When a stone has been nearly destroyed, it’s easy to make mistakes. And we made one! Thankfully, time spent at St Mary’s graveyard allowed us to be able to correct it. We thoughts this was Sally and Sarah Crossley, although that made no sense because of the supposed dates; after hours of research we’ve determined …
This story introduces us to some new faces…and an old villain. John Land was born in Wirksworth, Derbyshire in 1816. His wife Mary MacDonald had been born there too, a year earlier. The Lands and MacDonalds were lead miners as were many in that area at the time, and it will have been an extremely …
Read more “53.53 – John, George, Mary, Millicent and John Land, and Hannah Elizabeth Crossley”
John rests here, an offcumden who made the town his home. John was born in 1824 in Halifax to William and Hannah Helliwell of Warley. The Helliwells were regular attendees of Square Chapel Congregational. He became a wool comber and in June 1845 he married Sarah Ann Cockcroft of Ovenden, who along with her parents …
This is the story of the family of Young Helliwell, the founder of “Young Helliwell and Sons”, the picker manufacturer company based at Gauxholme. The “and Sons” part of the company name nearly didn’t happen; four of his six sons are buried here, along with his first wife and one of his two daughters. Hannah …
Read more “53.59 – Hannah, Charles, Ernest, Elizabeth, William and Frank Helliwell”
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”
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”
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”
This previously unmarked ledger announces the beginning and end of a very short little life – that of Grace Whitaker, who from her stone we know was buried here in late 1852 aged 18 months. Like little Sarah Taylor, her parents went to great expense to mark her grave, but then never ended up here …
Much of Hannah Buckle has already been said in the post about her sister, brother and nephew. Hannah was one of the fourteen children of Anthony and Mary Buckle of Barden, and came here along with her brother Anthony and nephew George Watson at some point before 1851. Hannah never married, and died in 1870. …
Even with the few records we have for this family, they have quite a story – if only we knew all of it! George Watson was born in May 1829 in Barden near Hauxwell, North Yorkshire, midway between Leyburn and Richmond. His parents were George and Isabella (Buckle) Watson. And “were” really is the correct …
Read more “57.56 – George Watson, Anthony Buckle and Isabella Coffey”