harriet massey
Harriet was born in Hodnet, Shropshire in 1865, the daughter of William Massey and Harriet Ellis. Hodnet was a rural parish situated between the village of Wem and Market Drayton and her family had farmed in the area for several generations. In 1888, Harriet married William Sibbald Mallandain in Uppermill near William’s home in Saddleworth, Yorkshire.
charles massey + sarah harris
Charles and Sarah married in Stanton on 13 April 1815 and they had six sons who were all born in the village. Their first son, Thomas Harris, was baptised at the local church dedicated to St Andrew on 3 September 1816. James was baptised on 15 January 1819, William on 5 December 1819 and Charles on 31 May 1821. John was baptised on 3 April 1823 and their youngest son George on 4 April 1824.
Sarah died in 1831 and was buried on 1 October in the local church yard. Charles remarried several years later, to Jane, and they had three children: Jane was baptised on 20 January 1837, James on 12 June 1839 and Emma on 29 May 1842.
In 1851, Charles and Jane were living in Stanton Village with their three children and two of his sons from his first marriage, Charles and John. Charles’ occupation was listed as a Farmer of 312 Acres Employing 6 Labourers and he also employed four domestic servants. Charles died before the 1861 census and his wife Jane left Stanton along with her daughter Emma and settled in a village south of Telford called Madeley where they ran a hosiery shop.
william massey + harriet ellis
William Massey married Harriet Anne Ellis in Market Drayton, Shropshire in 1859. Harriet was born in Weston, a small village north of Stanton, and baptised at the local church on 28 June 1837. She was the daughter of Robert Hill Ellis and his wife Martha Snape. In 1841, four year old Harriet was staying with her grandparents, John and Harriet Snape, in Weston but she has not been located in the 1851 census.
William and Harriet had six children and they were all born in Hodnet. Their first child, Sarah, was born in 1861 followed by Charles two years later. Harriet was born in 1865 and baptised on 26 November in the local chapel of ease in Weston under Redcastle. A chapel of ease is a church building, other than a church, that lies within the parish boundaries and is built to accomodate parishioners who cannot attend the parish church. Chapels of ease were often built in small, rural communities.
Their daughter Anne was born in 1866 and baptised in the chapel at Weston on 30 September. John William was baptised on 4 October 1868 and their sixth child, Robert Ellis was baptised on 2 April 1871 but he died some six months later.
In 1871, the family was recorded at Burys in the parish of Hodnet which lay to the north of Shrewsbury. William Massey was listed as a farmer of 167 acres and in addition to his own family, the household also contained four servants but by 1881, the family had moved to Saddleworth in Yorkshire where William worked the 70 acre Sunfield farm. Their daughter, Harriet, left home in 1888 to marry William Sibbald Mallandain.
William and Harriet were still living at Sunfield farm in 1891 along with their daughters Sarah and Anne. William was listed as a retired farmer but there is no indication as to who was running the farm although it is possible that he simply rented the land to another farmer. William died in late 1900 and by the following year, Harriet and her two daughters had moved to Diggle several miles north where they operated a laundry business. Both Sarah and Anne were listed as Launderesses and there were an additional eight laundry maids recorded in the household in the census.
In 1911, they were still in Diggle but had moved house — from Shawlee to Green Bank — where they continued to operate their laundry business. Harriet was recorded as living on her own means while her daughters were listed as Laundry Proprietors employing one domestic servant and eleven laundry maids.
Harriet Anne Ellis died in Saddleworth in 1923.