© 2016 David E. Spencer
The village of Goosnargh and the nearby small town of Longridge lie to the North East of Preston. As well as agriculture, the area is famous for quality building stone so the quarries in the area were major employers as were the associated firms of hauliers and other trades.
The earliest member of this family that I have found was William Sellors, a husbandman who married Alice Charnley at Goosnargh in 1788. His son Thomas married twice. His first wife Ellen "Willowsy" (the name Willacy is now not uncommon in this part of Lancashire), whom he married at the Anglican Parish Church of St. Mary in Goosnargh in 1812. He married his second wife Ann Worden at the Roman Catholic Church at Fernyhalgh, near Preston in 1850. There is other evidence that the family was Roman Catholic but, like other non-Anglicans, still had to marry in the Church of England until well into the 19th century.
St. Mary's Church at Goosnargh
The children of Thomas's first marriage
Alice, born in 1813 in Goosnargh, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Ellen Sellers married William Cartmell in 1847 at Goosnargh. Their daughter Ellen and son Richard survived to have families of their own.
Thomas Sellers, eldest son and second child of Thomas and Ellen was born in Goosnargh about 1817. He married Mary Roberts at Goosnargh. She was the daughter of a local tailor. Thomas is variously described as a farm labourer and small farmer. To read about this branch of the family click here.
William Sellers, the third child of Thomas and Ellen was born in Hothersall about 1817. He was a farm labourer who became a butcher in his middle age. Much of what I have found about his family has come from living descendants and a memorial inscription in St Lawrence's church in Longridge. This branch of the family is notable in having two men called Samuel Sellers (they were uncle and nephew), both of whom married women called Mary Duckworth.
Rowland Sellers born in 1820 in Goosnargh was a labourer and quarryman.He and his wife Margaret had 9 children. He was baptised as an adult into the Anglican Church in 1878.
John Sellers was the youngest son of Thomas and Ellen Sellers. He was a labourer in the Longridge area. His wife, Nancy Roberts was the sister of the wife of John's elder brother Thomas.
Ann, born in 1831 was the youngest child of Thomas and Ellen Sellers.
The children of Thomas's second marriage