Stansfield: one of the most common names in Todmorden, and one which supposedly originates specifically from Todmorden. This story was difficult to research at times for that very reason, as you will see. First, our man Thomas. Thomas Stansfield was born in 1807 on the Lancashire side of the border. He was probably from Walsden. …
Read more “41.56 – Thomas, Betty, George, Ann and Greenwood Stansfield”
Six children, some only young, some grown; the Wood family suffered some terrible losses which are masked by this ornate “wooden” cross. Who were they? Edwin Wood was born in Ashton under Lyne in 1853, the son of John Wood, a baker and German yeast dealer and his wife Sarah (nee Booth). The yeast was German, …
Two adults and two little ones. Even the adults weren’t that old though… Liverpool is our first port of call on this story. John Johnson Jr. (the Jr. is important, it’s on his gravestone after all) was born there in 1846, in Kirkdale parish. He was the second of five children, all boys, born to …
Read more “41.57 – John, Ruth and Mary Elizabeth Johnson, and Ruth Varley”
The Denhams were an unlucky lot, all with early deaths – even by the standards of the day. They’re possibly the most unlucky family in this graveyard, even those who aren’t buried here. The fact that their stone was roughly laid flat by shattering the base only underlines the point. Olive Webster was a year …
Read more “41.58 – John, Olive, Sam, Tom, Sarah and Annie Denham”
Londoners, coming up here, taking our jobs, stealing our women! Well, you don’t hear that last bit these days, but for the sake of accuracy in this story we’ll pretend that’s still a relevant gripe in Todmorden. But people have always travelled for work and to try and do something different with the skills they …
Read more “42.ii – Mary, William, Sally, Betty and William Gunn”
This grave holds a mother, two of her children, a grandson and a daughter in law; their story starts in Leeds, but also, in France! Mercy’s story comes first, and it’s not an uncommon story for the time. Mercy Smith was born in Wetherby in 1813 and at some point moved to Bramley with her …
Read more “41.60 – Mercy, Young, Susannah and John Henry Potentier, and Emma Stansfield”
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 …