Moses Marshall and Mary Fort

My maternal great grandfather, Moses Marshall, worked for most of his life as a mill engineer. He married Mary Fort, daughter of Thomas Fort (deceased cotton weaver) on the 9th November 1887. They married at Irwell Terrace Baptist Chapel, Bacup and their witnesses were John and Alice Ashworth. They were both recorded as being 21 years of age. 

At the time of his marriage Moses lived at 2 George Street, Bacup with his parents and brother and is described as a quarryman, but it may be that he was tending the stationary engine there (see below). In the 1881 census he was described as a cotton doffer and in that of 1891 he was a stoker at a cotton mill.  In the 1901 census he was a cotton mill engineer. 

When my grandmother was born in 1893 he was listed on her birth certificate as a stone quarrier; when her youngest sister, May, was born in 1910 he was also listed on her birth certficate as a stone quarrier. When his first child, Sarah Ellen got married for the second time in 1918 he was described as an engine tenter at a cotton mill. When his wife Mary died in 1919 she was described on her death certificate as widow of  ... engine tenter at a  stone quarry. In 1920 when his son John was married he was described as an engineer on the marriage certificate. In 1935 when his daughter, Martha, married he was described as a fire beater at a cotton mill (deceased).

 It would seem that even when he worked in the stone quarry he tended the stationary engine, possibly on the incline rail that hauled the trucks up out of the quarry. 

Mary and Moses had eight children, five girls and three boys. They were: Sarah Ellen (born 1888); John James (born 1891); Grace (born 1893); Law (born 1898); Mary and Martha (twins born 1900; [James] Walter (born 1909) and May (born 1910). They were all born in Bacup.

Moses was born on the 6th December 1866 at Inchfield Mill, Walsden which is just over the border in Yorkshire. The birth was registered at Todmorden, which is in both Yorkshire and Lancashire. His father was Law Marshall, engine tenter at a corn mill. His mother was Ellen Marshall, formerly Priestley. The birth was registered by the father. 

In the 1871 census the family's address was Green End Street, Bacup and they were listed as follows: Law (29, born Todmorden, Yorkshire), engineer; his wife Ellen (28, born Todmorden, Yorkshire); their children: John (7); Walter or Walton (6); Moses (4); Fairbank (2); Frank (3 weeks); all born Todmorden, Yorkshire.

In the1881 census their address was 8 Temple Court, Newchurch, Bacup. Listed at the address were: Law (39, b Todmorden), mill engineer; his wife Ellen (38, b Ribenden, Yorkshire). Their children were: John (17, born Bingley, Yorkshire), cotton doffer; J Walton (16, born Wilsden, Yorkshire), cotton checker;  Moses (14, born Walsden, Lancashire), cotton doffer; Fairbank (7 [12?] and George (3 ), both born in Bacup, both scholars.
[I think that the last two boys in the 1871 census may have died as infants which would explain the difference in the ages for Fairbank - perhaps the next child was christened Fairbank after the child's death]

Moses' father, Law, died in Manchester Royal Infirmary caused by a tragic accident at the Lee Wood stone quarry in 1889.

As far as Moses is concerned, from the marriage certificates of his children, it would seem that he died between September 1934 and January 1935, but a death record for him does not appear in the online GRO death indexes and a burial record has not come to light yet either..