Dockroyd graveyard- the people and their stories

The Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine July 1889 Martha Cockshott, born at Dockroyd in 1812, was the daughter of the late Mr and Mrs John Sugden, who were godly Methodists. They came from Haworth, and brought with them the holy fervour which had been kindled in the hearts of their parents by the ministry of the sainted Grimshaw. Methodism was introduced by them into Oakworth; and it is principally through the influence of the Sugden family, that it has ever since been such a power for good in the neighbourhood. Mr John Sugden, was the first class leader in Oakworth, the Class being held at his own house. Martha Sugden was thus from her earliest days surrounded with religious influences, brought up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. She joined her father’s Class at the age of eleven years, but it was not till she had passed the age of twenty …

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grave number 12S Susan and Deborah (above), visitors from Canada who were touring the area around Keighley where their ancestors James and Ettie Teal, relatives of Jonathan and Mercy Teal who are buried in grave 12S, had lived. James TEAL was born on 18 May 1862, his father, Thomas, was 24 and his mother, Sarah (Driver), was 27. James, a carpenter, married Ettie Louisa CAMPBELL on 1 January 1890 in Riddlesden, Yorkshire. They had two children Florence and Herbert who are pictured below in 1893. In 1906 they left via Liverpool for a new life in North America. They arrived in Montreal on 16th July 1906 with a specific destination of Bottineau, North Dakota but eventually arrived in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada James, also known as Dabby, is pictured above with his family in Medicine Hat in 1924. James lived until he was 90 and was a wood carver by …

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We were recently lent the old Grave Books for the Oakworth Wesleyan Chapel, listing burials from 1862-1917. PDFs of the Sexton’s notebooks are available to buy here. Here at Dockroyd graveyard was where Jabez Bancroft was the Sexton, and on his death his son Arthur took over the job. Jabez was listed as Sexton from 1884 to his death in 1898. Arthur took over after his father’s death in 1898 to 1938. Many will wonder what exactly the duties of a Sexton were. They were: 1- Grave digging 2- Maintenance of the graveyard….generally keeping it tidy….grass cutting, hedge trimming etc 3-General maintenance of the chapel grounds. The record of Jabez’s burial is listed in the following entry halfway down this page in the grave book, and just underneath the entry is a note saying that his son Arthur took over as grave digger. The cost of obtaining a grave is …

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Grave numbers 12U and 27J This story is taken from an article written by Sylvia Valentine in www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk. The Oakworth Anti-Vaccinator’s Railway Accident Amongst the collection of Keighley Anti-Vaccination League (KAVL) records in the Keighley Local Studies Library is a membership book, which recorded the payments of membership fees. One member, Pharoah Feather, joined the League in 1882, paying his first subscription of one shilling in April. The entry in the membership book for 1884 includes a note against his name, ‘Killed on Bingley Station’. In addition to these records, the digitised collections of the British Newspaper Archive and other genealogical records it has been possible to put his story together. During his short membership of the KAVL Pharoah made five separate payments of a shilling in 1882, a further one shilling and sixpence in 1883 and four shillings in the year of his death. Most members paid their subscriptions at the rate …

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