Sarah Ann Shepard was my g-g-aunt on my father's side.I have not yet found her record of birth in England but her tombstone gives her birth date as 16 October 1835. She was probably born in Chadderton, part of the town of Oldham and just outside of Manchester, England since birth records place her family there at the time of her older brother's birth. Sarah was the second of two children born to
James Mellor and
Mary Ann Lord - the oldest child was my g-g-grandfather,
Ernest Lord Mellor.
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Marriage record for Hargraves Shepard and Sarah Ann Mellor
29 August 1853 Prestwich, Lancashire, England
see source below |
Sarah married
Hargraves Shepard on 29 April 1853 in St Mary's Church in Prestwich (about 5 miles from Chadderton).It looks like she did not know how to write her name when she was married since she signed with a mark. She must have learned to write later in life since I have a book she owned (
Picturesque Rhode Island, published in 1881) that contains her signature.
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| Signature of Sarah Ann Shepard after 1881 |
Hargraves and Sarah immigrated to the US in 1855, two years after their marriage. They were probably joining Sarah's brother, Ernest (my g-g-grandfather) who immigrated in 1853. It is probable that their mother, Mary Ann accompanied them since they were all living in Rhode Island by 1860
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| Sarah Ann Mellor Shepard |
Hargraves and Sarah worked in the cotton mills in both England and in their new home in Rhode Island. My great-aunt Marion Wood (Sarah Ann's great niece) noted on a flyleaf of the
Picturesque Rhode Island book that Hargraves was an overseer in the Chase Cotton Mill which used to be located at the Valley Falls bridge which separated Valley Falls from Central Falls (formerly Smithfield), Rhode Island.
Hargraves and Sarah never had children. According to my great-aunt, Sarah died at the
Grant family home in Central Falls on 26 March 1922. Her husband predeceased her and died on 19 February 1894. They are both buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Pawtucket, RI, next to the grave of Sarah's brother, sister-in-law, and mother.
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Hargraves and Sarah Ann Shepard Tombstone
Oak Grove Cemetery, Pawtucket, Rhode Island |
Marriage certificate source: "England, Lanchashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Parish Registers, 1603-1910." database and digital images,
FamilySearch (
http://familysearch.org: accessed 18 March 2012), Hargraves Shepherd and Sarah Ann Mellor , 29 August 1853 ; citing Parish Registers in Lancashire, marriage record # 326, page 163, Manchester Central Library, Manchester, England.
