Hi all - I’m new on here - I only found this site & you people today after (through sheer frustration) typing “Fanny Craggs” into Google - I didn’t expect anything to come up as I’ve been working away in splendid isolation.
I have read the comments & decided rather than agree with some comments & disagree with others - I will write down what I (think) I know - & then let you shoot me down in flames.
I am:
The GG grandson of John Craggs & Fanny - I don’t believe that they were ever married
The G grandson of James William Lambert & Annie Craggs, - Annie took the surname Craggs & John Craggs (stone mason) is named on her marriage certificate.
James & Annie were married in Cullingworth in 1892 & had 12 children, Fanny, George, Thomas, Violet, Ralph (my maternal GF), James & Herbert were born in Cullingworth, while William, Florence, Hilda, Ellen & Fred were born after the family move to Luddenden Foot.
Birth
John Craggs born A/M/J 1846 in Penrith, Cumberland (v25 - p150)
1851 - At Millgate, Gilling, Yorkshire North Riding.
Joseph Craggs * 35 Melsonby Yorkshire
Elenor Craggs 25 Manchester Lancashire
Joseph Craggs 9 Hartforth Yorkshire
James Craggs * 7 Gilling Yorkshire
John Craggs 4 Penrith, Westmorland
Thomas Martin Craggs 5m Staindrop Durham
Jane Maglin (Visitor) 19 Manchester Lancashire (Elenor’s sister?)
Note Penrith was in Cumberland - which bordered Westmorland in the Lake District - the 2 were often confused - BUT there is only 1 Penrith!
1861 - Boarding at Farriers Arms Pub, Gilling Part, Yorkshire North Riding.
Most of the family & more children (including Ellen* & William*).
*Remind you of Fanny’s children at all?
I cannot find John Craggs in 1861
1871 - Boarding at Armathwaite Railway Hut Cumberland (with other labourers & masons).
John Craggs 25 Railway Labourer - born Cumberland.
Please note - this does not mean that he was a railway labourer but rather that he was a labourer working on the construction of a new railway - the Settle - Carlisle Railway. Please research this - the line goes across some of the bleakest landscapes in England. He was not yet a stone mason.
1881 - Boarding at Cross Roads Yorkshire West Riding
John Craggs 40 - born Cumberland. He has (not unusually for men working in his situation) gained 5 years!
Tom Craggs 35 - born Cumberland. He too has gained 5 years! He also thinks that Durham is in Cumberland - or their landlord took an educated guess when the enumerator called? I am personally not concerned about these apparent anomalies - given how everything else fits.
Cross Roads is now part of Keighley & Cullingworth is now part of Bradford - however they are only 2.5 miles apart. I believe that he & Tom were working as masons on the Hewenden Viaduct outside Cullingworth. This was on the Keighley & Thornton branch of the Great Northern Railway that opened in 1883.
1871 - Sheffield Barracks Sheffield - we find William Todd 38 - soldier from Berwick on Tweed & his wife, Lydia Todd, 23 born Dover, Kent.
1891 - White Horse Inn, Wooler, Northumberland - we find William Todd 49 - innkeeper from Berwick & his wife, Lydia Todd, 33 born Dover, Kent, together with daughters, Margaret Todd 9 - born Sheffield & Lydia A Todd 1 - born Wooler,
Marriage J/A/S 1886 - Glendale, Northumberland - John Craggs marries Lydia Todd (10b 517) this is before Fanny “died twice”
1891 - At 30 Pool Lane, Runcorn, Cheshire we have John Craggs 45 stone mason Cumberland Penrith (he’s got his age back - might be to do with getting married?), Lydia Craggs 44 - Dover & Lydia A Craggs (really Todd) 11 - Cumberland Wooler.
Again I think that John thinks everything north of Yorkshire is in Cumberland! Wooler is in Northumberland.
A quick look at Fanny & her children.
On their 1881 census Fanny is born in Nottinghamshire & Joseph in Sheffield Yorkshire. On first glance it looks like the other 4 children were also born in Sheffield Yorkshire - because of the 4 “do” or dittos. If you look closely the enumerator has drawn 2 vertical lines either side of the dos that extends up into the word Yorkshire. I think that was his way of indicating that only Yorkshire had a do under it for the other 4 - i.e. excluding the word Sheffield.
One other thought that has come to me while writing this - re Sheffield. I think that there might be a link with Sheffield Barracks. John married Lydia who had a child Margaret there in 1872. Fanny had Joseph in Sheffield in 1872 before moving to N Yorkshire. Perhaps Fanny had links with the Barracks? Perhaps they kept in touch & that’s how John knew Lydia??? I shall have to look at that angle!
The children were born at the Quarry Huts in Hawes (where Wensleydale cheese is made) & the Births were registered in Aysgarth.The Settle Carlisle Railway had a branch line to Hawes. Stone for the stations, bridges and the like were quarried & dressed in Hawes by stone masons who lodged at the huts.
On to 1881- the huts at Over Wyresdale - provided lodgings for masons & labourers working on the extension to the Abbeystead Reservoir - perhaps Fanny & John went there together as a joint enterprise?
John being in Cullingworth would explain how Fanny & the girls finished up there - but perhaps after time apart - they had grown apart?