Dear Kathy, I enjoyed your description of your experience of the Middleton Church Yard. It was the first place I explored when I started doing my family tree, and it's still the best. It is the mixture of feeling your personal connectedness to the spot while experiencing whatever nature has to offer at that moment. I like the way the moss and weeds form mats that mould themselves into the letters of the inscription, so that when you pull them off you get the inscriptions in reverse. Another thing special to Middleton is the remarkably complete series of inscriptions on the walls and coping stones left by the churchwardens each time they expanded the church yard. I understand the club houses were special because they were a prototype for building societies. As a result Middleton hand loom silk weavers had a higher rate of owner-occupation than equivalent classes in other towns. Bamford describes his uncle's house in Early Days. Can you say any more about them from either your memory or your father's? Why was the plan in the RGA Library? And what did it show - streets and houses? (Thanks for that tip by the way - one day I'll follow it up) Regarding your GG-M, Middleton Library does have a written list of grave occupants. If by any chance your GGM hadn't been allowed to reopen the grave there, wouldn't she be in Boarshaw Cemetery at that date? John Heywood. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 9:15 PM Subject: [ENG-LAN-MIDDLETON-L] searching for Stansfields etc. > Dear List, > > I am enjoying very much all the emails I'm getting from the list, especially > those concerning the wonderful necropolis at St Leonard's. I live in London, > but came back to Middleton where I lived until I was 9, to spend a day in the > library doing some FH research. It was spring, and I spent some time in the > churchyard which was a riot of colour with hawthorns in full blossom, pulling > layers of wet grass off gravestones in a random search which revealed the > burial of my oldest known connection, Abraham Stansfield (1797-1856), his wife > Sarah and their children. I have been told that they appear in the 1841 census, > living at Little Green where he was a miller, but despite several visits to the > FRC (one advantage of London) I cannot find them until 1851. I think his > family may have come from Chadderton. Any chance of confirming the 1841 census > entry? > > I looked in vain for my GG-M, Emma, who married Abraham Stansfield at St > Leonard's in 1875. I know she is buried in the churchyard, possibly with her > parents (Samuel Taylor and Betty ?) who were from Hebers (no death dates) as she > and Abraham had split up. She died in 1932, and told my Dad (now 87 and living > with me in London) that there was 'just room for one more' in the grave. > > I think the churchyard is a very special place, and wonder if there is any > chance of getting funds for some clearance/restoration work. Even Bamford's > grave is overgrown and not respected, and his memorial in Cheapside where I grew > up is a disgrace. What a pity that all the club houses were pulled down in > the 1960s. I found a wonderful, huge old plan of this area dating from the > mid-1800s in the Royal Geographical Association Library in London. > > Kathy Stansfield > > > ==== ENG-LAN-MIDDLETON Mailing List ==== > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~emmaw/ for free Web Editor software. > Web space. ANY amount. ANY subject. > RootsWeb's Freepages put you in touch with millions.