Mary and Thomas Town
Images and notes from John Baldwin in Preston, England, Tim Smith in Wigan, England with contributions from Bob Leathers
St. Michael & All Angels Church, Swinley, Wigan, England.
PLAQUE IN ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS CHURCH (2014) (TIM SMITH)
In early 2014, Tim Smith from St. Michael & All Angels Church, Swinley, Wigan, England contacted the Hanna Basin Museum Website in search of information about Mary (Sedewick) Town. Tim shared with us that a memorial plaque for Mary Town is on display in the church and Hanna, Wyoming is listed as her place of internment. The church would like to know if we have any information about Mary and her death.
Who was Mary (Sedewick) Town? What happened to her?
July 1913, Mary Town sailed from England to New York arriving on the 18th. Between the 18th of July and the 24th of September 1913, only 68 days, Mary arrived in Scranton, moved to Hanna, got married, died and was buried in the Hanna Cemetery. A very sad story indeed!
Mary (Sedewick) Town was born Mary Sedewick in 1887 in the town of Wigan in the County of Lancashire.
Her parents were Thomas Sedgewick a tailor and her mother was Frances Harriett (Nee Rigby) also a tailoress.
Mary was the fifth female child out of seven girls.
Wigan was a prominent Coal Mining town in the Northwest of England and coal mining was the main industry of the town. The population size at the end of the 19th Century was about sixty thousand. Many miners were becoming aware of the opportunities in the coal fields of the United States and there was a small exodus of miners to the coal mines of Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Two of Mary’s older sisters married miners who both subsequently emigrated to the United States to work in the mines in Scranton Pennsylvania, Flint Michigan and Hanna Wyoming.
On the 19th of December 1887, Thomas Town was born in Wigan. Thomas lived a short distance away from Mary and both attended the same church. Thomas became a miner and along with others made the move to the United States in 1911.
Thomas and Mary were obviously romantically involved and so on July 18, 1913, Mary arrived in New York on her way to stay with her sister Edith Martha Millhouse in Scranton Pennsylvania.
On August 4, 1913, Thomas married Mary in Hanna, Carbon County, Wyoming and sadly Mary died on September 24, 1913, only 51 days after having married her childhood sweetheart.
Thomas was known in the Hanna mines as a God-fearing man who stuck up for his beliefs.
Thomas remarried in 1921 in Flint Michigan to a Mae Loder who was born in the County of Devon, England.
The last mention of Thomas was in 1942 in Flint.
Her parents were Thomas Sedgewick a tailor and her mother was Frances Harriett (Nee Rigby) also a tailoress.
Mary was the fifth female child out of seven girls.
Wigan was a prominent Coal Mining town in the Northwest of England and coal mining was the main industry of the town. The population size at the end of the 19th Century was about sixty thousand. Many miners were becoming aware of the opportunities in the coal fields of the United States and there was a small exodus of miners to the coal mines of Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Two of Mary’s older sisters married miners who both subsequently emigrated to the United States to work in the mines in Scranton Pennsylvania, Flint Michigan and Hanna Wyoming.
On the 19th of December 1887, Thomas Town was born in Wigan. Thomas lived a short distance away from Mary and both attended the same church. Thomas became a miner and along with others made the move to the United States in 1911.
Thomas and Mary were obviously romantically involved and so on July 18, 1913, Mary arrived in New York on her way to stay with her sister Edith Martha Millhouse in Scranton Pennsylvania.
On August 4, 1913, Thomas married Mary in Hanna, Carbon County, Wyoming and sadly Mary died on September 24, 1913, only 51 days after having married her childhood sweetheart.
Thomas was known in the Hanna mines as a God-fearing man who stuck up for his beliefs.
Thomas remarried in 1921 in Flint Michigan to a Mae Loder who was born in the County of Devon, England.
The last mention of Thomas was in 1942 in Flint.
ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS CHURCH, SWINLEY, WIGAN, ENGLAND, 2014. (TIM SMITH)
Old Carbon and Hanna Death and Burial Records
Town, Mary
Cemetery: Hanna
Headstone: "1887 - 1913"
Plot: 94
Born: 1887
Died: 1913
Age: 26 y's
Cemetery: Hanna
Headstone: "1887 - 1913"
Plot: 94
Born: 1887
Died: 1913
Age: 26 y's
(Image by Bob Leathers)