One of the more impressive plot markers in the yard here, it consists of a full-sized flat ledger with two initials at the base: G on the left side, F on the right. The year for the stones along from it is 1835, so we went looking, and there it was… The story begins with …
This plot marker is marked W. D. for William Dawson (maybe), Mary Alice’s father and the owner of the plot…but she was buried first, and she and (probably) her sister and father are the only members of their family unit in Todmorden soil. Or even in British soil, as it turns out. And, finally, a …
Read more “47.59 – Mary Alice, Edith and William Dawson (and maybe Willie)”
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…)”
This plot marker labelled B. A. denotes a grave belonging to Benjamin Ashworth of Shade. In it is definitely his sister Sarah, and probably another B. A. – his wife Betty. But what of Benjamin himself? Read on… Sarah Ashworth was born in 1815 in Chadderton to William and Ann Ashworth. She was the eldest …
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 …
This plot marker has more than just initials, it has the plot owner’s name – W. Scholfield – on it. Detective work identified the person buried here as Ann Scholfield, who was buried here on December 19th 1885 at the age of 35. She was the wife of William Scholfield of Hanging Ditch, and she …
Ada rests here between two Nothard family graves, but she’s no relation; not that we know of, anyway. Ada Stephenson was illegitimate, and her mother Hannah never pursued the unknown father in court, so his name never appears in any other public record. Frustratingly the digital scans for both Ada’s birth and death make it …
This little plot marker required paging through scans to find, since the older burial registers are often written out in ways that cause problems for Ancestry’s scan-to-text software. I found M.A. in the end – Mary Alty of Knowlwood, the daughter of Robert and Ruth, buried on July 28th 1842 aged 20 weeks old. Mary …
Here’s a plot marker whose initials helped us find its owner, although its placement is curious, being found in between two 1869 graves. We suspect we know why though – more on that at the end. Mary Elizabeth Vaughan was born around 1865. Mary is actually one of the biggest mysteries we have here in …