Annie told Gordon and Carol about her first child when we first started collecting information for the family tree. Because it was such a sensitive subject we never got the opportunity to ask any more questions. At the time we didn’t really know what to ask or what to record, now we have questions like - was the baby the reason for getting married and it being a joint wedding - What happened to the baby die? Where was it buried? Questions that we will now not really be able to find the answers to.
Joan Thompson Mabe knew about the baby. She was told by her grandma “Bradshaw”. Joan didn’t know that anyone else knew until I asked her few questions. She said Grandma Bradshaw had told her when Joan used to take her out. She said that Grandma had to go and get a “Layette” for the baby - this is different to the USA terminology. It’s like christening gown/blankets that the baby was to be buried in and then Grandma took the baby to a dark church on Castle Street, Edgeley. Joan said she remembers as a very young girl taking flowers to the chapel and putting them over the wall for the baby but never really understood why. As children the girls walked from Adswood to the chapel Sunday school over “daisy fields” which referred to part of Bridge Hall area.
I requested information from Stockport Memories Facebook page and got details and photos of the Wesleyan Chapel. Some burials were disturbed after the buildings were demolished and it is thought that they were taken to Stockport crematorium/cemetery. It is not know where any records from the chapel might be or if the birth and death was recorded if the baby didn’t survive childbirth.
The Facebook group have provided photos of the chapel so I am going to include those in remembrance of the baby which Joan has a thought that he could have been a baby boy.