Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining an obituary for Mary Ann (Smith) Clayton? She died in Morris on December 12, 1933. Thank You - Elizabeth

Elizabeth,

I have taken the pictures of the gravestones in Evergreen. I'll get the obituaries Monday from the library.

On lot 37 in block 14 are: Daniel Clayton 1852-1916; Mary Ann Clayton 1850-1933; E. Jane Clayton 1885-1964; Gladys L. Goode Jan 6, 1904-Sept 7, 1906; children Woodrow 1912, aged 3 mths, Chester, 1913, aged 2 mths, Margaret Isabelle 1917, aged 5 mths (not too clear regarding last name--think it is Clayton); John R. Smith 1830-1902.

Daniel Clayton died 17 Sept 1916.

Send me your address. My E-mail is lsharp@nmu.net.

Lea

Mary Ann Smith was the daughter of John Robert Smith and Miriam Ashworth. John R. Smith and Miriam Ashworth were married Jan 19, 1846 at St. Michael's Church, Ashton-Underlyne, Lancashire. Per the Daniel Clayton-Mary Ann Smith family Bible, Miriam died April 23, 1879 at age 54 (b. 1824-1825) and is buried at Leesfield cemetery. (This is located at Oldham, Lancashire). The marriage record for John R. and Miriam shows fathers as being: Robert Smith and Moses Ashworth. The Smith line may well end here, at least I fear so.....

Now, the 1871 Hurst, Lancashire census records are available free online. These records show that Miriam (Ashworth) Smith was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, about 1826. While not 100% proven, the LDS records at the Family Serach website very strongly suggest that Miriam was the daughter of Moses Ashoworth and Elizabeth Butterworth, who were married March 24, 1818 at St. Chad's Church, Rochdale. Miriam apparently had these siblings: Robert Ashworth - marr. 1846 at St. Chad's, Samuel Ashworth - also marr. 1846 at St. Chad's, Hannah Ashworth Lowe - marr. 1845 at St. Michael's, Ashton-Underlyne, Elizabeth Ashworth Oakes - marr. 1843 at St. Michael's, Ashton-Underlyne and Jane Ashworth - baptized 1836 at St. Chad's. Thus far, I have not found Miriam's birth or baptizmal record.

Again, per the LDS Family Search website, Moses was baptized May 22, 1791 at St. Chad's, Rochdale, a son of Thomas Ashworth and Miriam (Marion) (Merriam) Meadowcroft. Thomas (apparently way too Thomas Ashworths to go back further in my view) married Miriam at St. Chad's, Rochdale on Oct 10, 1785 (or Oct. 4?) Miriam was baptized Aug 17, 1761 at St. Chad's, a daughter of John Meadowcroft and Hanna (Hannah) Homer. John and Hannah were married Aug 17, 1760 at St. Chad's, Rochdale. There are at least 5 diff John Meadowcrofts listed on the Family Search website as being bapt. in Rochdale in the years 1725, 1726, 1726, 1739 and 1745, so that makes it tough for the Meadowcroft line.) Miriam apparently had siblings: William, Robert, John, Ann and Elizabeth. However, it is possible that John's parents were: William Meadowcroft and Jennet (Janet) Lord, who were married July 7, 1734 in Rochdale? Meanwhile, it appears that Hannah was the dau of John Hamer (Hamor) and Mary Holt, who were marr. June 6, 1734 at St. Chad's, Rochdale.

Summarizing this situation, Miriam is a rare name now and does not seem to have been a real common name even back in the 1800's, and names are often passed down through generations, so I am confident that Miriam's parents were Moses Ashworth and Elizabeth Butterworth, with Moses' mother having been Miriam Meadowcroft. (Elizabeth may have been bapt June 5, 1796 at St. Chad's, but several Betty Butterworths were there at the same time, so this line could also end here?)

Meanwhile, I do have some more info on the Clayton line. If interested, email me.

I forgot to add that the gravestone for John R. Smith is apparently wrong with both the birth and death dates, which is shown as 1830-1902. His death record at the Grundy Co cthouse shows he died Sept 12, 1903, age 85 (or 86, cannot tell for sure if the numeral is a 5 or a 6 due to bad handwriting), 4 months, 5 days. Hence, it appears he was born May 7, 1818 (or 1817). His obituary, at least the one in the Morris, IL paper gave no real info. I emailed a huge library in Lancashire, but they could not spare the time to look for his obituary there. (He died while on a trip to the U.S. to visit his daughter Mary Ann Smith Clayton.) My cousin told me that he died the night before he was to have left to go back to England. She got this info from her mother, who was close to Mary Ann, as Mary Ann was her mother's grandmother and babysat a lot for my cousin's mother. My cousin also told me a neat story about Mary Ann. She was walking through a meadow with a pregnant friend back in Lancashire when the friend went into labor and Mary Ann helped to deliver the baby! Also, my cousin says that the family members back in England raised a gravestone for him there, even though he is buried in Morris, IL. (He is almost certainly buried next to his wife Miriam in Leedfield cemetery, Oldham, Lancashire.) My cousin told me that she has a photo of the Lancashire gravestone. I am waiting for her to call me back re: seeing some old family photos. Hopefully the stone in England will give a date of birth that we can compare to the IL death record.

Now, we probably do have a decent chance to take the Smith line back one more generation anyway, if we can find a baptismal record for John R. Smith, since we have an approx date of birth and city of birth(Ashton-Underlyne, per the 1871 census) and we know his father's name. Baptisms usually took place about a month after birth.