Fresh Links

I've been using Ancestry.co.uk for a couple of years now and I had started to become a little disheartened that nobody on there seemed to be researching any of my ancestors. Shared information and research is a real gift when looking into your family tree. So I slogged on alone.

A couple of weeks ago, however, I was contacted by an individual through Ancestry who is related to the Lockwood branch of my family. I now have names for certain unknown photographs and I've also managed to fill out the life story of one of the Lockwoods.

I've spoken of William Lockwood before on this blog. From census information, I found out that he and his sons worked as gardeners on the estate of a merchant called James Taylor. In the current day, the Lockwoods garden nurseries are located on the same site. From servant/tenants to land and business owners is a wonderful story of family progress.

Fingers crossed I can make more links through photographs and documents I have.

William Lockwood

William was born in 1805 in Lepton, Huddersfield, Yorkshire. He appears to be one of nine children, four of which are his half siblings.

He married Sarah Marsden in 1827. Looking at other family trees, a lot of people have her marked down as Sarah Sykes but I've been unable to trace why this is.

He appears to have lived in Almondbury, Yorkshire, all his life.

In the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 census, he is recorded as working as a gardener.

The 1861 census makes it clear that William's family were part of a larger household. The address is Silver Hill, Almondbury. The head of the household was a James Taylor, Merchant. It looks like William and his family lived and worked on the estate of the Taylor family. Looking at the actual handwritten copy of the census, James Taylor lived at Fenay Hall.

 He died in 1872 in the Huddersfield area.