Delving

I have spent most of the day researching and writing about this guy. William was my great, great, great grandfather and an Independent Minister in Lancashire and Yorkshire from around 1838 to 1850. The book is a history of Nonconformity in Idle, near Bradford, published in 1876, and I bought it from a bookseller several years ago. It cost me the princely sum of £50, but how could I not buy it when it had this picture in, the only picture I have of him, and several pages of information relating to his time as Minister at the Chapel in Idle.
 
The little book is an Almanack used by William in 1850, sadly the year of his death at the age of 34. I find it very strange that I am looking at his actual handwriting from so long ago. (I think my great aunt must have given me this at some point – William was her grandfather, although she never knew him.)
   
I have been delving into other old books to find references to him and feel I am beginning to get to know him rather well. It is amazing how many really old, very obscure, books have been copied and are available online – you have to look very carefully though!