned out to be from further afield. Once here though, he and his family stayed. Jeremiah was born about 1830 in Kildwick, near Silsden. He was the second son of his parents, Jeremiah and Susannah (Stow or Stowell) Horsfall, …
Read more “27.34 – Jeremiah, Mary Catherine, Albert Edward and Betty Horsfall”
Following from our other post about this family double plot, here are the “wives and children” – the wives of Theodora’s two sons, and three of Theodora’s grandsons. Remember us saying that Marian and Susannah Horsfall were both close neighbours of the Andertons in Lydgate? They were close in more than just proximity – Marian …
Read more “9.35 – Marian, Susannah, Wilbert, Harry and Leonard Anderton”
The final Anderton family grave here at Christ Church contains the second of John and Theodora’s four sons and members of his family – George Lloyd Anderton, his wife Jinefer, and three of their children. George owes his middle name to his step-grandfather; it was clearly a nod to him, and a sign that Theodora …
Read more “26.41 – George, Jinefer, Stephen, Bertha and John Anderton”
This post about the Anderton/Fielden double plot is split into two, because there are simply so many people in this plot. This post will concern Theodora and her three children who are buried here; the other will concern the wives and children of the sons buried here. Theodora was born Theodora Spencer Sherington, and not …
Read more “9.35 – Theodora, John Stephen and William Anderton, and Elizabeth Fielden”
More members of the Anderton family, this time in a separate plot – another of Theodora’s sons, as well as his wife’s nephew. Or is it niece? Or both? Robert Sherington Anderton was the first child and first son of John and Theodora Anderton, and was born in 1861 in Todmorden. Like his father, he …
Read more “13.37 – Robert Sherington, Mary Ellen and Leonard Anderton, and Bessie Tolley Lingard”
We always get intrigued when we see different surnames in a grave – and, of course, as this stone is under the school, there’s no inscription we can see which might offer a clue as to family relationships. The answer to this particular mystery is “the usual one” – a child born out of wedlock …
Read more “S7.2 – Samuel Wood and John Greenwood, Susannah, John Willie and Law Southwell”
This was a Mother’s Day gift for “graveyard momma”, aka secretary Sarah – a stone that hadn’t been transcribed before, because it was upside down. Who were the Brewers? Martha Bottomley was born in 1857 in Walsden. Her father James was a Tod lad, and her mother Esther hailed originally from Runcorn. James abandoned the …
The stories here in this graveyard are stories mostly of ordinary people, and some could not afford grave markers. We believe the ordinary folks were (and are!) the heart of Tod, so here we remember one of them. This is the grave of Fanny Danks. It was a popular name in the time period! She …
We stand here next to the grave of Willie Crowther – not the one with the beautiful light grey granite cross, but the unmarked space to the left of it. Yes, he is related to John Crowther, whose story you heard earlier… it is in fact his son. You will recall the statistic we gave …