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”
This little plot marker hides a big secret…in more ways than one! Read to the end for a twist in this explorer’s tale. The story begins with James Sims, who was born in 1816 in Penryn, Cornwall. Penryn is just to the east of Falmouth on the south coast and a quick look at a …
Maybe “completely unobtainable” is better than “inaccessible” – John Wright’s location is likely here, although we can’t be sure due to a number of factors. While trying to see if he might be somewhere else we uncovered a short but fascinating story that it seemed unfair to leave off the website purely because of that …
Back in 1808… Back in 1986… Back in 2002…no, that’s not right either…back in September 2024, our Chair and Secretary went on a jaunt around Calderdale inspecting some closed non-conformist graveyards, and their final stop was Cross Lanes Baptist up the Buttress, above Hebden Bridge, to scout out some stones that linked either to Lumbutts …
Read more “43.21 – Greenwood, Henry, Mary Ellen and Sarah Baldwin (inaccessible)”
This is one of our mysteries of the graveyard, and a tale about the power of grief and shame. Caroline Coles was not a poor woman, and her husband not without some local prestige; so where’s her grave, and where are her two children who are buried here? They might be at this plot marker …
Read more “Caroline Elizabeth Coles and her children (location unknown)”
A plot marker with the initials J. D. opened up the story of several Davieses buried here at Christ Church, quite possibly in this very plot. But who was here first? James Davies – our J. D. – was born in Todmorden in 1798. He was a younger brother of Peter Davies at 37.9 and …
More continuity here for those with an interest in the Freemason’s and later Weaver’s Arms on Blind Lane – maybe you remember William and Martha Jane Sutcliffe under the school’s story? Well this is how they got there (or at least how Martha Jane got there). We have go back a bit though. Let’s start …
We’ve told the story of quite a few of Eli’s children so far, so it’s worth reading about John and William, and James, to learn more about his life. With that being said, pinning Eli down has turned out to be harder than we thought, and required some going back and editing of those other …
An embarrassingly short story, made up of just the facts. Not every story CAN be told! Joseph Sutcliffe was born in 1788, and his future wife Mary was born in 1792. The first child of theirs that we know of, Samuel, was born around 1818, probably in Rochdale, although no baptism record exists for him. …
A short story for these two sisters (maybe half sisters) because we simply can’t figure it out; the Hamiltons are a mystery. Thomas Hamilton was probably born in Leake, North Yorkshire, not far from Northallerton. We’re saying probably because we think we have him on the 1851 Census but after that can’t be certain anymore. …