Chapter 5

Like his father before him William remarried. He married Annie Elizabeth Matthewman on 10th September 1867 in Sheffield. According to the entry in the register she was 21 years old but on the 1871 census 4 years later her age is entered as 20. Don't know which is correct but also on the register both her and William have given their address as Franklin Street. I wonder if she was 17 and didn't have her parents consent to be married and that is why they weren't married in the parish where either of them lived and maybe were staying in rented accommodation in the parish where they were marrying. William had given his occupation as Mason.

Family history can be so frustrating when things don't fall into place easily and you end up trying to be Sherlock Holmes.

Even at 21 she was such a young woman to be taking on his young motherless children. William and Annie on to have six children, Fanny, George, James, Frank, Eliza and Emma between 1868 and 1879. The fact that they called their first son George might indicate that William's first born son George, from his marriage to Eliza, had indeed died. I have still been unable to confirm this. On the 1881 census William's occupation was confirmed as a mason in a quarry.

William's second son from his first marriage with Eliza was Charles Henry who is the next generation in my family tree. He married Everill Stacey, daughter of John and Mary Stacey who like Charles, also lived in Ravenfield. They married at St James' Parish Church in Ravenfield on 4^th January 1887.

In 1891 Charles and Everill were living in Newmillerdam, Wakefield where Charles was working as a general labourer. At that time they had two children, Ernest age 3 years and Lily age 9 months. On the 8^th July 1900 Everill gave birth to another daughter who they named Edith. Sadly when Edith was only 25 days old Everill died. Cause of death was Pneumonia (10 days), heart failure and childbirth (25 days). She was only 31 years old. Another of my ancestors left widowed with 3 young children. It is hard to imagine how he coped with this as they were living over 20 miles away from both their families who lived in Ravenfield.

The sad story does not end here. Less than 6 months after Everill's death, on 10^th January 1901, Charles also died of broncho-pneumonia and heart failure at the age of 38. This makes me wonder what their living conditions must have been like. Were they living in damp poorly maintained housing and unable to afford anything better? The person who registered Charles' death was his half sister Fanny. Maybe she had been living with him and caring for his three children since Everill's death.

Chapter 6

Charles died early in census year so it was easy to find out what happened to his young children by looking at the 1901 census taken on 5^th April 1901.

I found 13 year old Ernest and 9 month old Edith living in Ravenfield with their grandparents, William and Annie Butler and their children Fanny 33, Frank 26 and Emma 21, who were still living at home. I like to think maybe Fanny continued to care for them or at least helped her parents to do so as she didn't have any occupation according to the census.

Ten year old Lily was also living in Ravenfield with her maternal grandparents, John and Mary Stacey, and their two sons John and George who were both still at home. As Ravenfield was only a small village I like to think they all three kept in contact with each other.

Ernest and Edith were still living with William and Annie on the 1911 census and Lily was still living with John and Mary, along with her husband Frank Garner who she had married in March 1911.

Fanny Butler was still unmarried at the age of 42 and on the night of the 1911 census was a visitor in the home of her sister Emma and brother in law Joe Brocklesby and their 6 year old son Stanley, who also lived in Ravenfield.

Picture on left taken about 1889. Fanny, Eliza and Emma Butler, the 2nd a later photo of Fanny

Before I continue my direct line I will say more about Charles' half sister Fanny. In January 1914 Fanny's sister Emma Brocklesby died when her son Stanley was 10 years old. I think maybe Fanny then took on the job of looking after him. Two years later, when she was 47 years old, she married Stanley's father Joe Brocklesby.