This is a story already half-told, at a grave further back in the yard – a now-flattened ledger commemorating Susanna (Marshall) Barker and some of her children. That stone also remembers the three children of John and Mary (Smith) Barker, who are buried here. A first wife who looks after her replacement’s children in death; …
A farmer’s grandson who made the ultimate sacrifice is remembered here. The question is…why? Maybe we can figure out the “why” from the first story here. William comes first. Born in 1807 in Todmorden, William was the son of a farmer and became a farmer himself. William Sr. lived at Scaitcliffe but William Jr., our …
Read more “37.21 – William and Ellen Mitchell, and Albion Mitchell Barker”
More Stephensons underneath a plot marker beneath the school, this time three young sisters and a brother, whose parents may or may not be resting with them. And there’s still a mystery at the end of it all even though we figured so much of the story out… William Stephenson – no relation to the …
Read more “S6.7 – Sarah Alice, Florence Mary, Alice Stansfield and Harry Victor Stephenson”
A story that encompasses the church, the school, and the graveyard itself; what more could we want? This grave story is only a half-told one though, because the latter two inhabitants died lately enough that there will be memories out there of them beyond the public record – and we want to hear them! So …
Read more “38.35 – John Thomas, Bertha, Alice and Arthur Cryer”
Schoolmaster – land agent – house builder – railway inspector – all in one? How?? Burnley lad Thomas Newton was born in 1812. There he grew up, and a good brain (not family financial support – his father was a carter) meant he was able to find a better job than most young men in …
From a tiny village in North Yorkshire to bustling busy Todmorden, this family’s journey was really something. Hammond Geldard Metcalfe was born in 1777 in Carlton, a little ways southwest of Leyburn. The current population is estimated at about 232 people and is also the largest village in Coverdale, so you can only imagine how …
Read more “41.8 – Jane and Hammond Geldard Metcalfe, and James and Alice Stansfield”
These stones, one in the public area and one in the private, contain most of what was once one of Todmorden’s more well off families; mill owners, teachers, railwaymen, and housebuilders (and that’s just to start). Once upon a time, 1787 to be exact, there was a building at the bottom of Ferney Lee Road …
The three Wilson children in this grave are another example of children whose families moved on and never came back – and also a reminder that access to medicine or medical knowledge wasn’t enough to save you back then. It’s also a mystery all of its own for other reasons… Matthew Wilson was born in …
This grave holds two parents, Charles and Sarah, and six of their eight children – Emily, William Campbell, Mary Jane, John Walter, Mabel, and Amy Elizabeth. Christopher Hiley’s excellent family history blog has already told Charles and Sarah’s stories so we’ll let you go there and read all about them. But what about the two …
Read more “43.52 – Charles and Sarah (Chaffer) Hiley and family”
This double plot has two gravestones, and each one names a host of people. It “begins” with Fieldens but also incorporates Hollinrakes, so strap yourselves in for an occasionally convoluted tale of leatherworking, firefighting, early deaths and ripe old ages. Most of all it’s the story of one of the church’s most fierce and loyal …
Read more “43.56 and 43.57 – Thomas and Esther Fielden and family”