WEEK 42

Saint Mary’s Church

Thomas Burton and Ann Pickersgill are my third great grandparents, marrying in 1838 in Saint Mary’s Church, Worsbrough, Barnsley.

Ann was born in 1819 in Greasbrough to parents, Joseph Pickersgill and Elizabeth Ditch.

I’d known since 2004 that Thomas was born circa 1817 in Bentley, Doncaster but I was unable to find a baptism for him, despite searching in Doncaster Archives. His father, John Burton, is named on his marriage certificate but this only confused matters as the closest match that I could find was a Thomas Burden born to a John Burden in Bentley. There was a John Burton in Bentley, but no corresponding baptism for Thomas. Fortunately, Ancestry DNA came to my rescue and conclusively proved that Thomas is the son of John Burton, but why he wasn’t baptised is a mystery.

Quarry Hill

Thomas and Ann lived in Wombwell for a number of years, before moving to Rotherham in the 1840s, living on Westgate and Old Holland before settling on Quarry Hill, Wellgate in the 1860s. Quarry Hill was occupied by the Burton family well into the 20th century, but the houses on there were cleared many years ago.

Thomas and Ann issued four children, who were called, Elizabeth (circa 1840 to 1905), Mary (circa 1848 to 1920), Thomas (1850 to 1924) and Joseph (1853 to 1922). Remarkably, my nan, Violet Burton (1915 to 2013), could remember her grandfather, Joseph, who she described as ‘short and stiff’ and used to smoke a pipe on a bench at the bottom of the street that she lived on as a child.

Thomas and Ann are buried in separate unmarked graves in Moorgate Cemetery, Rotherham. Below are their obituaries.

Moorgate Cemetery

ROTHERHAM AND MASBRO’ ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1877.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT ROTHERHAM. – On Wednesday afternoon an inquest was held before Mr. Dossey Wrightman, coroner, at the Cleaver Inn, Wellgate, Rotherham, on the body of Ann Burton who died in consequences of falling downstairs on Saturday night. The deceased was the wife of Thomas Burton, a labourer, of Wellgate, and was 58 years of age. On Saturday she had gone to bed about ten o’clock along with her husband, and about midnight she got up to fetch some water from downstairs. In doing so she fell from the top of the stairs to the bottom inflicting a large wound on her forehead, and another at the back of her head. The back of her neck and her shoulders were also severely bruised. Her husband and two sons picked her up and carried her to bed again. Dr. Foote’s assistant was called in on Monday and attended her until her death which took place at noon on Tuesday. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased had been accidentally killed by a fall downstairs.

ROTHERHAM AND MASBRO’ ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1880

BURTON. – May 11th, at Adam’s road, Mr. Thomas Burton, aged 63 years.