THE HORDERNS OF FORDHOUSESThe name Hordern seems to have been more common further north in the county, particularly in the Cheadle area, but in the second half of the eighteenth century there was another family of that name in Bushbury, usually referred to as the Horderns of Fordhouses. The head of this family was also Joseph. I have been unable to establish any connection between the two families. Joseph Hordern, blacksmith of Fordhouses, married Frances Thurstan at St. Peter's Wolverhampton on February 7th 1775. A daughter and three sons were born, but Joseph died in June 1785, and his widow was granted letters of administration for his estate of less than £100. The daughter Mary married George Newill at Bushbury on June 26th 1800. The eldest son Edward took up his father's trade of blacksmith and married Mary Thrustans at St. Peter's on May 16th 1801. The next son Joseph died a relatively young man, and the youngest son James (baptised 18.4.1782) seems to have left the area. Edward and Mary's two children James and Frances both died in infancy, and Mary died on April 12th 1812 aged 35. Edward married again, Elizabeth -------, and four daughters and a son were born. The eldest daughter and the son died in infancy but two of the surviving daughters were married in a double ceremony at Bushbury on January 31st 1856. Emma married Edwin Nash of Tettenhall; and Harriet married Samuel Clifft of Fordhouse Farm Mill. It seems likely that she is the elderly lady photographed with her husband, daughters (and dog), at the door of Fordhouse Mill Farm in the picture postcard made about the end of the nineteenth century.
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