Who is the woman on the photographs?
When I found out that John Barraclough really was married I looked again at the photographs of his "wife". Sarah Kellett Procter was nine years older than John, but the woman on the photographs looks younger. She has no wedding ring.
When the Holy Trinity part of the SBLHA project was completed, I searched our database for events where the address was given as Horse Close Bridge. There was one event which I could not connect to the North family and that was a Baptism at Holy Trinity on 26 April 1866 (born 2 April). The child was Ruth Taylor and the mother Hannah Taylor, a widow.
Ruth was the name of the mother of Judy's first husband Joseph and so John Barraclough's grandmother. At first I could find no connection but then when the whole project was completed I realised there was a burial entry at Wyke Parish church on 30 March 1870 for a Ruth Barraclough Taylor aged 4 years of Upper Wyke. John Barraclough had died the previous March and he too was buried at Wyke. This made me wonder if Hannah Taylor was the woman pictured at Horse Close Bridge and referred to as John's wife.
So far I have spectacularly failed to identify Hannah Taylor! Was Hannah Taylor a widow or only posing as one?
· We can rule out Hannah Taylor married to a Benjamin Taylor who live at Wike as they can be found in the 1851 to 1871 census in Wike village
· There is an entry in 1841 at New Road, Wike for a Hannah Taylor aged 20 living with a George Taylor aged 20 Farmer, but later census seems to indicate they moved to Leeds
· There is an entry in 1841 for a 15 year old, unmarried Hannah Taylor a hand loom weaver living at Wike Common side.
· There is an entry in 1871 on New Road Side for a 46 year old Widow who is a washer woman. If this is the correct person she would have been 41 when Ruth was born and John 42.
· Searching for marriages of a Hannah to a Taylor brings up no obvious candidates
· Searching for births for a Hannah Taylor brings up no obvious candidates
Hannah Barraclough – did she die as a child?
Brainstorming after I found the entry for the child, Ruth, born to Hannah Taylor, widow, I wondered if she might actually be Judy's daughter Hannah whom I had down as dying as a one year old child in 1821. That could explain the Ruth Barraclough Taylor burial entry, but not as neatly as if John were the father.
The burial entry in 1821 was for Hannah Barraclough aged 1 year of Slack. It seems a good match. If she did not die, then she is missing from the 1841 census which meant she married as a minor. Then I discovered a Marriage at Bradford 6 August 1837 for Hannah Barraclough aged 18, a minor of Byerley, father Joseph Barraclough, Weaver, marrying John Booth aged 23 of Wibsey. This couple turn up on the 1841 census living at Horse Close Cottages. He's a carter and they later move to Green End Wibsey. Judy didn't live at Horse Close Bridge at that point but it might help explain how she met up with Joseph North.
Is she Judy's daughter? She could be but probably not as on one census says she was born at Brighouse.
Ann Best – the woman who registered John Barraclough's death
I was wondering if Ann Best who registered John Barraclough's death was related to him. She seems to have been Ann Greenwood who married Matthew Best a hammerman at Bradford 3 March 1846. Her father was Paul Greenwood a miner.
In the 1861 to 1881 census she is on School Street running a grocers shop. Perhaps that was the connection with John Barraclough, through his market garden. She had various nephews staying with her at each census. Swaine Best in 1861, and Abraham Barraclough and Paul G Wilson in 1871.
· Swaine Best was the son of her husband's brother Daniel.
· Abraham Barraclough is the son of Paul Barraclough who was a Ginger Beer Manufacturer also living on School Street. His wife was Betty nee Greenwood, Ann's sister.
· Paul G(reenwood) Wilson is the son of Joseph and Fanny Wilson and guess what? Fanny is Ann's sister.
In fact I found the Greenwoods living at Horse Close where father Paul, was a sinker of pits in 1841. He's dead by 1851 but his widow Hannah (nee Woodhead) and family are there until 1861. Links to the Priestley, Fieldhouse and Holden families too.
Ann Best died aged 66 and was buried at Wesley Place (where John North too is buried and his wife attended) 26 March 1890.
So no blood relationship to John and Judy but close neighbours living in the Horse Close area.