Lemuel Wheatcroft was my Great Great Grandfather, his daughter Susan Wheatcroft married John Lowe, and their daughter Nellie Lowe married my Grandfather Ralph Poole.
The Wheatcroft family will require a lot more research as there were so many of them.
Lemuel was one of 10 children of Thomas and Maria, and Lemuel and Harriet went on to have 10 children of their own. I have only just barely touched the surface of this family.
The information in the layout above was taken from 2 articles I found in Derbyshire papers. One was a report on the Golden Wedding of Lemuel and Harriet and the other was a short obituary of Lemuel published after his death in 1941.
The journalling on the layout is below:
Lemuel Wheatcroft was born in Draycott, Derbyshire to parents Thomas Wheatcroft and Maria (nee Deaville), in the second quarter of 1858. He was one of 10 children. His father Thomas, was one of the earliest workers on the South Midland Railways. Thomas had paced the route to Nottingham before a rail had been put down, and he was on the first train between the two neighbouring towns, an event that required a man to walk in front of the train waving a red flag!
At the age of five Lemuel’s family moved from Draycot to Little Chester Derbyshire- Being one of so many meant a childhood didnt last long and by the age of 8 Lemuel had a job working in the local greengrocer where he was paid 4 shillings and sixpence a week with a bonus of 3pence for being a good boy!
Lemuel eventually followed in his fathers footsteps and sought employment with the railways.
He spent several years in various departments and eventually became Chief Mechanic of Engineering in the Locomotive Department.
Lemuel remained working in the railway until 3 days before the age limit of 70 when he would be forced to retire.
A true Railway family, all Lemuels brothers also worked in the railways .
Lemuel married Harriet Wells on December 26th 1883 at St Werbaughs Church Derby,and together they had 10 children, one of whom also attained a high position in the railways.
The family lived at 36 Roman Road Derby for at least 30 years, and Lemuel and Harriet had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary there on 26 December 1933, and had been married for 57 and a half years when Lemuel died, FWS 83, on the 26th May 1941 and Boundary House Infirmary.
An interesting article. Maria Deaville was the Sister of my GG Grandfather Amos Deaville 1821 -1858 a lamp lighter on the railway. He was crossing the line in dense fog at Long Eaton station on first January 1858 when he was hit by a train. He had both his legs amputated in Derby County Infirmary. One stumped became infected and he died leaving a wife and five children under ten years of age
ReplyDeleteRailway Station and was run over by a train