As one by one, the Siblings of my Grandfather died, each of their collections of family photos passed on to the surviving Siblings, until the last one died - and they then came into the possession of my Father, who was not interested in them,
and then my Mother who was not even related.
Among them was this small photo, and for years I wondered who she was - and now comparing the face to the photograph I know to be of Samuel Green and his wife
[original below] - I believe this is Sarah Darbyshire.
Although the hairstyle, the clothes, and the lack of teeth, make her look similar to others I feel the left eye is distinctive.
She must have meant a lot to someone
- it was the only photo of it's size, appearing to have been cut from a bigger picture.
This very small image may have been kept in a wallet or purse.
"Mystery Photo" on left and detail of photo below on the right.
This photo annotated as being Samuel Greene & Sarah Darbyshire - written on the back of the original mounted image by their Grandson Fred.
Sarah Darbyshire and her twin sister Alice were born in 1831 in Warrington.
Their parents were Ralph Darbyshire 1795-1863, a Farmer and Sarah Taylor 1788-1862.
In 1841 the family were living in the Hamlet of Fearnhead, near Crab Lane.
In 1851 the family were living at “Cinnamon Brow” also near Crab Lane so possibly the same location and Ralph is now recorded as being a Farmer of 40 acres but the rest of the image hard to read.
Sarah and Alice were baptised on 20th June 1847 at St Elphin’s Church in Warrington.
The address of the family at this time was Padgate
– shown at the bottom centre on the above map.
Image of St Elphin’s Church From: warringtonparishchurch.org
The siblings of Sarah and Alice and therefore the other children of Ralph and Sarah were: Samuel, John, Martha who married George Stringer, Thomas, and Rachel who married Thomas Stringer.
Samuel Greene and Sarah Darbyshire were married at St Oswald’s Church in Winwick
on 4th December 1851, Samuel’s 24th birthday.
See post on Samuel Greene: Headmaster for further information.