Jabez Lord's Ancestors

Laurence Lord (Abt.  1784  -  24-06-1858)

The oldest Lord ancestor we can trace back to is Laurence Lord.  He was born in Lancashire in about 1784 and married Mary Whitworth (abt. 1784  -  26-04-1859) on 29-07-1804 in St Chads, Rochdale, Lancashire, England.  In the parish records for St Chad, Rochdale, Lancashire, Laurence is named as a shopkeeper living in Holland Street, Rochdale.  Laurence and Mary’s children were:

Clement Lord  (21-12-1809  -  1886)

Sarah Lord (01-05-1811  -  ?)

James Lord (06-12-1812 -  26-10-1854)

Ann Lord (07-09-1814 - ?)

Hiram Lord (27-08-1816  -  1891)

It looks as if nearly the whole family moved to the Halifax area of Yorkshire and became weavers.  In the 1841 census Laurence and his children James, Clement, Ann and Hiram were all listed as weavers.  The population of West Yorkshire at this time was starting to explode due to the industrialisation of the weaving industry and the huge amount of jobs in the area.  Halifax itself had been home to the woollen manufacture since the 15th century.  Maybe weaving paid better than shop keeping?

Laurence was listed as the person present at his son James’ death in 1854.  He died himself in 1858 and his wife Mary died a year later.

Both the names Lord and Whitworth are very common in Lancashire and we have been unable to trace further than Laurence and Mary as there are about three possible births for each of them.  There is a town called Whitworth in Lancashire, but apparently the name Whitworth arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Whitworth family lived in County Durham, at a different town called Whitworth

James Lord ( 06-12-1812   -  26-10-1854 )

James Lord, son of Laurence Lord and Mary Whitworth,  married Rachel Coggin on 08-12-1834 at the Ebenezer Primitive Methodist Chapel, Halifax.  From the 1851 census and church records as well as a family bible their children were:

Charles Lord (28-03-1835  -  1839-1840)

Jabez Lord (31-01-1837  -  10-05-1924)

Laurence Lord (21-03-1838  - 1839)

William Lord (02-10-1840  - 01-05-1922)

Sarah Ellen Lord (02-10-1843 - 08-07-1927)

Ellen Lord (02-04-1846 -  ?)

George Lord  (Abt. 1848  -   Bet 1851-61)

In the 1841 census, Rachel Lord is living in Bradford with her 7 month old son William.  Jabez is four years old and is with his grandfather Charles Coggin and second wife Suzy in Halifax and James Lord is in the Wakefield House of Correction.  We don’t know exactly what crime James committed but it certainly split the family apart in 1841.  Rachel’s sister Helen married Squire Farrar and lived in Bradford, so possibly she was supporting Rachel at this time.  Rachel died at her sister’s place in 1850.  James Lord was living with his father Laurence Lord and his mother Mary in the 1851 census.  James appeared in the census with his second wife Ann and a child from his second marriage who was named Mark Lord and was 9 days old.  There was no birth record for a Mark Lord, but in the 1861 census an Isaac Lord of the same birth year and his mother Ann and half siblings appeared.  It seems that James and Ann had not fully made up their mind about their 9 day old baby’s name and decided to change it to Isaac:

Isaac Lord (1851  -  ?)

Jabez Lord was not living with his father and step mother, but with his aunt Ann Gray nee Lord in 1851.  He was a 14 year old blacksmith.

Sarah Ellen Lord (who married and became Sarah Leatham) passed on a family story that some of James Lord’s second family “went to America and became quite well off”.  There is also a story that James married a third time and his wife’s maiden name was Greenhill or Greenaway.  There are no marriages that we can find that prove this story.  Also Isaac has not been traced to America