© 2016 David E. Spencer
Author's note
The surname Ashworth originates only a few miles South of the Rossendle area. In consequence itis very common indeed in Lancashire, particularly in the Rossendale Valley. My description is only of my own ancestral Rossendale Ashworths and does not claim to be a comprehensive account.
The earliest Ashworth ancestor of this line that I have encountered is Edmund Ashworth. He was born at the end of the 18th century and married Sarah Pilling in 1816 in Newchurch-in-Rossendale. Edmund was a cotton weaver by trade.They had two sons - Lawrence born in 1817 and John in 1819.
Lawrence was a cotton warper who became a cotton throstle overlooker who lived in Bacup, in the East of the Rossendale Valley. He appears to have been Wesleyan Methodist in his beliefs. His first wife died when they were young and he married his second wife, Mary Thomas in 1840.They had nine daughters and two sons. Although some of their children died young, most survived.
Lawrence's eldest surviving daughter Susannah was born in 1842. She first married a man called John Taylor and had a daughter, Mary by him. She was widowed when quite young and married a widower called John Hartley in Burnley in 1878. John already had children from his own first marriage so that the new household eventually contained children from three marriages. John was the manager of the Towneley Brick and Tile Works in Burnley and lived in the manager's house on Rock Lane, Burnley.The two children from their second marriage were his son Arthur who became a cotton weaver in Burnley, married a lady called Ada Binns and had two children of his own. Arthur's sister Annie, my grandma married John Thomas Sellars, a flour carter in Burnley and had two daughters, both of whom have living descendants.
Susannah'daughter from her first marriage, Mary Taylor, married a Burnley plumber called Samuel Downham and had at least five children by him.
The second child of Lawrence and Mary was Mary Ann, born in Bacup in 1844.
The third child of Lawrence and Mary was Sarah Jane (1846 - 1905) . Like several other family members she was born in Bacup but later moved to the Burnley area.She married George Cropper in 1866, like several other family members at St. James's Church in Waterfoot in Rossendale. By the time of their first child's birth in 1871 George and Sarah Jane had moved to the Burnley area - in their case to Brierfield.
The eldest child of Sarah Jane and George Cropper was Ashworth, the second being Margaret Jane in 1878.
Edward, the eldest son of Lawrence and Susannah Ashworth was a book keeper and insurance agent who was married with five children. He married Maria Holt in 1866 at Waterfoot in Rossendale.He lived at Cowpe Lench near Bacup then at Rawtenstall.
The eldest son of Edward and Maria was John Edward (1867-1907). He was a slipper worker who was married with one daughter who herself married.
Thomas, the second son of Edward and Maria was born in 1870. He married but was childless.
The third child of Edward and Maria was Elizabeth born in 1872.
The fourth child of Edward and Maria was William H., born in 1875.
The youngest child of Edward and Maria was Holt (1878-1936) who was married with one child.
The younger son of Lawrence and Susannah was called John who worked at different times as a warehouseman and an insurance agent.He married Jane Pickup and had seven children.The youngest of these, Harold, a cotton weaver married Susannah Reader. There are living descendants of this marriage.
The sixth child of Lawrence and Mary was their daughter Ellen, born in 1852.
The seventh child of Lawrence and Mary was Alice born in 1854.
The eighth child of Lawrence and Mary was Fanny born in 1856.
Lawrence and Mary next had another daughter - Edith who married a man called Frank Hargreaves, a cotton carder. They lived in Oswaldtwistle in 1881 when Lawrence was staying with them. They later moved to Burnley.
The youngest child of Lawrence and Mary was Lilly.