Current Lines of Enquiry
Below is a list of the areas of family history that are currently being explored in an attempt to discover more about the people and their situations. Please do feel free to if you have information that you think may be of interest.
Elderfield Family
It would appear that the early ancestors on this site appear to have been wealthy landowners. William Elderfield (1671-1747) was a yeoman farmer who married Mary Hopkins (1670-1730) in 1691. Their wills indicate a great deal of wealth, but it would appear that their son, Richard (1700-1772), was a minor beneficiary. Whilst the majority of the estate went to his younger brothers Henry (1703-1785) and Joseph (1706-1792), Richard received an annuity of a yearly sum of fifty shillings (approx. £4,300 today) on the condition that he left Henry alone to enjoy his wealth. Had there been a family feud?
There is also some confusion over the identity of Richard Elderfield (b.1640), who is the earliest ancestor so far traced. There are family trees on the internet that show Richard is a descendant of Henry Elderfiled (1540-1560) and nephew of Christopher Elderfield (1607-1652), a clergyman and theologian. However, according to some of these trees Richard had a brother, William, who was born in the same year, 1640. These may be the same person because Richard is yet to be found in the parish records. The current assumption is that William is the correct name. However, finding a marriage for William is proving difficult and without this it is difficult to determine who are the descendants of Henry. The family tree is therefore likely to be a little inaccurate.
Winnifred Louise Fenn
Winnifred is proving to be a slight curiosity at the moment. At the time of the 1891 census, she would have been a baby of three months of age, and there is such a person listed on the census return. However, the baby appears to be fostered and was not living with her parents, who were married just three months before her birth when her father was just 18 years old. It is possible that Winnifred’s parents were in the workhouse at the time of her birth. Current lines of enquiry are trying to piece together why Winnifred was initially fostered and the events of the ten years following the 1891 census returns that lead to her being reunited with her parents by 1901.
