Our Ancestors Lives all Done in a Flash!

[clayton bradley]

Hargreaves and Abraham's parents are John Broadley and Ellen Hargreaves. John died of consumption 3 nov 1826. He was born 23 jun 1791, bap 17 jul at Altham, son of Abraham Broadley and Mary Pilkington. The key to this branch of the family is a will by John Broadley, bap 24 nov 1728 Church Kirk, possibly murdered his first wife, (look for Ellen Strange) died 27 jun 1813 Bell Lane, buried Altham 30 jun 1813 age 86. There are 2 Abrahams at Altham, one with a shorter run of children. Abraham 8 may 1737-4 dec 1826 (age given at death is wrong because his second wife was younger) is the brother of John, 1728-1813 and the other Abraham, with the longer run of children, is son of the first Abraham. The will makes it all clear.
So John 1791 is son of Abraham c 1761 son of Abraham 1737 son of John 1700-68 (and Marjery Briggs), son of John Broadley 1760-1733 (and Alice Grimshaw) son of Abraham and Ellen Broadley who turned up in Over Darwen near Blackburn by 1654 from where?

Your ancestor,John 1700-1768 was the  youngest son, and after his father's death, he seems to have become a Presbyterian. He went to live with his oldest brother Abraham, who was a Catholic and lived at Black Lane Head. Abraham and John appear in the Dunkenhalgh accounts working together, cb

[toffeebear]

Can't take credit for the lovely poem - that was Winterbloom!

Clayton - have pm'ed you. Thanks! 

[Winterbloom21]

Karrienz - You're more than welcome to use the poem - I'm very glad to hear that you appreciate it as much as I do.   One of the things I love about genealogy is doing all the back reading and following all the paths and tangents it takes you to.     Reading all about the poet Dowson, I found out that he had had a very sad life.   He died relatively young, with depression and alcohol taking its toll.  A really odd thing that I discovered was that he was buried in a graveyard that was literally next door to a flat that my son and his wife were living in a couple of years ago, right on the other side of London from me.

That was lucky about Clayton and Toffee making a connection through you, too.   I love it when these things happen.     Recently, I had a contact from a man in Canada who had seen a posting I had made over two years ago.   He was putting together a printed version of his grandfather's war diary and wanted me to know that it contained both a reference to and two photographs of my own great uncle who was killed in 1918.

My own researches tended to come to a grinding halt somewhere in the latter end of the 1700s, when I realised that it was very difficult to be sure whether you were looking at the right people or not, and there was very little to see other than a name.      Since then, I have paid far more attention to filling out the lives of the people that I have found out about, and visiting the places that they lived to walk a little in their footsteps.   Luckily for me, none of them ventured too far away, so it has been mainly a case of roaming around the British Isles! 

[karrienz]

Thank you for that Winterbloom (apologies for posting the wrong name earlier) - I agree that when you get back to the late 18th century things get a bit hazy - however as you say it is more interesting to concentrate on what you have and go with that.  I'm currently researching another family where the father was a miller all his life and found it is so interesting learning about mills and milling etc and also finding snippets of info on how the family lived and where they moved to.    And that is so amazing that the young Poet Dowson is buried near where your own family lived.  My miller baptised 5 of his 7 children at a wee church in Brentford, Mddx - only 2 were born there in Brentford - I couldn't understand why only 2 were bp in Bucks - when 5 were born there - and do you know I lived in Brentford for 12 years and walked past that church practically everyday and it was only after I got back to NZ 16 years ago and started looking at this family's history that I discovered about the Brentford connection - I tell you it felt a bit uncanny!

Cheers
Karrienz

[Winterbloom21]

Oh, absolutely.  These coincidences go on and on.     I worked for years in an area of East London, in a job that involved my calling to various addresses within a very small area for a time.   It was only when I started doing the tree in earnest a couple of years ago that I learnt that my maternal grandmother's family and ancestors had lived in these few streets for a couple of generations.   None of us, including my grandmother, had any idea about this connection.   I sometimes wonder how I would have felt if I'd known then.

[Neil Todd]

Strange that you posted what you have, I don't mean that in an offensive manner. You have, just by doing your research put a name from your past into some sort of context. Yes you may only have several dates for them but it is the timeline that is important. Without those people from your past you wouldn't exist today, by completing the link you have given substance to their lives. They would be happy indeed to have someone write them up as being of significance. Bit like giving your mother a card or sending one to Granny, it is linking the generations. If you just want a tree, plant one. that's what a lot do in writing and they get as many on it as they can to make them more significant. Big branches of people who had no bearing on your life, stick with your direct lines they played a part in getting you here today. So we don't know all about them, they knew nothing of us. Study the history of the areas they lived and you get some insight into their hardships and daily existence, were they happy, probably sometimes, sometimes sad, but aren't we all.

All the way from -13th century England to Australia + today

Neil

[Winterbloom21]

I couldn't agree with you more, Neil.   I have this thing that I want them to 'know' that they are remembered.    That might sound a bit daft, but this is the woman who sometimes stands in front of war memorials and reads every name, just so that they can be mentioned again (in case they're up there somewhere, looking!).

On another note, I see from your other posts that you have some interest in the name 'Makin'.  Did you ever have any London connections there?     My granny's aunt married a man called Richard Makin in around 1890 (don't have the bumf in front of me at the minute, but it was around then).  They had a daughter called Ellen Mary, but I don't know what became of her.    You never know - it's always worth asking.   S