Category Archives: Ridal

Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall, Sheffield

Published: November 13, 2010    Last modified: May 22, 2022
Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall

Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield, Sheffield

In this article I mentioned an upcoming event, a Family and Local History Day to be held at Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield near Sheffield. Well I made the time to attend and was not disappointed. I was surprised just how many people turned out, though the fine and sunny weather may have contributed.

Many local history groups and societies were represented including the Hillsborough & Owlerton Local History Group. This stand had numerous photographs of Owlerton Green and Hillsborough. I was born at Hawksley Road on the edge of Owlerton Green and though I moved to Stannington in the mid 1950's, my maternal grandparents continued to live there until the early 1980's. I have witnessed the many changes that have taken place over the years and so seeing these photographs brought back a lot of memories.

While discussing with one of the ladies from this stand some of the photographs of Owlerton Green, she happened to mentioned she lived on one of the nearby streets. I in turn mentioned I was born at Hawksley Road whereupon she remarked that her colleague lived on a street whose houses backed on to where I was born. As soon as she mentioned her colleagues name I immediately realised this was a member of a family whom I had not seen for probably 30 or 40 years.

Needless to say I had a long chat with this lady and since she has lived on this same street all her life she is a mind of information regarding local families and people I had not seen since my childhood. For reasons of privacy I will withhold names, but it is sufficient to say meeting this lady made the day very worthwhile indeed.

I ordered some copies of the photographs of Owlerton Green which a couple of weeks later duly arrived. I am not sure who may own the copyright of these photographs but I may try and obtain permission to publish them on this website.

I chatted with the people from the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery stand and purchased the CD:

Wardsend Cemetery, Monumental Inscriptions

The Friends of Bradfield Archives were very welcoming and I spent some considerable time working my way through the Bradfield Parish Register indices, searching for ASHFORTH and RIDAL. They also had a plan of the graveyard at the Church of Saint Nicholas at nearby High Bradfield. Several years ago I located this headstone:

John Ashforth died 1768 and William Ashforth died 1825 - Headstone

though according to the plans there are several others to be found. I made a rough sketch of their locations and will search for these others at a later date.

From the Sheffield & District Family History Society I purchased the following CDs:

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Sheffield Cathedral, Baptism Records 1813-1875
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Sheffield Cathedral, Baptism Index 1752-1812
Sheffield Marriage Indexes

Time passed very quickly and after some 4 hours we finally departed, but not before taking a few photographs of Low Bradfield. All in all a very worthwhile day and one I can thoroughly recommend.

I now need to make some time in order to sort through all this research material.

Samuel Tomlinson 1826-1854 and Rhoda Ridal 1826-Deceased

Published: September 11, 2010    Last modified: May 22, 2022

Certificates

In this article I mentioned a suggestion by KW that I was possibly following an incorrect line in my search for ancestors of Ellen ASHFORTH (née Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943). In a number of emails KW provided data outlining an alternative line through one Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854 and one Rhoda RIDAL 1826-Deceased. I agreed that this seemed much more plausible than the line I was following through William and Rebecca NEWBOULD.

To read my earlier article regarding William and Rebecca NEWBOULD please click here.

Eighteen months later I have picked up on this again. Re-studying all the data KW provided I decided to explore some of these lines of research with regard to Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854 and Rhoda RIDAL 1826-Deceased.

Now one of the problems I have had with Ellen ASHFORTH (née Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943) is her constantly changing forename. Ellen, Eleanor, Ellenor and Helena have all appeared in various documents, yet as my mother recalls the family knew her as Leah. A further problem is that of never having found a birth or baptism record for Ellen, though I would expect her date of birth to be circa 1855. Many hours of searching has never provided enough concrete evidence to warrant requesting a birth certificate.

Searching the census for Ellen ASHFORTH (née Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943) (including all of Ellen's likely forenames) eventually lead to the household of William and Rebecca NEWBOULD at Totley, Sheffield, Derbyshire. Now this area of Sheffield is not one I would ever associate with my line of ASHFORTHs. So I was always a little sceptical about this research and never really took it much further. This scepticism increased when I received a copy of the marriage certificate for my gg grand parents William Henry ASHFORTH 1873-1926 and Ellen ASHFORTH (née Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943). This records Ellen's father as Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854 which of course adds more doubt to my research.

Some time later I was contacted by KW whose research also included a need to find the ancestors of Ellen ASHFORTH (née Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943). KW was also sceptical about the line I was following and suggested an alternative line of Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854 and Rhoda RIDAL 1826-Deceased. Eventually KW emailed an outline of the reasoning for this alternative line, though I must admit at the time I was not totally convinced, I think partly due to Samuel and Rhoda having married at Rotherham, another location which had never figured in my ASHFORTH research.

I noted KW's research, intending to eventually get along to the archives in Sheffield and examine the parish records. Unfortunately at the time I was very busy with research into my Jacklin line and life in general, and finding it difficult switching from one line of research to another (my brain seems not to cope with interchanging sets of names, dates and places), I never did make the time and it got placed on the back burner.

So back to the present and having considered all of KW's research I agree that the line of Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854 and Rhoda RIDAL 1826-Deceased is almost certainly correct and will update my GEDCOM to reflect this. I will gradually go through this journal and add updates to my previous articles. I will also try and book some time at the archives office in Sheffield.

Updates:
2010-10-09 My mother is convinced Eleanor was in her early nineties when she died. I expected her date of birth to be 1855 give or take a couple of years but searching earlier than 1855 may produce results.

William Tomlinson and Rebecca Newbould

Published: November 26, 2007    Last modified: May 22, 2022

Certificates

A search of the England and Wales Census 1861 for Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943 reveals a family headed by one William TOMLINSON and living at Sheffield:

FHJ Ref: 016
Census: England and Wales Census 1861
Place: Norton, Derbyshire, England
Household: William Tomlinson

SURNAMEFIRST NAME(S)RELSTATUSAGEOCCUPATIONWHERE BORNREMARKS
TomlinsonWilliam HeadMarried43Derbyshire, Dronfield
TomlinsonRebeccaWifeMarried41Derbyshire, Totley
TomlinsonElizabethDaughter12Derbyshire, Norton
TomlinsonWilliamSon9Derbyshire, Norton
TomlinsonEllenDaughter7Derbyshire, Norton
TomlinsonJosephSon3Derbyshire, Norton
TomlinsonJaneDaughter1Derbyshire, Norton
NewboldJohnBoarder71Derbyshire, Holmesfield

To view this table full width please click here.

The age of Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943 is as expected so I think there is a strong possibilty this is the correct family. Intuition tells me that John NEWBOLD, recorded in the Census as a boarder age 71 years, could well be Ellen's grandfather and Ellen's maiden surname is probably Newbold.

Further searches reveal a marriage abt. June 1845 between one William TOMLINSON and one Rebecca NEWBOULD so for the time being I will assume my research is leading me down the correct line.

Newbold or Newbould? A few searches online reveal possible families using either spelling.

Notes:
Dronfield remains in Derbyshire, while Totley and Norton are now part of South Yorkshire.

Updates:
2007-12-23 In this article I discovered Ellen TOMLINSON 1855-1943's father was one Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854, so the information shown here needs further research.

2010-09-11 After considering data provided by KW I realise this household is most likely incorrect and I should be researching the family of Samuel TOMLINSON 1826-1854 and Rhoda RIDAL 1826-Deceased. To help other researchers I will leave the data intact.