Leah Ashforth abt. 1816-1901

For some time now the name Leah ASHFORTH has been niggling away at my mind. Each time I chat with my mother regarding the ASHFORTH line, and I mention Ellen ASHFORTH (née TOMLINSON), my mother reminds me she thought her forename was Leah.

With this in mind and thinking we may be talking about different generations I decided to carry out some serious research. Several hours later I seem to have established a number of leads worth following.

Some while ago while searching FreeBMD I came across the death of one Leah ASHFORTH aged 85 years in the district of Ecclesall Bierlow, Sheffield.

Leah ASHFORTH is not a terribly common name, on the one hand this limits the number of results but on the other hand Ashforth is often interchanged with Ashford, Ashcroft and sometimes Ashworth to name but three.

George ASHFORTH and Leah ASHFORTH first appear as a family in the British Census of 1861:

Piece: 3465
Folio: 14

Almost certainly 'William H ASHFORTH' is my great great grandfather William Henry ASHFORTH born abt. 1851. The other children have proved more difficult to research since these are the first individuals in my Ashforth line to be born outside of Sheffield.

Come the British Census of 1871 and now only Leah and William Henry are listed:

Registration District: Ecclesall Bierlow
Sub-District: Nether Hallam
Piece Number: RG10/4664
Folio Number: 80

There is no record of Leah ASHFORTH in the British Census of 1881 and 1891 but she reappears in the British Census of 1901:

only to die shortly afterwards age 85 years abt. June 1901.

It would appear George ASHFORTH travelled around the Sheffield, Manchester and West Midland regions of England before possibly settling back at Sheffield, Yorkshire. I have established Leah ASHFORTH was born at Kingswinford, Staffordshire, England but despite all my research I am still missing Leah's maiden surname.