Reuben Austin and Elizabeth Wilsher

Elizabeth Wilsher

Reuben and Elizabeth were my great great grandparents, and married on 26 June 1845 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, so today is their 176th wedding anniversary.

Kelly’s Directory shows Reuben as a farmer at Lane End, Newchapel. He was born in Croxton, Staffordshire in 1818, one of three children. His father, William, was apparently a weaver, although I haven’t found the source for this information.

Elizabeth was born in Biddulph, Staffordshire in 1828. Her family name, Wisher, has also been recorded as Wilshaw or Willshaw. She was one of eleven children, and her father was listed as a labourer. I have little information about her mother, apart from her name – Hannah Bailey.

I have no image of Reuben, and I don’t have a date for this photo of Elizabeth.

They had five children. Their eldest, Mary Ann, was my great grandmother.

Matrilineal Monday – Mary Ann Austin

Mary Ann Austin was my great-grandmother, mother of Amy Rebecca Carter. She was born on 2 January 1845 in Hall Street, Tunstall, Staffordshire, UK, and died in 1918. She married Herbert Carter on 24 December 1866, and my grandmother was born 15 January 1888, the ninth of their ten children.

Mary Ann Austin