Bowdon Burial January 1873 - Emma Rigby

[ShaunJ]

Emma Warburton Rigby died in Ballymena on January 23rd 1873 and (according to the Belfast Newsletter)  her remains were shipped to "Bowdon, Manchester" for burial. 

If anyone has access to burial records or MI's for Bowdon I'd be most interested in anthing recorded for Emma.

[ShaunJ]

I now have confirmation that she was buried at St Mary's on 28 January 1873. But what was the connection with Bowdon? 

[jo1962]

St Mary's is the church in Bowden.

[jo1962]

Sorry, hit the send button before I wrote that the Warburton's were a big family in Bowden  .  I've just had a look at the fiche I have for baptisms for 1738 - 1812 and there are lots and lots of Warburtons baptisms but only 1 for Rigby.

[ShaunJ]

Thanks Jo.

I now have a bit more information. Emma's maiden name was Whitehead and she was born circa 1840/41. I believe that she married Thomas Rigby in Manchester (St John's) in 1861 (Lancs BMD).

There were at least three children christened at Manchester Cathedral:

Clara 1862
Ellen 1863
John 1866

Around 1869 they moved to Ireland where Thomas Rigby was employed by the Ulster Railway, initially in Belfast and then at Ballymena where he was station master for many years and the author of at least two books

At least two more children were born to Thomas and Emma in Ireland:

Frederick Thomas Rigby, Belfast 1869
Emma Warburton Whitehead Rigby, Ballymena, 1871

The LDS record search database has the marriage of a John Warburton Rigby in Lurgan in 1910.

I’m still trying to figure out the Bowdon connection and I haven’t yet traced Emma’s family. There was a Charles Whitehead from Saddleworth living in Bowdon in the 1870’s who may be a relative.

[Su]

Hi ShaunJ
I'm assuming you haven't got Emma and Thomas' marriage cert so you don't know her father's name and occ?

On IGI there is an Emma Whitehead born Cheetham Hill and Christened in Bowdon on 20/9/1840 parents are down as Wilfred (or Alfred) and Helen.

A John Whitehead married a Mary A. Warburton at Collegiate Church (sic) (later Man Catherdra) in 1837.
On the 1841 Bennett Street Manchester there is a Jno Whitehead 25 and a Mary 20 with Emma 6 mth.

I would hazard a wild guess and say that Emma's Mother was a Warburton and came from either Bowdon or somewhere close say Dunham Massey/Warburton/Sinderland or Altrincham.  Emma's own parents might also be buried at Bowdon.
I think you need to get Emma's marriage cert in order to find out who her father was then it should be easier to find out who he married and take it from there.

Kind regards
Su

[ShaunJ]

Hi Su and thanks for your help with this. You are right in that I don't yet have Emma and Thomas's marriage certificate. I'm mulling over whether or not to make that investment. This couple are not blood relatives but their daughter was my great grandfather's second wife, and his sister was Thomas's second wife, so the families are a little intertwined !

That 1837 marriage you found is almost certainly the right one. I've just been digging about in the IGI too, and I found an Emma Warburton Whitehead, baptised at Manchester Cathedral on Christmas Day 1840 (ties in with the 6 month old you found in the 1841 census - thanks!), parents John and Mary Ann. Probable siblings include Sarah (1845), Clara (1842), Josiah (1845) Robert Mcreggor (1847), John (1854), Ada (1855), and Edmund (1862).

[ShaunJ]

Looks like Emma (11) and brother Robert (4) were with grandfather Josiah Warburton (55, born Bowdon) in the 1851 Sale census.

[california dreamin]

I now have confirmation that she was buried at St Mary's on 28 January 1873. But what was the connection with Bowdon? 

Hi Shaun
As I pass St. Marys quite often I thought I would stop and have a look and see if I could find the grave of your Emma Rigby.  From the road the Church looks very well cared for( I know it is still very popular), when you enter the graveyard you notice that all around the back of the church as been "paved" with old headstones - some dating from the late 1700's & early 1800's.  I had not realised how ancient the graveyard was.  As you begin to move away from the church itself, most of the graves are so tightly packed together - head to toe and side by side that in fact you must walk from stone to stone to get around most of the graveyard, (although there is one pathway down to the bottom).  The graveyard is on a slight hill.  Most of the graves appear to be so old and weather beaten that you just cannot make out alot of the inscriptions, some are just covered with the dead grass cuttings from where they have been strimming or covered with moss.

So, very sorry but I was unable to come up with anything!  I suppose the verger or vicar must have some map as to where people were buried.  You could not even make out where people where buried at different periods of time as most seemed to be mid-1800's, with a few newer graves scattered here and there.

Anyway all the best in your search.
Cheers, Leslie