Thanks to Doc and the Team! Those photos in the banners are so attractive, and I hope Barlick still looks like that - quaint and interesting. I've had a good look around the site and I think I'm ready to do a post. So, rules and regulations in mind, here goes:I'm looking for ancestors and descendents of Thomas Rostron who was born in Barnoldswick in 1828 and died in Accrington, Burnley, in 1896. His mother was Ellin Slater who married his father, James Rosthorn in Nov.1827 in Barnoldswick. Thomas was a power loom weaver, and like others in the district, lost an arm in the mill, but became a champion weaver even wearing a hook. His obituary was written up in the Burnley Gazette. He had a son, James, born 1859-c1879. His second wife was Eliza Ann Wisdom, whom he married in Haslingden in 1861 as Thomas Rawsthorn.
We were told by a researcher that he had a brother Peter and a sister Elizabeth born in Wigan, but I'm not at all convinced that this is his family. So far I have found more than 40 variants of the name Rawsthorn(e) so it's difficult to trace the lineage with any confidence, but his daughter, my grandmother Mary Ann (b1888 in Burnley), spelt it without the final e.
There is a possible first marriage - an entry of a Thomas Rawston to a Martha Earnshaw of Bradford in 1850, which I would like to verify. This couple had a daughter Deborah Rawsthorne registered in April 1853 in Bingley, Keighley. Neither parent could write, so until government registration began in 1837, illiteracy would certainly have contributed to the differences in the spelling of names generally.
I'll leave it there and hope for some response. Any info that would help me differentiate the different Thomases and Jameses from Barwick and district would be very much appreciated.
