The life of my great grandmother Mary Ellen Abbott is a mystery. Many questions remain unanswered. On the following pages I tell the story of her life and, hopefully, tie up some loose ends.
Photo courtesy Stan Howarth*
Grandma Henderson
This photograph of Grandma Henderson was probably taken in the late 1920's or early 1930's. Stan Howarth is one of Mary Ellen's grandchildren, born 1931 - the year before Mary Ellen died.
The story of Mary Ellen falls into three distinct periods, associated with three different places in northern England: Farnworth in Lancashire, Newcastle on Tyne in Nrthumberland and Oldham in Lancashire, as shown on the map below.
Mary Ellen's Journey
Mary Ellen was born in the village of Farnworth in 1858 and lived there until the mid-1880's when she moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne. There she married and formed a family, staying until 1909, when she returned to Lancashire but to Oldham and Chadderton, not Farnworth. She died in Chadderton, Oldham, in 1932 age 74 and was buried in St Luke's Churchyard, Farnworth. So the circle was closed.
Finding Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen was the daughter of John and Martha Abbott of Farnworth. They had seven daugh-ters and one son. Mary Ellen was number six. Only six survived to become adults.
It has not been easy digging up infor-mation about Mary Ellen, outside church records, censuses, and the like.
One reason is that family members who knew her were re-luctant to talk about her. Others were too young to remember her clearly.
Of course many people who were potential sources of information passed on before I started my research.
This explains why Mary Ellen's life - or parts of it - are still a mystery.
