The Henry Harold Harrison Family

Elizabeth Ormishaw (1784–1863)
aka Betty Ball

Biography

Elizabeth Ormishaw (aka Ormshaw) was born in Ormskirk in 1784 to William Ormishaw and his wife Ellen. She was baptized at St. Peter and St. Paul church on 28 March 1784. At the present time that is the full extent of our information on Elizabeth’s origins. We believe that for most or all of her life Elizabeth was known as Betty.

On July 14, 1800 Betty married Henry Ball, a farmer from Upholland, at All Saints Church in Wigan. It was normal in 19th century Lancashire for husbands to work and wives to stay home, have babies, and look after the house and family. Farmers’ wives probably also had farm chores to manage. Children of farmers helped their parents on the farm from an early age. Henry and Betty apparently fit this pattern.

The couple initially settled in Upholland where Henry worked as a labourer. Betty stayed home and gave birth to their first son, Edward (named after Henry’s father and great grandfather), in Upholland in the fall of 1802. Circa 1803 the family moved to Standish where Henry took up farming. In June 1804 Betty gave birth to their second child, Margaret and in June 1806 to son John. In December 1806 daughter Margaret died at the age of two. Over the next twelve years Betty had six more children, all born in Standish, one of whom was named Margaret after the daughter they lost.

At the time of the 1841 census Henry and Betty were living at Heywood, a farm in Haigh situated between the River Douglas and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. The farm is so close to Standish that it is difficult to say whether Henry and Betty moved here from Standish, or whether their farm was in an area that became re-designated as Haigh. Also at the time of the 1841 census two of Betty’s sons were living next door with their families at Arrowsmith Farm. In all, 17 people were living at the two adjoining farms in 1841 including Henry and Betty, three sons (Henry, Daniel and James), two daughters (Mary and Elizabeth), two daughters-in-law (Ann and Maria), three grandchildren (Peter, Hannah and Lucy), and three farm labourers, one with wife and child. Five men worked the 36-acre farm including Henry Sr., Henry Jr., and the three labourers. It must have been a bustling place!

Henry and Betty’s was a large family with much coming and going. Between 1841 and 1851, while Henry continued to farm Heywood, three children, Henry, Mary, and Elizabeth, left the family home. Grandchildren Hannah and Peter (children of Mary and/or Elizabeth) stayed with their grandparents. Two other grandchildren, Ellen Ball and Henry Ball, also moved in with the grandparents during this time. James and his wife moved from Arrowsmith Farm just down the road to Red Rock Lane. Daniel and his wife remained at Arrowsmith and their family grew with more grandchildren.

By the time of the 1851 census Henry and Betty were living with their four grandchildren: Ellen, Peter, Hannah, and Henry. Ellen, Peter, and Hannah, now in their teens, were working, probably on the farm. Son Daniel was working as a shoemaker and living next door at Arrowsmith with his wife and family, as was newly married daughter Elizabeth.

By 1861 Heywoods had been sold to the Municipal Waterworks and Henry and Betty were living up the road at Blundles Fold next door to their granddaughter Ellen and her family. Henry registered in the census as a “farmer of 70 acres.” Son James, who was widowed in 1853, had moved back in with his parents, along with his son Henry.

Elizabeth died two years later in Blackrod on 9 August 1863 of old age. She was buried in the churchyard at St. Wilfrid in Standish. Henry joined her there a few months later. Despite many hours of searching we have not located their grave.