Mary married the attorney John Makinson and bore him seven children. John and Mary were married at Warrington by license on June 15,1825 and the witnesses were Betty Crowther (Elizabeth) and Mary Makinson. He is listed on the marriage record as John Junior. The children's names are Thomas, Joseph, Mary C., William, Charles, John, and Jane. John's name shows up in the 1841 census and not thereafter. It is possible he died or that he is mixed up with Thomas who I know died fairly young. he was 45 in 1871.

Charles, William, Joseph and Thomas are mentioned in a number of places. William was a Dr. and the other three successful lawyers, judge and mayor. Nothing is known of Jane and possibly the other son John. I think Mary died at age 2 mos. There is a Mary Makinson buried in John Makinson's grave in Cheetham Hill Wesleyan Cemetery grave 3821. The following burials are in that grave:

Mary Makinson - 16 May 1839, aged II weeks daughter of John Makinson of Broughton, Inflammation

Sarah Boothroyd of Wilton Place aged 24 yrs 10 mo. August 1852 consumption

John Makinson aged 79 21 Apr 1871 paralysis

Mary Jones Crowther Makinson of 5 Wilton Place age 70 21 June 1873 disease of the heart.

Jane Makinson of Salford aged 84 yrs May 8,1901

Nothing much is known about Betsey, as her father called her. Elizabeth has written several letters and one of these is included here.

plp 31-1-1

Iron Bridge

182? My Dear Brother  Jonathan

Father cannot imagine why you should conclude that he has money.

The money you brought him from Rochdale last half year he has laid out in beds and other furniture. But I will write to your cousin by this post and tell him that it was in consequence of his promise that we made the engagement for you to remove to Warrington; and I will tell him that I will engage to take the whole hundred pounds upon myself; and that if he should advance twenty more I pay that and pay him the whole in two years and a half( I mean my father will). You will come down and draw the rent and then you will see how matters go.

I do not expect much money in my pocket the half year if any, so I suppose that the land will have to be payed for to James Ashworth's widow. But if there be sixty pounds to spare you shall have forty; and if only twenty you shall have to do the paying of your ----------. I write to Jonathan (there is a cousin Jonathan whom you will hear more of later) by this post, which I hope will make a favourable impression. We wish you well. I shall write to Joshua tomorrow but you must write and --- the day. Mary and I intend meeting you at Shipnell on horseback if you let us know the exact day. Father , Mother and sisters unite with me in love to you,

and believe me to remain

your affectionate sister

Elizabeth Crowther

James died in 1810 at age 11 months and is buried beside his father in the cemetery in South Parade Methodist Churchyard at Halifax Yorkshire.

Nothing is known about Lydia. Sarah, her sister, named one of her children after her.

Joshua was a well known accountant and had an office in Manchester. He is mentioned in a book 'Manchester Fifty Years Ago" by J.T. Slugg on page 198.

When Joshua died in about 1912, he left a legacy of 500 Pounds to his sister Sarah who had died about 12 years before? This was distributed to the surviving children of Sarah and their heirs. My Grandfather and great Aunt Gertrude received about $250 apiece after the lawyers finished butchering the legacy. Five hundred pounds at that time probably would have been worth more than $2000.

Joshua lived about 99 years being baptized of Dec 9,1813. His father mentions in one of his letters that he twice picked out a grave for Joshua during a siege of whooping cough and later when Joshua was badly scalded by the pot on the hearth while still very young.

Sarah was my great-great grandmother. She was married to George Makinson sometime prior to 1840 in Lancashire in England.  

Sarah came to America in November 1840 with a six month old child, named Sarah, and her husband George. Along with them was George's brother, Evan Makinson and his wife Martha Wain Makinson, and their fourteen year old son George William Makinson. They immediately moved westward to central Missouri which was frontier land in that time. George practiced law while living in Sullivan County. The family stayed there until 1854 and then moved to Illinois settling in Kewanee, and later removing to Dayton, Illinois where the nephew, George Makinson was a Justice of the Peace and Postmaster.

After her husband died in 1875 and was buried in the Dayton, Illinois graveyard, Sarah moved to Iowa and is recorded as living with her daughter Lydia Jennings and husbands home in Jones Township in Union County. Sarah died November 21,1888. She and her husband are buried in the same grave plot in an old cemetery in Dayton, Illinois. At the time of her death it is believed she was living with one of her daughters in Union County, Iowa. 

The story of Evan Makinson, my great great grandfathers brother is of interest because he disappeared with his wife's money. Since he was a Methodist Episcopal Preacher, the story is all the more interesting. Follow this link to learn more about Evan Makinson.

From the Afton Iowa  Enterprise newspaper of April 23,1891.

Sarah Crowther Makinson Beath

Sarah was the eldest daughter of  George & Sarah Makinson. She married Alexander Beath. The following article is from a book about the first hundred years of Union County, Iowa

Alexander Beath, son of John and Anna (Keeler) Beath, was born February 24,1835.in Ross County, Ohio. His family later moved to Blackford County, Indiana when he was 3 months old and there he grew to manhood. When he was 21 years of age he moved to Henry Country,, Illinois. He enlisted July 18, and was mustered in September 20, 1862, from Cambridge, Ill. He served as a Private in Co. D, 112th Illinois Volunteers being mustered out June 20, 1865, at Greensboro, North Carolina. His marriage to Sarah C. Makinson occurred September II, 1862, at Cambridge, Ill. Sarah was born the daughter of George and Sarah (Crowther) Makinson May 31, 1840, in Manchester, England. She ca me to America with her parents at the age of 4 months and settled in Missouri until she was 14 when the family moved to Illinois. Alexander participated in the following engagements during his Civil War service: The East Tennessee Raid through Knoxville. Rasaca. Atlantic, Franklin, Nashville, and Wilmington. At Knoxville he was shot through the legs on November 18, 1863, and carried the bullet there received to the end of his life. After the war Alex and Sarah resided in Kewanee, Illinois where their daughter Nellie Anna Beath was born September 30, 1866. The family moved to Thayer in Union County, Iowa, in September, 188]. In 1892 they moved into Lorimor. Alex died there May 13, 1912. He had one sister Mrs. N.C. Wilhelm who survived him. Sarah died July 2, 1917, and was also survived by one sister Mrs. Liddia J, Jennings, Both were buried in the Lorimor cemetery. By: EIleen A, Becker

Sarah and Alex had the one daughter Nellie. From the same book mentioned earlier about Union County, Iowa there is an article about Nellie Beath and her husband Torrey Goodridge.  

Hiram Torrey Goodridge was born December 2, 1861, in Ellisville, Illinois, the son of Alpheus W. and Sophia (Torrey) Goodridge. He moved with his family to Union County in 1886. He married Nellie Anna Beath in Thayer on January 19, 1887. She was born September 30, 1866, in Kewanee, Illinois, the daughter of Alexander and Sarah C. (Makinson) Beath. They continued to reside near Thayer and became the parents of: Adah Beath born March 13, 1888, died May 22, 1893 Floyd Jason born August 11, 1892, Gladys Imo. born January 25, 1900, Lolah Aletha born July 28, 1906, Doris born March 6 1909, died February 29, 1916.

Hiram farmed for  a number of years until retiring to live in Lorimor. Nellie was a charter member of the Beulah Ladies Aid and librarian for a number of years at the public library in Lorimor. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on January 19, 1937. Nellie died November 5, 1938. Hiram died November 28, 1940, and both are buried at the Lorimor cemetery, by Eileen Becket

Gladys Goodridge was the daughter of Nellie and her husband Hiram Goodridge. She married a George Day.

George Robert Day, known as Robert G. Day, son of George Day and Jeanette Gregg White, was born July 22, 1898 near Afton, Iowa. He was raised on a farm with four brothers; Charles L, John Paul, Samuel Gordon, Frank Edward, and two sisters; Mary L and Ruth Irene. The home place was located along Grand River near Mt. Pisgah in Union County. Robert attended the Riverdale School in Union County and also Palmer College in Bethany, Missouri.

On January 22, 1920 Robert married Gladys Imo Goodridge, daughter of Hiram Torrey Goodridge and Nellie A. Beath. She was born on a farm near Thayer, Iowa on January 25, 1900. Gladys had one brother, Floyd, and three sisters; Adah, Lolah, and Doris. After graduating from Lorimor High School at Lorimor, Iowa she taught in a rural school near Lorimor. 

Click on photo to enlarge.

Robert and Gladys lived a short time after their marriage with Robert's parents near Mt. Pisgah before moving to the farm north and west of Thayer in the Beulah community. Two children were born to this union. A son, George Torrey, was born November 30, 1921, and a daughter, Avis Jo Anne, was born January 17, 1930. George attended school at Thayer Consolidated and graduated from there in 1939. On August 17, 1946 he married Betty Jean Johnson of Thayer and they became the parents of three children; Dennis George born August 25, 1949, Beverly Jean born October 29, 1958, and Scott Aaron born September 8, 1962. George and Betty Day presently live in St. Charles, Iowa. Dennis married Christine Young on October 23, 1970 and they live in Ankeny, Iowa with their children; Brian George born October 9, 1973, and Sara Christine born November 8, 1979. Beverly married Cesar Favita on March 6, 1981 and lives in Des Moines, Iowa. Scott attends Southwestern Community College at Creston, Iowa.

Avis Jo Anne also attended Thayer Consolidated School and graduated from there in 1948. She married Lyndell Paul Hainline on September 21, 1950. They presently live in Creston, Iowa.

Robert G. Day was a well-known farmer in the Thayer Community. He was a member of Concordia Ledge, No. 215 A.F. and A.M. of Thayer, Iowa. He served as a member of the Board of Education of the Thayer Consolidated School for a number of years. After a lengthy illness he passed away on

August 29, 1966.

Gladys was also active in community affairs. She was a member of Cardinal Chapter No. 535, Order of the Eastern Star at Thayer, Iowa. After her husband's death, she sold their farm and moved to Creston in the fall of 1966 where she lived until her death on November 25, 1972.

Both Robert and Gladys are buried in Greenlawn Cemetery at Afton, Iowa.

Jonathan was born in 1799 and went to London in 1814 to be apprenticed to a printer and finished his term of bondage in 1822 and later became a newspaper reporter for the London Times in the Birmingham district. It is also known that in 1851 census that he was listed as a "Public Newspaper Writer". He was living in 1877 according to his son's marriage certificate and likely died before 1895. 

Terry Barcock, whose wife is related to  the above Jonathan Crowther, submitted the following information 
From the 1851 Census that shows those living in the household.

Head: Crowther, Jonathan 
Name                  Relation Martial  Age  Sex                      Occupation         Birthplace
Jonathan Crowther     Head     M     51     M                 Public Newspaper Writer Shrewsbury-Shr
Mary A. Crowther      Wife       M     37     F                  Birmingham-War
John N. Crowther       Son        U     15     M                  Factors Assist Edgbaston-War
Henry Crowther         Son        U      12   M                   Scholar Edgbaston-War
Francis J. Crowther   Son        U      10     M                  Scholar Edgbaston-War
Mary Crowther           Dau       U       8      F                  Scholar Edgbaston-War
George W. Crowther  Son                  6     M                  Scholar Edgbaston-War
Arthur G. Crowther     Son                 3      M                 Scholar Moseley-Wor
Emily C. Crowther      Dau                1       F                  Aston-War
Alice NEWBOLD       SisL        U     20      F                  Edgbaston-War
Address: 35 Highgate Place, Deritend
Census Place: Aston Deritend, Warwickshire


PRO Reference: HO/107/2060 Folio: 463 Page: 29 FHL Film: 0087316


 A son named George William Crowther, listed on the above census, is of interest because of what we have learned this man and his family in early 2002. This story begins on the following page.

Top of Page   Next Page    Histories Menu

Home