business owners – Page 6

15.30 – William, Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth Lord, and Joe Hirst and Mary Ann Shackleton

by admin October 30, 2024No Comments

Here’s a war grave that encompasses quite a bit more than “just” WW1; here we have wealth gained, wealth lost, new starts, domestic violence, and a little bit of Russian and Canadian intrigue. The story begins with George Hirst and Harriet Rowlandson of Knottingley, who married at Christ Church in East Knottingley in July 1851. …

15.25 -Arthur and Hannah Hirst, and Maria Hudson

by admin October 27, 2024One Comment

Following on from our story about Sarah Elizabeth and Mary Ann Hirst, enjoy another Hirst story. The story of these two is straightforward, but this grave contains a mystery: who was Maria Hudson? We’ll get to her at the end. Firstly, though, a recap on Arthur Hirst’s childhood. His parents George and Hannah Hirst came …

47.58 – Samuel, Martha and Susan Scholfield

by admin September 25, 2024September 28, 20242 Comments

This story is mostly already told over on the Todmorden and Walsden website, where an entire page is devoted to the Scholfields of Todmorden. Scroll down a spell and you’ll come to Samuel and some of his story. We’ll tell the rest though, because Susan and Martha here are lost in the story there. Samuel …

46.52 – William, Sarah and Charles Edward Whitehead

by admin September 17, 2024One Comment

Meet William and Sarah, who had a very modern relationship indeed… William Whitehead was born in 1827, the youngest of the three sons of John Whitehead of Todmorden. He and his older brothers George and Henry lived at Hal Ing, where with their father they worked as tinplate workers and metalsmiths. John was smart, and …

46.53 – Robert, Mary and Joseph Leah

by admin September 16, 2024December 10, 20242 Comments

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 …

38.14 – Abraham, Margaret, Esther, Mary, Deborah, William, John and Mary Jane Crossley

by admin September 15, 2024One Comment

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 …

11.24 – Bertha, Frederick, Betsy Ann and Thomas Davis

by admin August 5, 2024August 5, 2024No Comments

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 …

V7.8, 31.43, and 47.60 – Frederick, Rachel, Eva and George Davis

by admin August 2, 2024August 5, 2024No Comments

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 …

32.39 – James William, Ann, Edith and John Henry Leek

by admin June 30, 2024No Comments

The last of our Leek graves is here, and we rejoin the story of Jeffrey Leek and his family. As you might recall, one of his children is buried with his mother and father in law, and we briefly touched on the family there; now we return and discover a story of apparently amicable separation. …

49.54 – Joseph, Betsy and Mary Ann Sonley

by admin June 11, 2024No Comments

43 years sit between the first and second burial here; the two wives of Joseph Sonley, Betsy Forrester and Mary Ann Hollinrake. Two Tod lasses who fell for the same journeyman tailor (although fortunately not at the same time). We’ll also tell some of the wider story of the Sonley family as “how did Joseph …