64 - The Gould Family

Mary Gould, nee Torr, at Household 64 was the sister of Dinah Hallworth from Household 63 and William Torr the joiner and undertaker who married Susan Harrison Ridgway from Household 12.

Mary Torr married Joseph Gould, the son of a farmer and wheelwright, in December 1861 in Leek, Staffordshire. Their first child, Sarah, was born in Birmingham, but then they must have moved to Romiley before 1868 when their daughter Mary was born. A 3rd daughter came along in 1869 named Ann.

Joseph followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a wheelwright. Wheelwrights were very much in demand at a time when one of the main modes of transport was the horse and trap or horse and cart.

Sadly, Ann died aged just 7 years of age in 1876.

By 1881 the family were living on School Brow, where Mary's brother William would later move his joinery business to. Their eldest child Sarah was working as a domestic servant for her great uncle George Swindells at his farm house on Compstall Road. Her aunt Sarah Torr had married William Swindells, who also lived there.

Daughter Sarah married Thomas Benjamin Ward, a labourer and later farmer, in 1889 and they settled in Leek, Staffordshire, where they had 5 daughters.

Daughter Mary Gould married Herbert Hall, a shoemaker, in 1890 and they too settled in Leek. They had children, Mary and Joseph, but then Mary (snr) passed away, possibly in childbirth.

Mary and Joseph Gould followed their daughters back to Leek where they died in 1893 and 1900 respectively.