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 …
Another plot marker for a small child. This time it’s Willie Dawson of 41 Garibaldi Street, who died a year old and was buried here on October 22nd 1877. Or is it? Willie was born on December 2nd 1875 at the house on Garibaldi Street to Lord and Sarah Hannah (Mitchell) Dawson. Lord was a …
George here was another transplant from Staffordshire who came here for work with his family. He met a wet end whose circumstances were sadly very predictable. George Samuel Morris, or Samuel as he would choose to be known and to call himself, was born in 1820 in Monk Upton in Shropshire. His movements prior to …
Initially thought to read “J. McC.”, this plot marker is actually J. McG. – and that opened the door to John’s story, that of a young man who died early after a very mixed set of life experiences. From a troubled household to sporting fame, this is his story. John McGrail was born in Leeds …
This little plot marker has two sets of initials, and so far we only know the first set’s owner. The owner is, like so many others here buried under small plot markers, only a small child. Her story is brief. Mary Ann Tootill was born on August 1st 1875 to William and Ellen (Brindle) Tootill. …
This plot marker displays carved initials that were clearly carved by someone who knew how to do it but wasn’t a formally trained stonemason – less crude than the Colemans in the lower yard, but still someone’s attempt to remember a lost loved one in a manner they could afford. We narrowed down the possible …
Just next to Grace Bell along the school path, another plot marker with three initials on that helped us illuminate this otherwise forgotten life. Christopher Wilson Procter was born in Stainforth, near Doncaster, in 1844 to John and Esther (Wilson) Procter. The Procters were North Yorkshire stock who had moved south in search of work, …
This plot marker has the initials AMJ on the front, and GG on the back. We don’t know who GG is, but we can work out who AMJ was. Alice Maria Blakey was born on December 23rd 1854, an early Christmas present for Thomas and Sarah (Marshall) Blakey of Charles Street, Shade. Thomas was a …