Alice Greenwood, nee Bowden, and her husband Sam’s story is partly told alongside her sister Mary Bowden’s. Alice married late in life to Sam, a widower, and they moved to Oswestry to start new careers as publicans along with their aunt Hannah, their late father’s sister. Haidee was Sam’s first wife. Sam’s date of death and place of burial is entirely unknown…but his two wives are buried together, along with someone who appears to be a total stranger.
Haidee Maria Greenlees was born in December 1849, the same year as Sarah Waterworth. Her father Thomas and her brothers Anthony and James are buried in the private section of the graveyard, and her mother Maria who died when Haidee was 6 years old is buried at St. Mary’s. Haidee and Sam Greenwood married at Christ Church in October 1876. Sam’s first career was as an engine driver, and he and Haidee lived first in Wakefield, then Todmorden, and then finally Sowerby Bridge. n 1901, in Sowerby Bridge, Haidee’s occupation is listed as “gardener”, which is interesting – previously she’s had no occupation listed by her name.
Haidee and Sam seem to have had only one child, Maria, who was born in 1878 and was strangely absent from her parents’ home in the 1891 Census. She married John Albert Sutcliffe in 1899 and both are also buried at Christ Church, at V10.5.
Sarah Waterworth is a complete mystery. She died at the Queen Hotel, which was a place where travellers often found themselves passing away after falling ill on a train, since it was the nearest place with a bed and where a doctor could attend for several days at a time. Searches in newspapers show mentions of a Sarah Waterworth in various parts of the country, mostly in somewhat insalubrious situations, but we can’t be sure whether any of them are her or not. She seems to have no connection to either the Greenwood or Greenlees families. Perhaps she’s like Peter Carroll, a stranger who someone took pity on and buried with dignity. Anyone who might know please comment and let us know!