Louise's family seems to come from two main areas.

Her father's family was from north east Lancashire. Her grandfather, Herbert DUERDEN was from Burnley, as were most of his ancestors at least back until the early 19th century, although we have now found out that his mother, Margaret Jane STANSFIELD's father was born in Barrowford and the family have roots back there to the sixteenth century. Louise's Lancashire grandmother, Olive HOLT, also came from Barrowford, and most of her family lines can be followed back in the village to the late 18th century. One or two of her ancestors came from villages and hamlets to the north of Barrowford, which are now in Lancashire but at that time were in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Louise's mother's families, the PICKETTS and SCALES, had 19th century roots in north London. We have now found out that the SCALES family moved in from Hertfordshire, and the GRUMMITTS were from Bedfordshire (Nell GRUMMITT married Albert PICKETT). We've not had much luck in tracing the PICKETTS beyond the middle of the 19th century, but we are following up a lead to Buntingford in Hertfordshire. We'll let you know if we find out anything more on this.

Click on one of the surnames to see more about the family members with that name.