It's all about Lauren

After visiting the Bronte family home in Haworth, I decided it was time to get to work. I was heading to Bradford to do some research on my Denison family ancestors.

My sister Lauren was so excited to see her name on the blog that I feel I really should fulfil her request, and write something all about her! So, this is actually, my day exploring HER Denison family ancestors.

Ok, so its all about Lauren. The people I am trying to find more information about lived in the Tong & Birstal area, in Yorkshire, in the early 1800s. This time, I hit the library first and Eureka! I found 6 siblings of my … oops Lauren’s, g-g-great grandfather and the maiden name of his mother! Woohoo!

Again, Bradford is like many English cities - a mix of the old and the new. These photos were taken from the same spot.

So, now I know that Lauren’s g-g-g-great grandparents were John Dennison and Sarah Watson who were married in Birstall, Yorkshire, England on 1 November 1824. Lauren’s g-g-great-grandfather, William, was christened in Tong in 1831.

Armed with this new information I went in search of the churches. It seems that the family’s marriage took place in Birstall (this was true of the next generation also) and the baptisms in Tong, about 6 km (or 4 miles) away. One possible explanation is that marriages often only took place in the larger churches. Another alternative is that traditionally marriages took place in the woman's parish. I don't know what the reason was here but once I had figured out the pattern, finding the references was easy.

On a more general note, at this time, the only way to have a recognised marriage in England was to be married in the Church of England. The only exceptions were Quakers and Jews. All other Christian denominations were classified as non-conformists (left over from the Roman Catholic/Protestant conflicts started by Henry VIII) and in order to be ‘officially’ married they needed to marry in the CoE. Some other churches, such as Roman Catholic or Wesleyan Methodist, did sometimes keep their own records, but only really started to have their own churches in the mid-1800s.

Ok, back to work. Once I found the car, I told TomTom I wanted to go to St. James in Tong(location of the baptisms), and off we went. This is what I found:


Woohoo! Success – after the unsuccessful search for Lauren’s (its all about Lauren) Haslam ancestors in Bolton, it was fantastic to find the church still standing, and still in use.

Ok, 1 church found, time to go looking for the other one. With Gomersal in the TomTom, I couldn't find Birstall but knew it was close, off I went. I got a little lost and the church wasn’t on the main road, but when I ended up going the wrong way on a one-way street, I managed to find a nice young man to help. Luckily he was a local and in 2 minutes I was there. I couldn’t believe that both churches were still standing. The second one was undergoing renovations but I didn’t mind the scaffolding, at least it was still standing.

What a big day – 140 km travelled. It was definitely time to go home for dinner…