PENNY Airlie who lives in Argyll, Scotland, has enlisted the Chronicle's help in trying to research her 86- year-old mother's family' links with the Barnsley area.
The story goes back to the days when Margaret Elizabeth Hill (pictured), Penny's grandmother and her mother's mother, lived in a large stone-built house in Thurlstone, near Penistone. She was born in 1887 and came to live at Thurlstone to be raised by relatives when her mother, Ellen Jane Hill (nee Robinson) died when Margaret was only three months old.
At first she was sent to live with her grandparents in Nottinghamshire, then she lived with her father in Rotherham before coming to Thurlstone. They lived in the imposing looking house which was on the main road between Penistone and Thurlstone.
Margaret married John Hufton in 1910 when she was 23 years of age. Penny has information that her grandmother's carers when she was a little girl were Aunt "Lizzie" and Uncle Seth. Aunt Lizzie's proper name was Elizabeth Robinson. Her brother was John Robinson who was the station master at Scrooby railway station near Bawtry for 49 years until 1928.
An interesting fact is that John Robinson was a descendent of Pastor Robinson, leader of the Pilgrim Fathers who set sail from Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620.
It is not known what "Uncle Seth's" surname was, but it is understood he was a farmer's son and lived on a farm in the Peak District or on the Pennines and had several brothers.
Penny's grandmother had two sisters, Frances and Kitty and a brother Albert who was killed during World War One. It is not known if they were all kept together following the tragic death of their mother at the young age of only 28, or whether they were split up to live with other relatives.
Recently, while having a clear out, Penny's mother, Dorothy Hufton found some old postcards, photographs and newspaper cuttings which her mother had given her in the past.
Among them there is a photograph of the stone-built house at Thurlstone in which Margaret lived. It may be that the house no longer exists, but there is a possibility that one of our readers will recognise it and can tell us where it is (or was) situated.
Also, if anyone can throw any more light on Margaret's carers, or on the house, we will pass the information on to Penny Airlie.
She said: "We would be delighted if anyone came forward to provide us with information about the house where my grandmother lived, or anything else."
