Ward family of Audenshaw

[DdraigGoch]

Have any M.I's of the cemeteries of the Audenshaw area been transcribed and available to buy anywhere?

I am trying to find out more information on my Gt x 2 Grandparents William Ward and Mary Jane Ward nee Metcalf.

I believe I have found the death of William on the Cheshire BMD Site:

Surname   Forename(s)   Age at Death   Year   Sub-District   Registers At   Region   Reference      
WARD    William    65    1918    Audenshaw    Tameside    Cheshire    AUD/52/45

I now need to order this certificate to confirm it.

But as of yet have not been able to find a death for Mary.

On the 1911 census the family where living at 27 Dale Street Audenshaw.

William Dudley Ward age 58 Born Warwick Warwickshire
Mary Jane Ward age 50 Born Lincold Lincolnshire

Living with their remaining Children:

Ernest Ward age 26, Mary Emma Ward age 22, Olive Ward age 19, and Herbert Ward age 17 all born in Audenshaw.

I an descended from one of their older children Albert Ward who married my a Florence May Jones in Red Hall Chapel, Audenshaw if memory serves me right.

If anybody can give me any more advice on how to track down these people or any info on the descendants of their children I would be most grateful.

Thanks in advance

Haydn Ward

[mshrmh]

Hi Haydn - Audenshaw is now part of Tameside. Tameside runs several cemeteries including one at Audenshaw which opened in 1905. Their burial and cremation records are being put online (they state 50,000 of over 300,000 so far) via
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/bereavement
I didn't find your Wards, but that may mean they're in the 250,000 yet to be put online, so I'd suggest contacting them by phone or e-mail.

It's also possible they were buried at St Stephen's, as according to the listing of church registers held at Manchester's Central Library they hold burial registers covering 1846-1921. If that is the case the churchyard is one that has been cleared & grassed over - there's a photo at
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Ashton-under-Lyne/StStephen.shtml
According to the website for the Tameside Family History MI's were transcribed and there is a record at Tameside Local Studies Library
http://tamesidefamilyhistory.co.uk/burials.htm
There's lots of useful things & links for the area on that website, including surname data. Incidentally Red Hall is listed as "about to be demolished" on there.

There's also an Audenshaw Local History society who offer to do genealogy research (at a charge) - their website has plenty of local information at
http://www.audenshawlocalhistory.org/index.html

[mshrmh]

Hi again - I've had a look for anything further on the family - as I'm sure you've found there are several Wards around, so it's difficult to be sure you've got the right ones, plus there's the possibility that William & Mary's grandchildren are alive, so RootsChat policy is not to post details of anyone alive without their consent. There are a couple of links in the RootsChat lexicon to "Tracing Living Relatives"

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,142443.0.html

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,261434.0.html

I can't tell from your profile if you're at all near the area - if you are I'd suggest a visit to the Local Studies Library - they'll have local directories, electoral rolls etc that could help you. If not it may be worth trying the listings on the local history websites I gave in my previous post. You could also have a search around for any online trees or even try Genes Reunited.

Good luck!

[DdraigGoch]

Hi

Thank you very much for all these links you have provided. Most interesting. I have come across a couple of them before but alas have not come up with any information on my line.

I know that the Ward's all seemed to work in the Cotton industry, and there Parents before them where Hatters who came from Warwickshire. I guess to look for Work in this industry.

I take it the Cotton industry was a big thing in the Audenshaw area?

Do you know if any kind of employment records or anything still exist?

Also does anyone know if there are any local newspapers for the area that may have there Obituaries etc digitized and on line for the early to mid 1900's period?

Unfortunately it is a bit far for me to get to the local Archives for the area.

[mshrmh]

Hi Haydn - since you mention hatters - Stockport is the area most associated with hatting and has the Hat Works Museum related to the industry - can't see they'd have much in the way of employment records, though:
http://www.hatworks.org.uk/default.asp
There was certainly hatting in Audenshaw too, as well as other industry & trades. Audenshaw is now relatively small and your relatives could easily have travelled a mile or two and worked in Ashton under Lyne, Openshaw, Denton or Hyde for example. From the local history website I see that Audenshaw used to extend further in the late 1800s - I can't find Dale Street on either current maps or my 1980s A-Z (pre-M60 cutting through Audenshaw), so it may be in an adjacent area not now regarded as Audenshaw.

The long established local paper for the area is the Reporter series - now called the Tameside Reporter - in the past there was for example the Ashton Reporter, Denton Reporter - each would then have an even more local edition with a page devoted to the smaller area. The current website is
http://www.tamesidereporter.com/aboutus.php
but I can't see that their archive goes back beyond a few weeks.

I think to go forward you probably need to either visit the Tameside Local Studies or perhaps use the service offered on the Audenshaw Local History site, unless you can pin down more dates to go with the names - and to do that would probably be either costly for numerous certificates or involve a visit to the area. Perhaps you could include a visit as part of a future trip, eg to the Peak District, if you're not local enough to make it as a day journey from home.

Best wishes


Modified - it occurred to me that some of the children may have been involved in WW1 - have you tried any searches on the CWGC site for casualties or on the UK National Inventory of War Memorials - I found there's a Harry Ward listed on the memorial at Audenshaw Cemetery - probably not yours, but a search around may produce something.

[DdraigGoch]

Thank you very much for all your help. You have given me much food for thought here. Your idea on the the WW1 lists may be a good possibility for me, and you never know maybe one day I may pay a visit to Audenshaw.

Thanks again

Haydn

[mshrmh]

Hi Haydn,
Hope I haven't given you too much "food for thought" and given you indigestion with it all! Further thought, if when you get William's death certificate & if it is the right one, you could see if he left a will - that might give you clues on addresses or married names for the children.

There's a guide to obtaining wills at
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1226.htm

If you're near a records office in England or Wales, most will have the "probate calendar" (probably on fiche) as do some local studies libraries - that will tell you if there is a will. The calendar relates to the year probate was granted, which may be later than the year of death.

[DdraigGoch]

Crickey now I never even thought of Wills. That is something I have no experience of at all. I will read your link with much interest.

I have been looking on FreeReg to see if I can come up with anything for Mary Jane Ward. But up to now no luck. I also have access to Ancestry, but all I can find is the FreeReg stuff. I thought Ancestry had completed the BMD's Upton 1983. Or maybe I was wrong. Not to keen on their new layouts lol.

Thanks again

Haydn

[mshrmh]

Hi Haydn - I haven't an Ancestry sub. but have seen elsewhere they've been re-organising the BMD sections. I did find this link
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0685/

which lists the different sections. I don't know whether you've used the UKBMD's "multi-region search" facility. It allows you to search sites that use the same software as CheshireBMD together - though no more than 25 years at a go. Given the area, the family could have ended up in an area now covered on LancashireBMD without moving far. None of the local sites is complete, but searching this way is quicker than trawling the full BMD's quarter-by-quarter.
Incidentally, Audenshaw was Lancashire, not Cheshire, but has ended up on CheshireBMD because they've taken in Tameside which was part Lancashire & part Cheshire.
http://www.ukbmdsearch.org.uk/

The other possibility for Mary Jane is a re-marriage (the local BMDs tend to put a * on these entries & list both maiden & previous married names - GRO usually has the marriage under the married name only) or death elsewhere - Scotland or further afield even.

Hope you find something