This photograph is believed to be my great-great grandfather James Rothwell, born about May 1856 in Aughton, to stone dealer William Rothwell and his wife Margaret Hodge. The third of ten children, James grew up on Smithy Lane, lived at Moss Lane after marriage to Ann Halsall (1859-1919) in 1879, and by 1891 had settled at Gaw Hill Farm in Aughton.
James and Ann produced nine children - Margaret (1879), William (1882-83), William (1883), James "Jim" (1886-1966), Henrietta (1888-94), Hannah (1890-1890), Fred (1891-1943), and twins Dorothy (1899-1983) and Benjamin (1899-1912). James outlived his wife by eleven years, and their son Fred appears to have taken over Gaw Hill Farm until he moved away in the late 1930s.
The location of the photograph is uncertain but it may have been taken at Gaw Hill Farm. James is shown above this text, and the sepia tinted photograph shows his son Fred.
