Holden / Woods
I
arranged to be at Mum’s when Margaret visited again to get
some information on her side of the family. She told me that she
was born in Hoole on the 3rd of April 1917, the daughter of Thomas
and Alice Holden. She told me where to find her parent’s grave
in Hoole churchyard, and that she had not long ago discovered that
her mother (Alice Woods) was illegitimate. She had never known her
grandmother as she had died when she was quite young, and had presumed
that, as her mother had a brother, William Woods, and no grandfather
was about that he had also died. Margaret knew that her mother’s
family came from Barton, Nr. Preston, and she believed that the
absent father was a miller.

So
back to the Records office to search the census returns for Barton.
I found, in 1881, a Richard Woods (corn miller) with wife Alice
and children, Mary Ann aged 16 and Margaret Alice aged 3, plus two
male servants (both corn millers). By 1891 Margaret Alice was living
with an uncle and there was no trace of the rest of the family.
I wondered when the family moved to Hoole so I looked again at the
1891 and 1901 returns for that area. There was no sign of them in
1891 but in 1901 I found a Mary Ann Woods, Margaret Alice Woods,
William Woods and Alice Woods, but the age of Mary Ann was 26, yet
she was listed as the mother of William 18, and Alice 15, and sister
to Margaret Alice, who was 24. Was this a mistake on the form or
was it a different Mary? I looked at the Parish registers for Barton
and found baptism entries for Mary Ann, Margaret Alice and Richard,
all children of Richard and Alice Woods. Also there were entries
for William and Annie, both illegitimate children of Mary Ann Woods,
but I could find no record of Alice’s birth. Was Alice really
christened Annie, but the dates didn’t look right. I then
looked through the burials at Barton but could find nothing.

Elizabeth Sutton (nee Holden) 1853 - 1927
As the census showed Richard to have been born in Chipping, I looked
at the burials there. These showed Annie (Mary Ann’s daughter)
aged 23 months died in Preston, and Alice and Richard (parents)
died in Hoole and Longton respectively (both in their 50’s).
Hoole records showed Mary Ann (Margaret’s grandmother) died
at 38 and her brother Richard at 49. Not a very long-lived family!

As there were no baptism records for Alice, the only thing to link
her with Mary Ann is the census record, and in view of the mix up
in ages, I do not find this very reliable. Perhaps I had got the
wrong family for Alice and still no connections to the Suttons!
I already had a copy of my Grandmother Alice Snaylam’s marriage
and death certificates but no birth certificate, so I decided to
send for it, and here was my first breakthrough - Grandma’s
mother was a Holden before her marriage. Margaret’s father
was a Holden. Were they brother and sister? More consultations of
the St. Catherine’s index produced the information which enabled
me to acquire the following:-
-
Elizabeth and Henry Sutton’s marriage certificate (showing
Elizabeth’s father, John Holden).
- Elizabeth’s
birth certificate showing mother Cicely Johnson.
-
Cicely Holden’s (nee Johnson) death certificate.
-
John Holden’s death certificate.
Both
Cicely and John died in their early 60s, one dying of “senile
dementure” and the other drinking himself to death –
what a fun household that must have been!
I found Cicely’s baptism at Hoole church, but can find no
sign of her marriage. As she was born and brought up in Hoole, I
find this strange as girls usually marry in their own church. According
to the census, John was born in Burscough, but the Burscough church
is not old enough for him to have been baptised there and I cannot
find any sign of him in the surrounding churches.
At this point I really needed Margaret’s help again. Did she
remember anything else – had she any certificates? I really
needed to prove some of these relationships were the right ones.
When I phoned her she was not feeling well, so I had to leave my
questions unanswered for the time being. A couple of weeks later
she went into a nursing home, and unfortunately she died a few days
later.
I
decided to carry on with my search as a tribute to Margaret and
her family.
After
the Margaret’s funeral, one of her daughters gave me the cutting
of Mrs. William Holden’s funeral – Margaret’s
grandmother! Although there are no dates on the article, the fact
that she was ‘able to join in the coronation festivities’
points to it being 1937, and indeed a further look through the Church
register at Hoole reveals Margaret Holden of Black Horse Cottage
being buried on 1/6/1937.
Another
look at the census returns, this time for the Holdens. Margaret’s
father was Thomas and in 1901 I find him living with parents William
and Margaret Holden. The 1881 and 1871 shows John and Cicely Holden
with children, one of whom is Elizabeth – the right age for
Mum’s grandma, but I cannot connect the two families.
There are no signs of any Holdens in Hoole in 1861 but as many of
the children were born in Hesketh bank, I try there. Sure enough
1861 shows John and Cicely Holden with daughter Elizabeth and son
William and the ages fit, although the entry for William looks odd
as it is added at the end after children younger than himself and
after the visitors! Perhaps he was supposed to be staying somewhere
else and came home unexpectedly.
I would be happier if I could find more proof that William was John’s
son, so I decide to look through the baptisms for Hesketh Bank.
I find five children christened there but no Elizabeth or William.
I
know from the census that Elizabeth was born in Longton, so I look
for the baptismal records at the church and find her christening
(nothing for William though). This shows John’s occupation
as a Joiner (but all the censuses show him as a wheelwright) and
also his name was spelt Houlden. Perhaps this is why I cannot find
a marriage or a birth – maybe I am spelling it wrongly.
I
decide to try the St. Catherine’s again but this time I will
look for Cicely Johnson and if I find her I will try to cross reference
with John Holden. I can’t believe it – I have found
a lady of the right name at the right time in the right place but
I can’t find John at the same time. I decide to send for a
certificate anyway, even though it may be the wrong one. Perhaps
she married someone else first, or maybe she and John were never
married. I wait with anticipation, but what a disappointment –
a letter arrives saying that the church documents for this period
were damaged and I must apply to Southport.
What
about William? All the censuses show that he was born in Hesketh
Bank. I look for a reference for his birth in the St. Catherine’s
but I don’t know what registration district Hesketh Bank came
under in 1856. The staff at the Southport Library say it could be
Liverpool, Preston or Chorley. Preston doesn’t think it was
there and I can’t believe it was Liverpool – much too
far away. I ring Chorley and they think it could be Ormskirk so
I try there. A very helpful lady looks through at least 10 yrs entries
for Hesketh Bank but he isn’t there.
Introduction
& Contents | Next
Chapter
More
Local Genaeology | More Local History

|