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. …
Read more “32.39 – James William, Ann, Edith and John Henry Leek”
This is one of three linked Leek/Orrell graves, and the first we’ll cover on this website. Not our first set of brothers who married sisters and no doubt also not the last! The Leek story starts with James Leek and Ann Bartran, two Bowling residents who married in 1846 and settled in Horton. James was …
A father and son are here, and the father’s tale is particularly interesting – one of those people whose name appears regularly and whose presence we take for granted, both then and now; although these days it’s common to hear that we don’t see enough of his sort on the street! Joseph Hopkins was born …
These two graves aren’t strictly side by side – at least we don’t think they originally were, even though now their stones are – but they contain the majority of a large family unit; that made up of Thomas and Sarah (Stansfield) Scholfield, their children and a grandchild, and Sarah’s brother and sister-in-law Barker and …
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 …
This plot marker started a spiral down countless search term variations and speculative rabbit holes, as we tried to trace the lives of the people most likely buried here – James, Elizabeth, and John James Laithwaite. Many thanks to the recordkeepers of the 1800s for their many creative spellings of this surname. We appreciate it. …
Read more “49.55 – The Laithwaites (or Leithwites, or Lethwhites…)”
The story of those buried here shows some of the interconnectedness of the yard; peeling apart each grave’s story makes seeing those links possible. It’s part of why we do what we do. The story of this grave can’t be fully told without also telling the story of the Charltons at 49.58, the Buttons at …
Read more “50.57 – Maria, Eveline, William, Isabella and William Thomas Heyworth”
This plot marker confused us, and still confuses us; is C.M.P. Mary Catherine Pearson? If so, why would it be in an 1878 row? Would they really have gotten her initials wrong? Well…if you’ve seen the “aged 42 yeabs” stone in the private area, you know that all sorts of errors can be made in …
This plot marker took a while to discern, having to manually rule out all the known V surnames in the graveyard and their immediate families. We still aren’t 100% certain about who is in this plot – we have guesses – but we’re certain that F. V. refers to Fielden Varley, and it’s likely that …
The first thing you’d notice when reading this gravestone is the quick succession in which people were laid to rest here; the first three burials represent a span of less than 24 months, and all five (because there are five here, not just the four on the stone) cover 13 years from beginning to end. …
Read more “52.51 – Hannah, Samuel, Sarah, Sarah Jane and Amos Kershaw”